April
22
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Shona Bracken is running for the Communist Party in the Ontario provincial election in Toronto—Danforth. Wikinews interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her campaign.
Monday, June 7, 2010
An acrobatic group known by the name of Spelbound has been declared as the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2010, a televised variety talent show competition broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom. As the winning act of the show, Spelbound have won £100,000 (US$144,580, €120,313, A$175,079) and a place at The Royal Variety Performance, an annual gala evening that is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family.
In no particular order, the top three acts were revealed to be two dancers known by their stage name of Twist and Pulse, gymnastic group Spelbound and Kieran Gaffney, whose act involves playing on the drum kit. After Kieran Gaffney was revealed to be in third place, Anthony McPartlin, who hosts Britain’s Got Talent with Declan Donnelly, said to Kieran: “Well done Kieran. Kieran, you’re a star, you came back, you got all the way to the final. I know you’ve loved this. You’ve loved this, haven’t you?” In response to this, Kieran Gaffney stated: “Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone for supporting me. Thank you.”
Shortly afterwards, on the episode that was broadcast live on ITV1 on Saturday, Anthony announced: “After tens of thousands of auditons, five semi-finals and an amazing final, this…this is it. One of you is about to walk away with £100,000 and a place at this year’s Royal Variety Performance. The winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2010 is…Spelbound!” Glen Murphy from Twist and Pulse commented about finishing in second place, stating: “Yeah, it’s amazing. I can’t even believe it. I can’t believe it at all.”
Alex Uttley, a 24-year-old member of Spelbound, commented on the gymnastic group’s victory, commenting: “Oh, my god. This is unbelieveable. We just want to say thank you to everyone out there. It just shows that all our hard work has paid off.” One of the coaches of Spelbound, named Neil Griffiths, stated about Spelbound: “Oh, they’ve worked so hard over the last few weeks. Um, since the semi-final, we…we really had to pull out the stops to try and up the game. They’ve not known they’ve worked in the gym from six in the morning till twelve…twelve o’clock of the night. I couldn’t have asked for more. Um, it’s a team of coaches. I don’t take all the credit myself. There’s, uh, two people up there that know who they are who’ve been fantastic.”
Spelbound consists of 24-year-old Alex Uttley, Nicholas Illingworth, aged 24, Adam Buckingham, aged 21, 20-year-old Adam McAssey, 19-year-old Douglas Fordyce, 18-year-old Edward Upcott, 18-year-old Leighanne Cowler, 17-year-old Katie Axten, 17-year-old Lauren Kemp, 15-year-old Jonathan Stranks, Abigail Ralph, aged 15, 13-year-old Hollianne Wood and Amy Mackenzie, aged 12. Bookmakers had previously predicted that Spelbound would be the most likely act to become the winner of the series.
The running order for the final started with Twist and Pulse. The second act to perform was Liam McNally, a 14-year-old singer. The running order subsequently continued with 40-year-old impressionist Paul Burling, singer Christopher Stone, aged 28, Tina & Chandi, a woman and dog dancing act, Connected, a five-piece singing group, Kieran Gaffney, aged 12, 22-year-old Tobias Mead, a dancer, 80-year-old singer Janey Cutler and Spelbound in that particular order.
Earlier on in the final, Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has stated to Spelbound: “We are hosting the 2012 Olympics and I think ‘what a brilliant opening act’.” Fellow judge Piers Morgan also commented that “[t]he purpose of this show is to identify hidden great British talent. You are that act.” After Spelbound won in the final, another judge, named Simon Cowell, stated that “the right boys and girls won on the night” and that he could “only say on live TV that that was one of the most astonishing things I have ever seen. Seriously.”
Friday, May 16, 2008
Controversy has arisen over the reported presence of blue asbestos on the MV Freewinds, a cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology. According to the Saint Martin newspaper The Daily Herald and the shipping news journal Lloyd’s List, the Freewinds was sealed in April and local public health officials on the Caribbean island of Curaçao where the ship is docked began an investigation into the presence of asbestos dust on the ship. Former Scientologist Lawrence Woodcraft supervised work on the ship in 1987, and attested to the presence of blue asbestos on the Freewinds in an affidavit posted to the Internet in 2001. Woodcraft, a licensed architect by profession, gave a statement to Wikinews and commented on the recent events.
According to The Daily Herald, the Freewinds was in the process of being renovated by the Curaçao Drydock Company. The article states that samples taken from paneling in the ship were sent to the Netherlands, where an analysis revealed that they “contained significant levels of blue asbestos”. An employee of the Curaçao Drydock Company told Radar Online in an April 30 article that the Freewinds has been docked and sealed, and confirmed that an article about asbestos ran in the local paper.
Lloyd’s List reported that work on the interior of the Freewinds was suspended on April 27 after health inspectors found traces of blue asbestos on the ship. According to Lloyd’s List, Frank Esser, Curaçao Drydock Company’s interim director, joined Curaçao’s head of the department of labor affairs Christiene van der Biezen along with the head of the local health department Tico Ras and two inspectors in an April 25 inspection of the ship. “We are sending someone so that they can tell us what happened, where it came from, since when it has been there,” said Panama Maritime Authority’s director of merchant marine Alfonso Castillero in a statement to Lloyd’s List.
The Church of Scientology purchased the ship, then known as the Bohème, in 1987, through an organization called Flag Ship Trust. After being renovated and refitted, it was put into service in June 1988. The ship is used by the Church of Scientology for advanced Scientology training in “Operating Thetan” levels, as well as for spiritual retreats for its members. Curaçao has been the ship’s homeport since it was purchased by the Church of Scientology.
According to his 2001 statement, Lawrence Woodcraft had been an architect in London, England since 1975, and joined Scientology’s elite “Sea Organization” (Sea Org) in 1986. He wrote that he was asked by the Sea Org to work on the Freewinds in 1987, and during his work on the ship “noticed a powdery blue fibrous substance approximately 1 ½” thick between the paint and the steel wall,” which he believed to be asbestos. He also discovered what he thought was blue asbestos in other parts of the ship, and reported his findings to Church of Scientology executives. Woodcraft discussed his experiences in a 2001 interview published online by the Lisa McPherson Trust, a now-defunct organization which was critical of the Church of Scientology.
| The Freewinds regularly inspects the air quality on board and always meets or exceeds US standards. | ||
Church of Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw responded to Radar Online about the asbestos reports, in an email published in an article in Radar on May 1. “The Freewinds regularly inspects the air quality on board and always meets or exceeds US standards,” said Pouw. She stated that two inspections performed in April “confirmed that the air quality is safe,” and asserted that the inspections revealed the Freewinds satisfies standards set by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the U.S. Clean Air Act.
Pouw told Radar that “The Freewinds will be completing its refit on schedule.” The Church of Scientology-affiliated organization Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) had been planning a cruise aboard the Freewinds scheduled for May 8, but according to Radar an individual who called the booking number for the cruise received a message that the cruise had been delayed due to ongoing work on the ship. Citing an article in the Netherlands Antilles newspaper Amigoe, Radar reported on May 6 that a team from the United States and supervised by an independent bureau from the Netherlands traveled to Curaçao in order to remove asbestos from the Freewinds.
| …if the Church of Scientology claims to have removed the blue asbestos, I just don’t see how, it’s everywhere. You would first have to remove all the pipes, plumbing, a/c ducts, electrical wiring etc. etc. just a maze of stuff. | ||
“I stand by everything I wrote in my 2001 affidavit,” said Lawrence Woodcraft in an exclusive statement given to Wikinews. Woodcraft went on to state: “I would also comment that if the Church of Scientology claims to have removed the blue asbestos, I just don’t see how, it’s everywhere. You would first have to remove all the pipes, plumbing, a/c ducts, electrical wiring etc. etc. just a maze of stuff. Also panelling as well, basically strip the ship back to a steel hull. Also blue asbestos is sprayed onto the outer walls and then covered in paint. It’s in every nook and cranny.”
Many Scientologist celebrities have spent time aboard the Freewinds, including Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Chick Corea, Lisa Marie Presley, Catherine Bell, Kate Ceberano, and Juliette Lewis. Now magazine reported that Tom Cruise has been urged to seek medical attention regarding potential asbestos exposure, however a representative for Cruise stated he has “absolutely no knowledge” of the recent asbestos controversy. Cruise, Holmes, Travolta and Preston have celebrated birthdays and other events on the Freewinds.
| There is not now and never has been a situation of asbestos exposure on the Freewinds. | ||
In a May 15 statement to the United Kingdom daily newspaper Metro, a representative for the Church of Scientology said that “There is not now and never has been a situation of asbestos exposure on the Freewinds.” The Asbestos and Mesothelioma Center notes that agencies have recommended anyone who has spent time on the Freewinds consult with their physician to determine if possible asbestos exposure may have affected their health.
Raw blue asbestos is the most hazardous form of asbestos, and has been banned in the United Kingdom since 1970. Blue asbestos fibers are very narrow and thus easily inhaled, and are a major cause of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a form of cancer which can develop in the lining of the lungs and chest cavity, the lining of the abdominal cavity, or the pericardium sac surrounding the heart. The cancer is incurable, and can manifest over 40 years after the initial exposure to asbestos.
“This is the most dangerous type of asbestos because the fibres are smaller than the white asbestos and can penetrate the lung more easily,” said toxicologist Dr. Chris Coggins in a statement published in OK! Magazine. Dr. Coggins went on to note that “Once diagnosed with mesothelioma, the victim has six months to a year to live. It gradually reduces lung function until the victim is no longer able to breathe and dies.”
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
A suicide car bomber detonated explosives at a U.S. military outpost in the Province of Diyala in the city of Baqubah, Iraq. It killed at least 9 United States soldiers and wounded at least 20 other soldiers. 15 were treated at a medical post and later released to return to duty. The remaining 5 were transferred to another medical center where they will receive further medical attention.
“We have seen a lot of recent attacks up in Diyala… that have been part of the fight for the province,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq.
A militant group calling itself the Islamic State in Iraq claimed in a statement they posted on a website: “Two knights from the Islamic State in Iraq … [in] two booby-trapped trucks hit the heart of the Crusader American headquarters in the region of Diyala.”
At least 3,333 American troops have been killed since 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq.
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By Penny Lane
Being a business person, you might ask a professional technical analyst to look at the live trading patterns and make a technical analysis trading report. Using this, you might determine the rise and fall of stock prices and how they might affect your company. You might have carried out an impressive market campaign, and managed to gather a lot of audience support. Just to spice it up a little more, consider Facebook as your internet marketing tool.
People might have initially believed that Facebook, and other social media sites, are only an entertainment platform. Therefore, it is where the youth might play games and share the latest gossip, but for the corporate sector, it is a big NO! However, within no time, this proved to be wrong. Today, with the help of Facebook, internet marketing is reaching unexpected heights.
The main reason why Facebook is such a major hit to the internet marketers is due to its popularity all over the world. Moreover, this popularity is not limited to a certain age group. This makes it a single platform where people of all age groups and from all parts of the world can get to know about your product. This is immensely helpful to the internet marketers in spreading their business globally.
On the other hand, it also uses a highly targeted advertising tool. On your Facebook page, look at the left side and study the advertisements carefully. These advertisements are present on your webpage because you might have related interests or belong to the age group that they are particularly targeted for. Using this feature, it is really helpful to attract the right target audience for your product.
Another reason that makes Facebook a useful marketing tool is its fan page facility. Using this you can create an official page for your company and market your brand. With these fan pages, you can attract huge fan following from across the world. Similarly, it is an effective way to spread authentic information about your brand. You don’t have to worry about the scandals anymore!
Moreover, with an official fan page, you can spread the latest stories and modification with your brand. Your audience can know about the latest happening a moment after it is launched. Similarly, this is again a great way to market your new products that are hitting the market. Furthermore, you can also find honest customer feedback through these pages, and this will be very helpful in knowing how your customers perceive your company.
Facebook applications are another reason why it has been so popular throughout. There are many applications that are useful to your business too. Applications like games and different contests might be designed under your brand name. Ultimately, when a person is using that application, he/she will get to know of your brand. As the next step, he/she might also visit your official page and check out the information listed on that. As a result, within a moment you will be recognized.
Social media sites are becoming quite helpful to the business sector as time progresses. With more advancement in the applications and the design of the websites, one can expect them to be more useful for internet marketing in the future.
About the Author: Penny Lane recently purchased a
live trading
course from an online store. She ordered a
technical analysis trading
course online in order to learn more about investing.
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=627974&ca=Marketing
Saturday, December 9, 2006
The International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) has stripped the rights from Fiji to host the World Netball Championships in 2007 because of the military coup that took place on December 5.
The Netball Championships were to take place between 10 July and 21 July, 2007 at Fiji’s capital, Suva.
IFNA president, Molly Rhone, said: “It is deeply regretted that we have had to take this decision, recognising the hard work that has been done by the Organising Committee in preparing to host their first senior World Championships.”
“We know that many supporters around the world were looking forward to this great sporting event in Fiji,” Ms Rhone said.
Alisi Tabete, president of Fijian netball, said that today is a very sad day for sports and that they had wasted many years preparing to host the championships. “We had been working on this event from 1999 and right now I am trying to reason with myself as to why the championships has been lost and just thinking ‘what if’.”
“We have to think positive and am still thankful that we had been given a chance for the champs,” Ms Tabete said.
The IFNA is yet to announce a replacement venue for the games. Ms Rhone said: “IFNA will now be working assiduously to find a new venue to host the Championships.”
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Gay Talese wants to go to Iraq. “It so happens there is someone that’s working on such a thing right now for me,” the 75-year-old legendary journalist and author told David Shankbone. “Even if I was on Al-Jazeera with a gun to my head, I wouldn’t be pleading with those bastards! I’d say, ‘Go ahead. Make my day.'”
Few reporters will ever reach the stature of Talese. His 1966 profile of Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, was not only cited by The Economist as the greatest profile of Sinatra ever written, but is considered the greatest of any celebrity profile ever written. In the 70th anniversary issue of Esquire in October 2003, the editors declared the piece the “Best Story Esquire Ever Published.”
Talese helped create and define a new style of literary reporting called New Journalism. Talese himself told National Public Radio he rejects this label (“The term new journalism became very fashionable on college campuses in the 1970s and some of its practitioners tended to be a little loose with the facts. And that’s where I wanted to part company.”)
He is not bothered by the Bancrofts selling The Wall Street Journal—”It’s not like we should lament the passing of some noble dynasty!”—to Rupert Murdoch, but he is bothered by how the press supported and sold the Iraq War to the American people. “The press in Washington got us into this war as much as the people that are controlling it,” said Talese. “They took information that was second-hand information, and they went along with it.” He wants to see the Washington press corp disbanded and sent around the country to get back in touch with the people it covers; that the press should not be so focused on–and in bed with–the federal government.
Augusten Burroughs once said that writers are experience junkies, and Talese fits the bill. Talese–who has been married to Nan Talese (she edited James Frey‘s Million Little Piece) for fifty years–can be found at baseball games in Cuba or the gay bars of Beijing, wanting to see humanity in all its experience.
Below is Wikinews reporter David Shankbone’s interview with Gay Talese.
Friday, March 28, 2008
2008 Taipei International Cycle Show (Taipei Cycle) & Taipei International Sporting Goods Show (TaiSPO) not only did a best reunion with conjunctions of the launch of Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition and the concurrent cycling race of 2008 Tour de Taiwan but also provide opportunities and benefits for sporting goods, bicycle, and athlete sports industries to establish the basis of the sourcing center in Asia and notabilities on the international cycling race.
Although the Taipei cycle was split from the TaiSPO since 1988, but the trends of sporting good industry in Taiwan changed rapidly and multiply because of modern people’s lifestyles and habits. After the “TaiSPO Innovation Award” was established since 2005, the fitness and leisure industries became popular stars as several international buyers respected on lifestyle and health.
For example, some participants participated Taipei Cycle and TaiSPO with different product lines to do several marketing on bicycle and fitness equipments, this also echoed the “Three New Movements” proposed by Giant Co., Ltd. to make a simple bicycle with multiple applications and functions. As of those facts above, Wikinews Journalist Rico Shen interviewed Ideal Bike Corporation and Gary Silva, designer of “3G Steeper” to find out the possibilities on the optimizations between two elements, fitness and bicycle.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
The United States of America have beaten the New Zealand Wheel Blacks to win the 2006 Wheelchair Rugby Championships, the fourth championship ever held.
The final score was 34-30 at Christchurch, New Zealand’s Westpac Stadium. The Americans had led by one point following the first quarter, 9-8, and went into half time with the US leading 16-15, but the lead spaced further apart going into the final quarter, 25-23.
US and New Zealand, the Athens 2004 paralympic champions, had played each other previously in the tournament with US coming out winner 42-34.
Grant Sharman, New Zealand Wheel Blacks coach, said: “The Wheel Blacks did not quite have their ‘A game’ in the final today and the Americans played extremely well.”
US played a near-faultless game of wheelchair rugby, which won them the match.
The defending champions, Canada, finished third place overall by defeating Great Britain 23-19.
The final standings were:
Sunday, September 7, 2008
The ‘Invitational Games for the Deaf, Taipei 2008’ started yesterday in Taipei, Taiwan. After table tennis and soccer, events from martial arts including karate, judo, and taekwondo were featured mainly in the 2nd matchday. Unlike the taekwondo event which applied a single elimination rule, events from karate and judo applied round robin rules in their competitions.
Athletes from 7 nations including Argentina, Chinese Taipei (the host), Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, and the United States were among the main participants this event. As of the most recent lead check, European and American athletes threatened athletes from East Asians with what appeared to be a greater strength.
Guler Muhammed from Turkey accomplished a new record to win his gold medal in Men’s 58kg class. But European and American spectators were witnesses to the performance from the host after Bo-cong Lin and Szu-jou Lu won gold medals from “Men’s 58kg to 68kg” and “Women’s 49kg to 57kg” classes.
The karate event distinguishes classes with different weights, men’s are under 65kg, under 75kg, and over 75kg; women’s just differed with classes at 60kg.
Juan Matias Diaz from Argentina shone in the battlefield with a 3rd-straight-win, to win his gold medal in Men’s under 65kg class; but in Men’s under 65kg class, Russian athlete Evgeniy Pavlyuchenko had to give up, and Takahiro Kojima won his gold medal by defeating his teammate Akinobe Miyashita.
In judo, it was the first time ever that two athletes both won bronze medals in the same class since this invitation games began yesterday. In the men’s under 60kg (class), Akio Kira made a 4th-straight-win to win the gold medal, his teammate, Tomohiro Higashi won bronze medal with local athlete Wei-lun Hsu having the same scores in this class. Jinsub Byeon from South Korea, Sergey Belyaev from Russia, and Susana Monteggia from Argentina, won their gold medals in men’s 60.1kg to 66kg, men’s 66.1kg to 73kg, and women’s 57.1kg to 70kg classes.
| Order | Team | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Taipei | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| Japan | 4 | 1 | 4 | |
| Argentina | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 4 | South Korea | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | Turkey | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 6 | Russia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | United States | 0 | 0 | 1 |