Sunday, December 2, 2007

The 20th annual World AIDS Day was December 1, 2007. The theme selected by the World AIDS Campaign is “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise” as it will be through 2010. The day was marked by thousands of events around the world.

“It is now time for bold leadership at all levels in order to turn the tide of HIV,” said Felicita Hikuam, Global Programmes Manager, World AIDS Campaign. An estimated 33.2 million people around the world—one in every 200—are living with HIV, and approximately 6,800 people are infected with HIV and 5,700 people die of AIDS-related illnesses every day.

“The trend is encouraging but still for every person receiving treatment four others are newly infected,” said Nelson Mandela, speaking at a concert in Johannesburg, South Africa. “If we are to stop the Aids epidemic from expanding, we need to break the cycle of new HIV infections. All of us working together with government, communities and civil society can make the difference that is needed,” he continued.

As many as 50,000 people attended the concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was telecast around the world. It was organized by Nelson Mandela’s 46664 AIDS campaign and featured performances by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Ludacris, Razorlight, the Goo Goo Dolls and Annie Lennox.File:20050702-Nelson Mandela Live8 Edinburgh.jpg

At a fundraiser in the town of Midrand, in the province Gauteng, near Johannesburg on Friday, singer Annie Lennox had strong words for the South African government’s AIDS policies.

“AIDS, as Madiba [Mandela] has said, is a human rights issue and should be treated as such in order to avoid this genocide that is affecting millions and millions of people around the world,” said Lennox in a speech. Lennox has previously been critical of the South African government’s position on suggesting some AIDS medications were toxic. “It is unacceptable that treatment has not been made available to those who need it most,” said Lennox.

The rock band Queen, which lost its lead singer Freddie Mercury to AIDS, released a new song entitled, Say It’s Not True, to coincide with World Aids Day. It has been made available as a free download from the band’s website. “By making the song available for free, we hope to help Nelson Mandela with his campaign to get across the message that no-one is safe from infection,” said Queen drummer Roger Taylor. “We have to be aware, we have to protect ourselves and those we love.”

In China, people distributed AIDS prevention brochures in the streets and promoted safe sex in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In Changsha, official warning signs were put on hotel bedstands. The government announced on Friday an allocation of CNY860 million for AIDS prevention and control. According to official reports, there are estimated to be 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in China.

Also in China, the Miss World 2007 was in Sanya on World AIDS Day. The pageant presented a special tribute to the fight against AIDS, with a televised speech from former South African President Nelson Mandela, along with traditional dancers from South Africa who joined the contestants in a special song.

Friday, United States President George W. Bush urged the United States Congress to double the 2003 Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to US$30 billion over the next five years. “Above all, we rededicate ourselves to a great purpose: We will turn the tide against HIV/AIDS—once and for all,” he said.

“I’m pleased to announce that Laura and I will travel to sub-Sahara Africa early next year,” Bush said. Sub-Saharan Africa suffered nearly three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths during 2006 and is home to two-thirds of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Monday, March 7, 2005

Nobel Laureate in Physics Hans Bethe died in his home in Ithaca, New York on March 6, 2005, according to Cornell University, where he was professor emeritus of physics.

Hans Albrecht Bethe (pronounced Bay-ta) was born on July 2, 1906 in the city of Strasbourg, then part of Germany (now part of France). He studied physics at Frankfurt and obtained his doctorate from the University of Munich.

Bethe, whose mother was [[Judaism|Jewish}}, fled Germany in 1933 when the Nazi Party came to power. Bethe, along with hundreds of other Jewish academics, were fired from their posts as a result of one of Adolf Hitler’s first anti-Semitic acts. Bethe moved first to England and in 1935 to the USA where he taught at Cornell University.

Between 1935 and 1938, he studied nuclear reactions and reaction cross sections. This research was useful to Bethe in more quantitatively developing Niels Bohr’s theory of the compound nucleus.

During World War II, he served as a prominent member of a special summer session at the University of California, Berkeley at the invitation of Robert Oppenheimer, which outlined the first designs for the atomic bomb and served as the beginning of the Manhattan Project. When Oppenheimer started the secret weapons design laboratory, Los Alamos, he appointed Bethe as Director of the Theoretical Division.

After the war, Bethe argued that a crash project for the hydrogen bomb should not be attempted, though after President Truman announced the beginning of such a crash project, and the outbreak of the Korean War, he signed up and played a key role in the weapon’s development. In 1968, he reflected upon the choice, noting that “It seemed quite logical. But sometimes I wish I were more consistent an idealist.” Though he would see the project through to its end, in Bethe’s account he was primarily hopeful that the weapon would be impossible to produce. He later characterized Stanislaw Ulam as the “father” of the hydrogen bomb, and Edward Teller as its “mother,” and himself as its “midwife.”

Among his many honors, Bethe received the Max Planck medal in 1955, and in 1961 he was awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his work in identifying the energy generating processes in stars. In 1967, Bethe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his studies of the production of solar and stellar energy, stellar nucleosynthesis. He postulated that the source of this energy are thermonuclear reactions in which hydrogen was converted into helium.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Bethe campaigned for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, arguing against the nuclear arms ace and against nuclear testing. In 1995, at the age of 88, Bethe wrote an open letter calling on all scientists to “cease and desist” from working on any aspect of nuclear weapons development and manufacture. In 2004, he signed a letter along with 47 other Nobel laureates endorsing John Kerry for president of the United States citing Bush’s apparent misuse of science.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Second-alarm flames engulfed a Bronx, New York church, St Nicholas of Tolentine, just before noon on Friday, forcing its pastor and seven worshippers into the streets.

The blaze began in a confessional-converted-storage room near the vestibule of the church. “I rushed over and smoke was billowing out,” said Father Joseph Girone. Girone rushed parishioners through the church rectory door as the entrance had been blocked.

Over 100 firefighters fought the blaze, and several reported minor injuries due to ceiling collapse.

Fire Department (FDNY) officials immediately suspected arson. “The fire accelerated rapidly [and] it was a heavy fire that didn’t have the normal flow of a fire”, said FDNY Deputy Chief Kevin Scanlon. Investigators are determining whether the fire is related to a series of church burnings that have been occurring across the borough.

Parishioners are distraught by the destruction of their beloved church. Father Joseph Tran said, “The whole vestibule is damaged. The ceiling, the walls and the doors”. Isabel Gonzales, a regular attendant for 28 years, said, “I feel sorry and I want to cry because this has been my home away from home for a long time”. A church official reported that it was too early to determine construction lengths or repair costs.

Devoted worshippers promised that they would hold a “Stations of the Cross” gathering outside on Friday night.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Yesterday, a chilly Amsterdam hosted the Wikimedia Conference Netherlands 2007. Held at the Aristo centre in a suburb of the city and run by Wikimedia Netherlands, the conference was a short train ride from Amsterdam Centraal railway station. The topic, Wikis and Education (Wiki’s en Educatie in Dutch). This was an opportunity for Wikimedians and people in education to come together and see how collaboration could help both.

Wikinews freelance reporter Brian McNeil caught a train from Brussels in Belgium and attended, making an impression on the Wikimedia Foundation chair, Florence Devouard, by spilling her coffee over the first two speakers approximately three minutes before they were supposed to officially open the conference.

Wednesday, February 9, 2005Copenhagen – The Danish people have voted to keep the current centre-right political coalition of the Venstre (The Liberal Party), Det Konservative Folkeparti (Conservative People’s Party) and the Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People’s Party).

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s Liberal Party retained the largest number of seats in parliament. The governing coalition between the Liberals and Conservative People’s Party remained intact. They will likely be supported largely by the Danish People’s Party, which gained 2 seats. The Radikale Venstre (Radical Left) party gained the most seats of any party, although it remains outside the governing group of parties. The election marked the second time in a row that the Social Democrats were not the largest party in the parliament, a change from most of the 20th century. The party lost 5 seats and leader Mogens Lykketoft resigned immediately after the election.

Venstre, the liberal party of the prime minister, campaigned on their municipal restructuring plan, as well as a continuation of the “tax-freeze” and tight immigration requirements. They also promised to see 60,000 jobs created during a second term.

The largest opposition party, the Socialdemokraterne (Social Democrats) led by Mogens Lykketoft focused on employment, which they claim has decreased under the current government.

The Dansk Folkeparti, who support the Venstre-Conservative coalition, criticized the “tax-freeze” but agreed, conditionally, to support it for another parliamentary term. They also wanted increasingly tough immigration restrictions.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Severe rainfall on the 16th of November has led to a water quality warning affecting more than two million people living in the Greater Vancouver metropolitan region. Wednesday’s storm triggered severe landslides in the region’s three water reservoirs, creating sediment levels up to ninety times higher than permitted under federal health standards. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority issued a warning to residents advising them to boil all water intended for personal consumption. The advisory is mandatory for hospitals, daycares, and other public facilities, and is in effect until further notice.

The region’s Chief Medical Health Officer has advised that tap water not be used for anything. “We know that with turbidity levels this high there is an increased risk of gastrointestinal illness. So people need to be aware of that, although it’s their choice,” warned Dr. Patricia Daly. “If I’m asked, I’m telling the public: Don’t drink the water from the tap at this time. Drink bottled water or boil your water for a full minute.”

Commercial operations were affected as well. Food stores were ordered to turn off produce sprayers used to cool vegetables, and restaurants had to stop serving many food products. Many of Vancouver’s hundreds of coffee shops were quiet.

The Greater Vancouver area has received a total of 236.8mm of rain this month. The rainfall record of 350.8mm was set in 1983, according to measurements taken at Vancouver International Airport. BC Hydro, the province’s primary electrical provider, was busy repairing power and telephone lines blown down in the heavy winds. Over 220,000 customers were left without electricity in the aftermath of the storm, with more rain expected on Sunday.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A man has died after being involved in a robbery of his shop in West Yorkshire, England. Four youngsters, described as wearing hooded jumpers and tracksuit trousers, raided the Cowcliffe Convenience Store in the town of Huddersfield at approximately 2030 GMT on Saturday.

63-year-old Gurmail Singh sustained head injuries as a result of the robbery. Six witnesses attempted to prevent the youths from exiting the shop but failed, and the teenagers managed to escape with confectionary, cigarettes and money. One witness claimed to see a hammer in posession of one of the offenders, however it is unknown if this was used in the attack.

Singh was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary but died there at approximately 0330 GMT on Sunday. West Yorkshire Police have now launched an investigation into the death of Gurmail Singh. A post-mortem examination is scheduled to take place on Monday to attempt to discover how the shop-owner was killed. West Yorkshire Police are now appealing for witnesses or anyone who has information in relation to this incident to contact them.