goodfellowsmansfield.com

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Twenty-four thousand delegates from over 132 countries are expected to attend the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto this week

Delegates include scientists, politicians, health care workers, government and non-governmental officials, people with AIDS and celebrities. In attendance will be Bill and Melinda Gates, Bill Clinton, Richard Gere, Olympia Dukakis and Sandra Oh.

The theme of the conference is “Time to Deliver” and is meant to focus attention on the need to meet past promises to increase funding for treatment, care and prevention. The conference began on August 13th and is scheduled to end on August 18th.

There is growing frustration with the failure of developed countries to provide drugs to combat the AIDS crisis in the developing world, particularly Africa.

“What the Western world has to do is deliver on its promises, which it never does. It always betrays the people of Africa,” Stephen Lewis, the UN secretary general’s special envoy for HIV-AIDS in Africa, told CBC News.

In the week leading up to the conference, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates announced a donation of US$500 million spread over five years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Gates and former US President Bill Clinton will be sharing the podium during this week’s conference.

International AIDS conferences have usually been attended by world leaders, particularly the leader of the host country. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been criticized for snubbing the conference by sending his health minister, Tony Clement, to attend in his place. The prime minister, who is touring Canada’s far north this week, officially declined his invitation to attend three weeks ago.

“It’s a dreadful mistake in political judgment, and it’s not excusable,” said Lewis, who was Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s. “It’s a lost opportunity to tell the world how Canada feels about this pandemic.

“The Arctic sovereignty issue will still be there on August 18 (when the AIDS conference ends),” said Lewis. “Forty million people worldwide carry this virus, and most will die preventable deaths. What greater scourge is there than that?”

This is the second major international event Canada has hosted which Harper has snubbed. Last month, he did not appear in Montreal for the 2006 World Outgames, a celebration of elite gay, lesbian, and transgendered athletes.

The AIDS conference is expected to be the largest in history and will be ten times the size of the first which was held in Atlanta in 1985. It has become a biennial event and is convened by the International AIDS Society (IAS), an independent association of HIV professionals, with more than 7,000 members from 153 countries.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A third call for boycott and second boycott hit the German online travel agency Hotel Reservation Service (HRS) this week. After a recent boycott against HRS in Münsterland, a boycott in Bremerhaven was next and is soon to be followed by the next round in Bremerhaven starting in the middle of March.

Hotels in the city of Bremerhaven already have to pay a new “bed tax” to the state of Bremen of 2.14 euro per person per night, whilst HRS is trying to increase their commission payments for its service from thirteen to fifteen percent. Further criticism of HRS focused on a preferential treatment clause that denied hotels the right to offer better prices through any other booking channel. The European umbrella organization of the catering facilities HOTREC had already criticized this type of clause and similar contract clauses in May 2011 in a position paper.

Piet Rothe, hotel owner and second chairman of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) Bremerhaven, explained that in his hotels the boycott hat not decreased bookings, merely shifted their volume to other channels such as, for instance, booking.com, who would only ask for twelve percent commission.

Rüdiger Magowsky, manager of the boarding house in Jaich, confirmed the observation that the volume of bookings had not decreased.Martin Seiffert, manager of the hotel Haverkamp, explained HRS had denied his hotel access to the system because he participated in the boycott. The access has been restored but he is considering participation in the next round of the boycott anyway.

On February 15 the higher regional court of Düsseldorf had ordered HRS in a preliminary injunction not to enforce its preferential treatment clause. Already on February 10 the German Federal Cartel Office had admonished the company for violating §§ 1 and 20 of the German Act against Restraints of Competition.

Meanwhile Markus Luthe, the CEO of the German International Hotel Association (IHA), recommended establishing a “Hotelwiki” as a yellow pages directory of the hotel industry.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

A truck carrying 35,500 pounds (16,100 kg) of explosives used in mining and seismic exploration overturned and exploded on a rural mountain section of U.S. Highway 6 in Utah’s Spanish Fork Canyon Thursday afternoon.

The wreck occurred shortly after 2 pm, as driver Travis Stewart, 30, of Rexburg, Idaho, was leaving Ensign-Bickford Co., a commercial explosives manufacturing plant at the mouth of the canyon. Company officials said the truck was destined for Oklahoma.

Witnesses said Mr. Stewart appeared to lose control of the truck after entering a curve in the road at a high rate of speed. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Ken Peay said, “speed was a factor” in the wreck of the truck but refused to speculate on how fast the truck was traveling when it wrecked. Lt. Peay said the posted speed limit on the road is 60 mph, but the advised speed is 40.

At least 17 people received minor injuries and the explosion left a 35 foot deep crater in the highway. The driver was transported via helicopter to a hospital, where he was listed in fair condition, and was later released. The co-driver Troy Lysfjord, 37, of Blackfoot, Idaho, was helped from the wreck by passers by and listed in fair condition at Utah Valley Regional Hospital in Provo.

The wreck site occurred on a major thoroughfare between Denver and Salt Lake City – about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City – was already under reconstruction by nightfall, as road crews began installing 10 inches of asphalt on the two lane road.

Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko said officials hoped to have the road fully repaired by Friday afternoon, adding that, “When you take a look at that hole that was there 24 hours ago, I think it’s amazing the progress that was made.” As of press time, the mouth of the canyon was reopened to traffic, while traffic at the accident site was impassible, and rerouted nearby.

The explosion consumed all but about 60 pounds of explosives, and loosened some boulders on the north side of the highway, damaged railroad tracks and some fiber optic lines buried along the roadway. Amtrak and Union Pacific reported delays resulting from the wreck. Uinta National Forest spokesman Loyal Clark said forest firefighters were unable to respond to several small fires nearby that were apparently started by flying debris, and that helicopters dropped water to extinguish them. High humidity and lack of fuel from a previous fire delayed the fire’s spread.

The cost of repairs, while paid immediately by the state, will ultimately be borne by the trucking company’s insurance carrier. The truck is registered to R&R Trucking of Duenweg, Missouri.

UHP Lt. Peay said the investigation findings will be turned over to Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson whom would make any final decision about what charges, if any, would be pressed.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

A book has been written based around leaked political emails sourcing from leader of the New Zealand National party, Doctor Don Brash. The book has been titled The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception and it’s by author, Nicky Hager, an activist for left-wing causes.

The release of the book was supposed to be today, however the release of the book has been prohibited by the High Court because of an injunction, issued last week, banning the publication of the leaked emails. The injunction applies to anyone as the plantiifs are in the names of “Jane Doe and John Doe”.

The topics in the book cover a lot ranging from policies and matters to do with the party. The book also includes Dr Brash’s relationship with the exclusive brethren. The books also shows that people within the party, who had denied links with the exclusive brethern, had in fact had links with them. Those people include Dr Brash, John Key the spokesman for finance and Stephen Joyce the campaign manager. The contents page has been revealed, it showed that the book includes political strategies behind the Orewa speech, the input into Nationals campaign from neo-conservatives in America, industry lobby group influences, doners to National and also the election spending strategy that was thought up by Australian advisers.

He also said it looked at a range of possible breaches of election finance laws and parliamentary spending rules.

Mr Hager confirmed that the book doesn’t just use emails but also interviews with people inside the National Party who are unhappy.

Mr Hager said that the book uses emails from Dr Brash that are non-personal and the book does not include anything about Dr Brash’s private life. He said that well-placed sources from within National had provided him with the emails. Mr Hager said: “[The emails did not come] from hacking into the parliamentary server or gaining access to Don Brash’s computer system or something like that”.

In response to the book National has begun to attack Mr Hager’s credibility. Gerry Brownlee, deputy leader, has labbled Mr Hager as a well known intriguist. “Helen Clark roundly ditched him over his Corngate allegations a few years ago and it would be interesting to know what she would make of his latest claims.”

Dr Brash said that it is not expected that their communications with the public would be made public.

The New Zealand Labour party is claiming that this book will be the “death knell” for National. Michael Cullen, deputy prime minister (PM), said: “The claims about Brash’s and John Key’s dealings with the Exclusive Brethren are very damaging. The trouble for the National Party is the book may knock out both of them in one go and the party will have to look beyond Key as leader.”

Current affairs show which is broadcast on TV3, Campbell Live, has filed legal precedings in the high court to allow the publication of the book. Carol Hirshfeld, producer, said: “[Our] lawyers are arguing the court didn’t take sufficient account of the public interest and that constitutes an unreasonable restriction on freedom of expression. Another key point in the application is that Brash knew for some time that the emails were in the public domain, but delayed acting until now.” On today’s show host of Campbell Live, John Campbell, said that he and some of his bosses had read the book.

The injunction stops the publish and broadcast, which includes the internet, of the emails. It is also prohibited to reveal what the emails contain or giving the emails to another person except the High Court where they are supposed to be given.