Thursday, November 3, 2005

Australian industral relations reform legislationmade up of 700 pages of bill legislation and 500 additional pages of explanatory memoranda was introduced into the Federal House of Representatives November 2, where the Opposition heatedly attempted to address their perceived problem of the Government’s lack of discussion and debate over the matter.

The first reading of the bill was the first order of the day, and when Kevin Andrews tried to do so, Opposition member Stephen Smith, responsible for workplace relations, immediately moved a motion deferring the bills to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations and Workforce Participation. The Leader of the House, Tony Abbott moved that Smith and the necessary supporter — viz., Julia Gillard — be not further heard (cloture). The Government’s majority in the House ensured that this would happen. However, Opposition members attempted to use House standing orders necessitating that copies of the bill to be “available to Members”, with argument arising whether “available to Members” meant all members or simply whether some copies should be available; this ended up in a dissent motion moved against the Speaker of the House.

Later, in a heated Question Time, where six members of the Opposition, (Kelly Hoare, Julia Irwin, Anthony Albanese, Bernard Ripoll, Catherine King, and Gavan O’Connor), were removed from the Chamber during Question Time under standing orders for disruption — Jill Hall quipped that she was “glad to be still here to ask [her] question” — nearly all questions to the Government put by the Opposition, the subsequent time for matters of public importance, and some members in the adjournment debate, was all on the topic of the industrial relations reform.

To implement and fund the legislation, the government will “spend an additional $486million on industrial relations changes over four years, or $121million a year. This spending would be in addition to the present annual budget of $86million.” said an unnamed government source for The Australian.

The government will need to use its corporation powers to remove the powers from the states to alter the award conditions and other employee employer related conditions. But the New South Wales premier Morris Iemma has received legal advice that the legislation maybe unconstitutional, the reason being its being used to end the role of the states and territories Australian States in the industrial relations system. “It is our view that the Commonwealth is misusing this law to achieve exactly what it was designed to prevent”, Iemma said. Mr Iemma will be challenging the changes in the high court with Peter Beattie Premier of Queensland supporting his challenge in the High Court.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Morogoro Plastic will open a plastic grinding plant in the Tanzania town of Morogoro in April of 2005, according to Faustine Rwambali of the East African. The grinding plant will be followed by a network of 5 washing plants around Tanzania. 75% of the $2m (2bn Tsh) investment needed to build the system of plants has been provided by Barclays. The first three washing plants will be in Mwanza, Arusha, and Dar es Salaam, followed by a plant on the island of Zanzibar and one in the southern part of the country.

The East African, a weekly business paper published by the Aga Khan’s Nation Media Group, reports the grinding plant will have a daily capacity of 3 tons of plastic. This capacity will be upgraded to 10 tons per day once equipment ordered from Portugal arrives in June, reported IPPMedia, the news arm of East African beverage conglomerate IPP Holdings. Praful Ladwa, the director of Morogoro Plastic, claims Tanzania produces 1000 tons of plastic per day. Once the full network of plants is functioning, Ladwa hopes it will be able to handle more than 75% of that waste stream.

According to the East African, Tanzania has 15 to 20 plastics companies. Ladwa said the new plant system will be the “first of its kind in East and Central Africa.” Morogoro Plastic plans to expand its recycling operations into neighboring Kenya and Uganda by 2007. Ladwa asserted that the system would create at least 10,000 jobs in the region.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, killed nearly 19,000 Americans in 2005 alone, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That is more people than were killed by AIDS in the United States. More than 94,000 Americans were afflicted with MRSA infections in 2005.

Although the supergerm, or superbug, is primarily found in hospitals, a growing number of cases have been contracted at public gyms and schools. In Moneta, Virginia, a high school senior died from an infection that spread to his kidney, liver, lungs and heart. In Bedford County, where Moneta is located, school officials have reported five cases of the Methicillin-resistant strain of the Staph bacteria. County officials closed the schools to clean them.

“Certainly, MRSA now has to be viewed as a very important target for prevention and control,” said Dr. David A. Talan, an infectious diseases specialist at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Feel free to use the Wikimedia sites to solve our Wikinews crossword. Please do not fill it out online as it would spoil it for other people; print it out and fill it in at your own leisure!

< Previous crossword.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Several mainstream news outlets have misstated and overstated a possible link between cellular phone use and decreased fertility in men. A single experiment, which has not yet been published in any peer reviewed journal or replicated by other scientists, observed an average decrease in sperm motility and an increase in free radicals among laboratory sperm samples that were exposed to radiation similar to the radiation produced by cellular phone use.

Dr. Ashok Agarwal of the Cleveland Clinic estimates the overall health impact of cellular phones as “very safe” and reassured a Cable News Network reporter that the research was too premature to advise lifestyle changes for the public. “Our study has not provided proof that you should stop putting cell phones in your pocket. There are many things that need to be proven before we get to that stage.” He noted that his own cell phone was in his trouser pocket while he was giving the interview. Dr. Agarwal is the lead researcher for the study and Director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

Cell phone industry spokesman Joe Farren agreed with Dr. Agarwal’s assessment about the devices’ overall safety: “The weight of the published scientific evidence, in addition to the opinion of global health organizations, shows that there is no link between wireless usage and adverse health effects.”

The controlled experiment used sperm samples from thirty-two donors: twenty-three healthy men and nine men who had fertility problems. Sperm were then exposed to radiation for one hour at 850 megahertz, the most common frequency for cell phones in the United States. Dr. Agarwal’s study raises a possible concern that cell phones kept on belts or trouser pockets and used in conjunction with wireless bluetooth earpieces “could cause harmful effects due to the proximity of the phones and the exposure that they are causing to the gonads.” He also noted that follow-up research is needed to determine whether the body’s skin and other tissue affords protection from the potential damage.

Several news sources ran misleading reports that overstated the risk.

The Los Angeles Times asserted a fallacious causal relationship that Dr. Agarwhal had not drawn and ignored his opinions that cellular phones are safe and no change in phone use is necessary. Instead, the piece opened by ordering men to stop keeping cell phones in their pockets:

“Attention male cellphone users of reproductive age: Take that phone out of your pocket. Information published today suggests that the radio-frequency energy released by cellphones decreases sperm quality in men.”

Ciol News ran a similar account:

“Beware men! Do you have the habit of keeping your mobile phone in the pockets of your trousers while talking on hand-free? Or do clip the mobile to your belt while talking? If so you are doing that at the cost of your fertility, warns a recent study.”

Mobile Magazine went a step further, also alluding to previous media exaggerations about cellular phone dangers:

“Oh no! It seems that mobile phones are getting even more problematic than ever. After getting linked to everything from migraines to cancer, it seems that the radiation from cell phones is now being connected to stupid sperm. Yes, I’m talking about the little swimmers that lead into a conversation about the birds and the bees.”

Mobile Magazine also ended in a misleading manner with “I wonder if it’s healthier to put your phone in your shirt pocket instead,” failing to mention that Dr. Agarwal had addressed that concern and had called it an unnecessary precaution.

Not all news sources overplayed the findings. CNN and United Press International ran balanced reports that did not suggest dangers or precautions beyond the lead researcher’s conclusions.

Monday, August 28, 2006

A 24-year-old Texas man is set to be the first person executed in South Dakota in 59 years after asking to fire his lawyer and drop further court appeals.

Elijah Page of Athens, Texas, may die by lethal injection tomorrow for the brutal murder of Chester Poage, 19, in Higgins Gulch, in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.

The court will weigh whether or not Page is competent to fire his lawyers and drop appeals, and a decision is expected today.

Page, along with Briley Piper, 25, of Anchorage, Alaska, pleaded guilty in 2001 for the March 13, 2000, killing. Both were sentenced to death. A third man, Darrell Hoadley, 26, of Lead, S.D., also pleaded guilty and testified against Page and Piper. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Hoadley told prosecutors the men planned to steal a stereo, TV, and other items from Poage’s mother’s house. Prosecutors said Piper and Page killed Poage because they wanted to eliminate a witness to the theft.

Hoadley described brutal details to authorities how Piper stabbed Poage three times in the head and neck and Page then kicked Poage 30 to 40 times and then tore Poage’s ears off. Page then bashed Poage’s head in with large rocks. Hoadley finished the job by striking Poage with two large rocks.

Piper and Page then threatened to kill Hoadley if he told police about the crime, Hoadley told authorities.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said it is rare for someone to receive a death sentence after they’ve pleaded guilty to the crime. But in this case, the judge, Warren Johnson of Deadwood, opted for the death penalty, saying he considered the crime to be “vile and depraved”.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

In early May, Wikinews extended an invitation to Vitaly Filipchenko, an independent candidate in the 2021 New York City mayoral election, set to take place November 2nd, alongside other candidates. Filipchenko answered some questions about his policies and campaign during a phone interview.

Filipchenko, registered on the New York City Campaign Finance Board as Vitaly A. Filipchenko, is the first Russian candidate for New York City mayor, being born in Tomsk, Siberia in 1973, according to news agency Sputnik. He has since naturalised as a United States citizen. According to the web site, Filipchenko has been educated in road construction and maintenance and owns a moving services company; he describes himself on his web site as a “small business owner”. On his web site’s platform page, he says that “[m]y English may not be perfect – but my platform is.”

Incumbent Democrat mayor Bill de Blasio, who won re-election in the 2017 New York City mayoral election by 66.5%, cannot run for a third term under term limits. As of April 28, 22 candidates are currently running, the majority of whom are also Democrats. Ahead of the June Democratic primary for New York City mayor, a poll conducted May 23 and 24 by WPIX and Emerson College of 12 Democratic candidates with a margin of error of 3.2 per cent has former commissioner for the New York City Department of Sanitation Kathryn Garcia and Borough President of Brooklyn Eric Adams leading with 21.1% and 20.1%, respectively.