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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Fiat announced on Friday that it intends to purchase the six percent of automaker Chrysler that the US government currently owns, which would give the Italian company a 52 percent majority stake in Chrysler.

According to Fiat’s announcement, the company has told the US Treasury that it intends to use its option to buy the share in Chrysler held by the US government, a deal that will be finalized by June 10. If a price is not agreed on by that time, Fiat will pay the average of the estimates of two investment banks.

In 2009, Fiat bought a twenty percent stake in Chrysler, which had just exited bankruptcy, and has since increased its holding to 46 percent, expected to increase to 57% by the end of this year.

According to analyst Maryann Keller, the deal is a good one for both companies, as “[n]either one has the ability to compete alone in the kind of global environment that they face.” Analyst Rebecca Lindland said that the move will also benefit the companies by getting “them out from underneath any hint of government ownership and any of that negativity that went along with the bailout.”

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Security officials in Pakistan have stated that “[a]t least seven militants” have been killed by suspected US drone strikes. According to reports, US aircraft fired four missiles in North Waziristan, which killed seven or eight rebels and destroyed two cars parked outside a building.

An intelligence official informed AFP that at least seven militants were killed in the incident while three others were wounded. Two other officials from Miranshah confirmed the reports. The identities of those killed have not been confirmed. Officials said the area was a stronghold of a rebel group headed by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, which regularly attacks NATO officials in the country.

The first of the two attacks occurred when two missiles fired at a pair of cars beside a camp located near Mir Ali, North Waziristan, killed six people. The missiles destroyed a nearby compound as well as the vehicles according to officials. Officials added that two suspected rebels were killed by another drone which was fired near the bank of a river close to the camp. These were the ninth and tenth drone strikes carried out in the month of October. September had seen twenty one such strikes, which was the highest number of monthly airstrikes in Pakistan.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Kentucky State Police said yesterday that the September 12 death of census worker Bill Sparkman was suicide. His body was found naked in a Clay County, Kentucky cemetery, with “Fed” written on his chest and his census identification taped to his neck. This prompted widespread speculation that anti-government sentiment was responsible. However, police now believe that Sparkman deliberately killed himself, and tried to make it look like murder so his son could receive an insurance payout. Trooper Don Trosper, a Kentucky State Police spokesman, said, “[w]e believe this was an intentional act. We believe the aim was to take his own life.”

This conclusion is based on the police’s analysis of several elements of the crime scene; Sparkman was not hanged in the typical manner; his knees were less than six inches off the ground, and he could have avoided death simply by standing up before he suffocated. Captain Lisa Rudzinski, a leader of the investigation stated, “We do not believe he was placed in that position.” The letters of the word “Fed” were written bottom first, which is unlikely if they had been written by an attacker. The rag found in his mouth contained only Sparkman’s DNA. Police also believed he left glasses taped to his head so he could see while preparing.

Police suspect Sparkman’s motives included debt, failure to find a full-time job, and a desire to provide for his son through his life insurance.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

On Monday, Lucy Allan MP (Member of Parliament) called for a public inquiry into an alleged child sexual exploitation ring in Telford, Shropshire, England, which may have been operating for 40 years and had as many as a thousand girls as victims. This came in direct response to an investigative report by the Sunday Mirror the previous day. Allan wants an independent inquiry, similar that for the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, which came to light in 2012 and had a similar scale and duration.

The Mirror alleges that hundreds of girls were raped, beaten, drugged and sold for sex. Victims were as young as 11 and at least three were killed. Details of negligence and outright misconduct by the authorities, including local council staff, the police and social workers, are also contained in the exposé.

“There must now be an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford so that our community can have absolute confidence in the authorities,” Allan said. “The IICSA will not investigate whether any of the authorities in Telford should be accountable. That is why we must have an independent inquiry into what happened in Telford; such an inquiry is outside the current scope of the IICSA.”

IICSA is the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which plans to look into the Telford situation, according to the BBC. In 2013, Operation Chalice saw the breakup of a child sex grooming ring in Telford with seven men of South Asian origin convicted. However, if the Mirror’s report is accurate, it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the alleged failings by authorities include social workers being aware of abuse without a police investigation for up to a decade; classifying underage girls as prostitutes instead of victims; not keeping records of alleged perpetrators out of fear it could look like racism; police not investigating despite five reports being filed. The Mirror also said the authorities actively tried to obstruct their investigation.

“Child sexual exploitation [CSE] is a vile, evil crime. It’s an issue right across the UK and has been for a long time. Telford will be covered by the national CSE review. We welcome this. All agencies continue to work very closely together and this remains our top priority,” said a spokesperson for Telford and Wrekin Council according to Russia Today. “Our approach to CSE is now very different from 10-20 years ago. We have learned lots of lessons and are constantly on the lookout for indicators of CSE so that we can pass information on to police and bring these evil criminals to justice. Indeed, further cases are now coming to court.”

Saturday, May 20, 2006

The People’s Republic of China has announced the completion of an enormous dam across the Yangtze River, an important milestone for the world’s largest hydroelectric project. The official Xinhua News Agency reports the event as a “landmark in the construction of the project.”

Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project, including the 2,300 metre long, 185 metre high dam with 26 power generators, is being built in three phases on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River – China’s longest river. Built with over 16 million m³ of concrete, the Three Gorges Dam is considered the biggest reinforced concrete dam in the world.

The Three Gorges Reservoir is capable of holding nearly 40 billion m³ of water, including a space of 22.15 billion m³ for extra flooded water. With a length of more than 6,300 km and a natural fall of 5,400 metres from the west to the east, the flood-prone Yangtze River is the third largest in the world.

The gigantic project is expected to generate around 15 million megawatts of electricity, 84.7 billion kWh annually when the entire project is completed in 2008. But whilst proponents of the world’s largest hydropower project laud the increased electricity generation and improved flood control as benefits to China, opponents claim destruction of the environment, ruin to China’s cultural heritage – disaffecting millions of local residents.

“In my view, building the Three Gorges dam is a ridiculous and evil farce,” says dam opponent Dai Qing. “Many people have known something is wrong with the project, but few have dared to speak up,” she said. After it becomes operational, the 660km reservoir created by the dam will drown 13 towns, 4500 villages and 162 archaeological sites.

Friends of the Earth (FoE) are also strident vocal critics. “The dam is having a titanic social and environment impact,” the group said this week. “Sometimes people are being moved out by truncheon and bulldozer because they refuse to leave their home for fear of not being rehoused. Human rights violations are massive and brutal,” it said. FoE pointed to evidence that the dam was already having a serious environment impact.

FoE points to a scientific study by the East China Normal University in Shanghai, published in March in Geophysical Research, which said that in 2004, the Three Gorges dam has reduced the supply of sediment to the Yangtze delta to just 35 per cent of the norm.

Millions of tonnes of silt are drawn along the Yangtze river every year, and critics argue the dam will intercept much of it – with potentially disastrous consequences. They say the lack of sediment further downstream would lead to soil erosion, and the accumulation of sediment in the reservoir could raise the dam level, submerging even more land.

Opponents say the reservoir could fill with the accumulated garbage from tens of millions of households. The China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corp. has spent $2.5 million on a vessel to collect as much as 7 million cubic feet of garbage that accumulates at the dam each year, according to Xinhua. Some argue that the impact of the dam project will contribute to the extinction of the rare Yangtze river dolphin.

The dam project will force the relocation of a total of 1.13 million people, and communities that have lived in the area for millennia will disappear. Researchers warn sedimentation and rising water levels in the reservoir will lead to the evacuation of tens of thousands more people.

But as the waters rise, that which can not be saved will disappear along with some world famous natural scenery. Critics say the dam is under threat from earthquakes, with two geological fault lines nearby. Officials working on the project counter this by saying the worst that can happen is a tremor measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, while the dam is built to withstand force 7.0.

“Although the dam is now complete, we still have a long way to go and cannot become self-satisfied or relax our efforts in the least,” Li Yongan, general manager of the Three Gorges Project Development Corp, said. The official China Daily in an editorial called for people to remember the more than 100 workers whom died during the dam’s construction. “The best possible way to repay such a debt of gratitude is to make sure the highest safety and quality standards are observed up till the very end of the entire building process,” the editorial said.

Monday, March 6, 2006

In Helsinki, the Finnish trade union for bus and truck drivers has gone on strike on Sunday evening, mainly over the use of part-time labor. The strike is estimated to affect 100,000 people in the capital area, crowding the remaining transit system on Monday morning. The strike is halting almost half of all bus traffic in and around Helsinki, especially hurting travellers commuting from outlying cities Espoo and Vantaa, where over 60% of bus traffic will be stopped.

The strike also affects 4,000 of Finland’s 55,000 delivery trucks, as well as waste management in many areas. The strike is not affecting trains, trams or the underground, but heavy crowding is to be expected. Authorities are also warning of traffic jams during rush-hours as people use personal cars instead of public transportation.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

VIENNA –Doctors from the Rudolfinerhaus clinic in Vienna say “there is no doubt” Ukrainian opposition leader Victor Yushchenko was poisoned with Dioxin.

Yushchenko’s body had about 1,000 times more than the normal concentration of the toxin. It is unknown if there were any other poisons in his system.

Although it has not yet been proven that the poisoning was deliberate, doctors suspect it was. “We suspect a cause triggered by a third party,” said Michael Zimpfer, head doctor at the Rudolfinerhaus clinic. He suggested the poison may have been administered orally, through food or drink.

Today’s announcements are a follow-up of an earlier press conference, where Dr. Korpan that there were three hypotheses under consideration, one of them involving dioxin. He did not reveal what the other two hypotheses were. Dr. Michael Zimpfer, director of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic emphasized that time there was no proof yet to specify the substance causing the illness.

Yushchenko left Kiev on Friday (2004-10-12) for further examination in Vienna. When Yushchenko fell ill on October 6th, Ukrainian doctors had initially diagnosed food poisoning, leading to speculation that he had been poisoned deliberately. The illness has disfigured Yushchenko’s body and face which doctors say could take up to two years to heal.

He fell seriously ill on the September 6th, during his presidential campaign. Yushchenko was taken to the Rudolfinerhaus clinic of Vienna, where he stayed for four days under Dr. Korpan’s care. He was diagnosed with “acute pancreatitis, accompanied by interstitial edematous changes.” These symptoms were said to be due to “a serious viral infection and chemical substances which are not normally found in food products” as his campaign officials put it. In laymans terms, he developed an infection in the pancreas and got a bad skin condition that disfigured his face with cysts and lesions. The skin condition has similarities with the chloracne associated with dioxin posioning according to a British toxicologist John Henry.

Viktor Yushchenko (left) as he appeared in July 2004 and (right) as he appeared in November after the poisoning(Gleb Garanich/Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

nu.nl (Dutch)
BBC News
“Is Viktor Joesjtsjenko vergiftigd?” — Brabants Dagblad, 26 November 2004
Jeremy Page. “Who poisoned Yushchenko?” — The Times, 8 December 2004
Federica Castellani. “Yushchenko’s acne points to dioxin poisoning” — Nature.com, 8 December 2004

Earlier, doctor Nikolai Korpan of Rudolfinerhaus clinic confirmed today that the illness of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was caused by an attempt to kill him.

Ukraine political crisis – Wikinews’ special coverage portal

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Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Stock markets across the world have fallen sharply with several seeing the biggest drop in their history.

Asian markets saw the biggest sell-off. The Nikkei dropped 9.62% to reach a 20 year low. Japan also saw a collapse of a mid-size insurance company, Yamato Life Insurance Company, which declared bankruptcy. The Hang Seng, which was one of the few markets that was positive yesterday, fell 7.19%. Australia dropped by 8.4% and South Korea saw a 9% fall.

In Europe, markets dropped at the open with the FTSE losing 11%. They have recovered only sightly with all European markets losing more than 5%. The European sell off was more about the Asian lows then any specific news. European banks and financial institutes saw the most selling. Also, oil related companies saw large drops as an result of an expected decrease in oil consumption.

The U.S. markets opened lower with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling below 8,000, before recovering slightly. President George W. Bush made an address on the economy and said markets were being “driven by uncertainty and fear.”

Oil has seen losses of more than US$6 in trading with the current price of a barrel of oil less than $80. This is a year low for oil. News also came out that OPEC will hold an emergency meeting on November 18 to discuss the falling price of oil.

Charities, such as Cats Protection, today said that they have lost much of their funds in collapsing banks. Cats Protection had a total of £11.2 million saved in the now-collapsed Kaupthing bank.

The British National Council for Voluntary Organisations said that 60 of its 6,500 have lost money due to the collapse of banks.

1 Stock markets
- 1.1 Dow Jones Industrial Average
- 1.2 FTSE 100
- 1.3 Nikkei 225
2 International reaction
- 2.1 George W. Bush
- 2.2 Gordon Brown
- 2.3 Jim Flaherty
3 Market data
4 Sources

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest level in five years at 8,579.19, falling 679 points in one day. This, at 7.3%, is the eleventh largest percentage fall in the history of the index. The growth then continued, with the index being up over 150 points on the start of the day at one point.

The index, did however, recover, and as of 19:30 UTC was up 17.68 points, or 0.21%, pushing the index up to almost 8600.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners, commented on these massive falls. “What we’ve seen here was one big margin call that just kept feeding on itself, so the opposite could happen. But you need a catalyst,” he said. “I’m more convinced now than ever that this market has made a bottom. The capitulation came when we breached 8,000,” he continued. “It doesn’t mean we can’t go back and revisit that level.”

The UK’s FTSE 100 index fell dramatically to close below 4000, in the index’s worst week in history. This is despite the fact that just a few days ago the index was above 5000, and the index peaked above 5500 in September.The FTSE 100 index has fallen by 41% this year.

Barclays Wealth analyst Henk Potts commented on this massive fall. “We are drowning in a sea of red numbers,” he claimed. “Investors are concerned about the exacerbation of the credit crunch and the gloomy forecasts for economic growth. The reality is that most investors have been spooked by the sheer pressure that the credit crunch is putting on the global economy.”

The Japanese Nikkei 225 has recorded it’s third biggest drop in history with a massive sell-off in the exchange that has resulted in USD 250 billion being knocked of the index’s value.

Toyota, which is the second largest carmaker in the world, fell by the largest amount in 21 years, while Elpida Memory, the world’s largest manufacturer of computer memory, dropped in value to a record low.

Masafumi Oshiden, a fund manager in Toyota commented on the drop.”It’s capitulation,” he said. “There are lots of forced sellers. If you’re a fund that’s going bust you need to close out all your positions.”

George W. Bush commented on the financial situation earlier today. “Over the past few days, we have witnessed a startling drop in the stock market — much of it driven by uncertainty and fear,” he said. “This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people. Many of our citizens have serious concerns about their retirement accounts, their investments, and their economic well-being.”

Bush then continued by promoting the government’s plan’s to get through the crises. “Here’s what the American people need to know: that the United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets. We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal. We’re using these tools aggressively.”

Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, also spoke on the economy. “I think we quickly realised that we cannot solve the problems we have got as a result of the sub-prime market collapse simply by improving liquidity,” he said speaking in Birmingham to business leaders earlier today. “That would simply not be enough to deal with the bigger problem of rebuilding the banking system for the future and restoring trust is a fundamental element of that.”

Jim Flaherty, the Canadian minister for finance, also commented today on the recent incidents in the economy. “It is important to underline that Canada’s banks and other financial institutions are sound, well capitalized and less leveraged than their international peers,” he claimed. “Our mortgage system is sound. Canadian households have smaller mortgages relative both to the value of their homes and to their disposable incomes than in the U.S.”

“”However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the continuing disruption of global credit markets, which has been severe and protracted, is making it difficult for our financial institutions to raise long-term funding. This is beginning to affect the availability of mortgage loans and other types of credit in Canada,” he continued. “The Government has therefore decided to act to address the current scarcity of private sector lending to Canadian mortgage markets and lending markets overall. This is going to make loans and mortgages more available and more affordable for ordinary Canadians and businesses.”

20:15, 10 October, 2008 (UTC)
DJIA	8.451,19	128,00	1,49%
Nasdaq	1.649,51	4,39	0.27%
S&P 500	899,22	10,70	1,18%
S&P TSX	9.264,57	335,61	3.50%
IPC	19.952,30	357,87	1,76%
Merval	1.215,990	71.340	5,54%
Bovespa	35.615,26	1,474.03	3,97%
FTSE 100	3.932,06	381,74	8,85%
DAX	4.544,31	342,69	7,01%
CAC 40	3.176,49	266,21	7,73%
SMI	5.347,22	451,62	7,79%
AEX	258,05	23,92	8,48%
BEL20	2.123,44	117,44	5,24%
MIBTel	15.438,00	1,081,00	6,54%
IBEX 35	8.997,70	905,20	9,14%
All Ordinaries	3.939,50	351,80	8,20%
Nikkei	8.276,43	881,06	9,62%
Hang Seng	14.796,90	1,146,37	7,19%
SSE Composite	2.000,57	74,01	3,57%

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

German side 1. FSV Mainz 05, of the Second Bundesliga, have reached the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal, Germany’s equivalent of the FA Cup, for the first time in their history. They defeated Bundesliga side FC Schalke 04 by 1 – 0 on a goal from Aristide Bancé in the 88th minute. For Schalke, it was just another disappointment in an already dismal season; being elminiated from the Cup means they must improve their current Bundesliga standing to fifth – it was eighth place at the conclusion of the 22nd Matchday – to have any chance to appear in the UEFA Europa League.

Mainz got started just after the first whistle, when Markus Feulner had a shot from the left side blocked by Jefferson Farfán after eight minutes. However, Schalke began to dominate after the half-hour mark. A shot from Heiko Westermann sailed just wide of the goal in the thirty-second, and a corner kick from Mladen Kristaljic richocheted off the crossbar eight minutes later. Schalke manager Andreas Müller was unhappy with his team’s effort in the first half, however, saying “We don’t have enough power to penetrate towards the front.” Striker Kevin Kurányi was replaced by Halil Altintop at the break. An opportunity for Mainz in the sixty-eighth was stopped by keeper Manuel Neuer after an unsuccessful rescue attempt by Ivan Rakitic. Altintop had a shot fly inches wide of the post in the seventy-first. Schalke nearly gave up a penalty in the eighty-second as Rafinha made a hard and controversial tackle on Sr?an Baljak, but referee Felix Brych allowed play to continue. Finally, in the eighty-eighth, Aristide Bancé converted off of a long indirect free kick to put Mainz through to the semi-finals.

March 3, 200920:30 (UTC+1)
	1. FSV Mainz 05	1 – 0	FC Schalke 04	Stadion am Bruchweg, Mainz Attendance: 20,100 Referee: Felix Brych (Munich)
	Karhan 60’Soto 66’Buckley 66’Neustädter 75’Feulner 75’Bancé 88’Svensson 90’Baljak 90′		Altintop 45’Kurányi 45’Rakitic 64′ Engelaar 64′

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Categories

Benefits Of Letting Us Guide You Through Your Filing

Fiat plans to buy majority stake in Chrysler

Pakistan: Suspected US drone strikes kill seven rebels

Death of Kentucky census worker considered suicide

Mirror‘s exposé prompts call for inquiry into child abuse ring in Telford, England

China completes “mammoth” Three Gorges Dam hydro-electricity project

Transit strike affects 100,000 in Helsinki

Ukraine opposition candidate Yushchenko is suffering from a Dioxin intoxication, doctors say

Global markets plunge

Contents

Football: FSV Mainz 05 advance to semi-final of DFB Pokal