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Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with NDP candidate Sheila White, Scarborough-Rouge River

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Having worked as an aide, advisor, and Executive Assistant to municipal and provincial politicians, Sheila White is running for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Scarborough-Rouge River riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

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Seeds placed in Norwegian vault as agricultural ‘insurance policy’

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a vault containing millions of seeds from all over the world, saw its first deposits on Tuesday. Located 800 kilometers from the North Pole on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, the vault has been referred to by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso as a “frozen Garden of Eden“. It is intended to preserve crop supplies and secure biological diversity in the event of a worldwide disaster.

“The opening of the seed vault marks a historic turning point in safeguarding the world’s crop diversity,” said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust which is in charge of collecting the seed samples. The Norwegian government, who owns the bank, built it at a cost of $9.1 million.

At the opening ceremony, 100 million seeds from 268,000 samples were placed inside the vault, where there is room for over 2 billion seeds. Each of the samples originated from a different farm or field, in order to best ensure biological diversity. These crop seeds included such staples as rice, potatoes, barley, lettuce, maize, sorghum, and wheat. No genetically modified crops were included. (Beyond politics they are generally sterile so of no use.)

It is very important for Africa to store seeds here because anything can happen to our national seed banks.

Constructed deep inside a mountain and protected by concrete walls, the “doomsday vault” is designed to withstand earthquakes, nuclear warfare, and floods resulting from global warming. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called it an “insurance policy” against such threats.

With air-conditioned temperatures of -18 degrees Celsius, experts say the seeds could last for an entire millennium. Some crops will be able to last longer, like sorghum, which the Global Crop Diversity Trust says can last almost 20 millenniums. Even if the refrigeration system fails, the vaults are expected to stay frozen for 200 years.

The Prime Minister said, “With climate change and other forces threatening the diversity of life that sustains our planet, Norway is proud to be playing a central role in creating a facility capable of protecting what are not just seeds, but the fundamental building blocks of human civilization.” Stoltenberg, along with Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, made the first deposit of rice to the vault.

“It is very important for Africa to store seeds here because anything can happen to our national seed banks,” Maathai said. The vault will operate as a bank, allowing countries to use their deposited seeds free of charge. It will also serve as a backup to the thousands of other seed banks around the world.

“Crop diversity will soon prove to be our most potent and indispensable resource for addressing climate change, water and energy supply constraints and for meeting the food needs of a growing population,” Cary Fowler said.

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Toyota recalls up to 1.8 million automobiles

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The automobile manufacturer Toyota has said that it will recall up to 1.8 million cars across Europe, after a problem with the accelerator pedal was discovered.

According to the firm, eight models were affected by the problem — AYGO, iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis, and RAV4 — after it was discovered that the accelerator may become stuck in a depressed position, resulting in uncontrollable speeding.

On Thursday, Toyota said it would recall 1.1 million cars in the US; a day previous, it had suspended eight models from sales. Last week, 2.3 million cars in the US were recalled due to the pedal issues.

The chief executive of Toyota Motor Europe commented on the recall. “We understand that the current situation is creating concerns and we deeply regret it,” said Tadashi Arashima. The firm, however, noted that it wasn’t aware of any accidents resulted by the malfunctioning accelerator pedals, and not many pedal problem incidents were reported in Europe. “The potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances,” Arashima added.

The National Automobile Dealers Association, meanwhile, commented that Toyota showrooms could lose as much as US$2.47 billion worth of revenue due to the incident.

“Toyota veterans will likely hear the news with disbelief and keep faith in the brand, but new customers could definitely be scared off,” remarked Robert Rademacher, who is the president of the trade group ZDK, as quoted by Business Week. “This recall has a dimension which we’ve never seen before.”

There are concerns that the problem may result in reduced consumer trust in Toyota. Hans-Peter Wodniok, an analyst for Fairesearch GmbH & Co. in Germany, noted: “If this is a one-time event, huge as it is, Toyota may be forgiven. But if something happens again in the next months and years, they will have gambled away customer trust in Europe as well.”

Analysts for Morgan Stanley, however, said they believed Toyota would not suffer much from the incident. “The company’s actions to correct the situation are timely enough to avoid major brand damage,” they remarked in a note to investors.

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US Food and Drug Administration reports melamine found in contaminated pet food

Friday, March 30, 2007

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced at a press conference today that a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics was found in recalled pet food from Menu Foods.

The FDA found melamine in samples of Menu Foods pet food and in samples of wheat gluten, imported from China, which was used as an ingredient. The FDA analysis, however, does not confirm the presence of the rodenticide aminopterin, which was reported March 23 by the New York State Food Laboratory.

According to Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, melamine is used primarily to make plastic kitchenware, although it has been used as a fertilizer in Asia.

Sundlof also indicated that the presence of melamine in the urine of cats that died from kidney failure was revealed through testing. He stressed that melamine was not determined to be the source of illness or deaths in the affected animals.

Sundlof suggested that melamine would not be found normally in pet food.

At a news conference Friday, Paul Henderson, President and CEO of Menu Foods, indicated that Menu Foods is satisfied that the contamination problem was related to melamine and not aminopterin. “One week ago, some of the dedicated researchers who had been investigating this matter reported the discovery of a single, toxic compound in our pet food,” said Henderson in his opening statement. “That, seemingly, cleared the way for us to address the problem, deal fairly with the pet-owners who had been injured, put our business back together, and move on,” he continued.

“In the intervening week, other top scientists have been unable to validate the findings. That is, they were unable to find the toxin – called aminopterin – in our pet food, or in any of the component ingredients. It was also brought to our attention that some veterinary experts held the view that aminopterin was inconsistent with what was being observed in dogs and cats,” Henderson said.

Menu Foods has determined that melamine in wheat gluten from a new US supplier was the likely source of contamination, and that they are confident that the issue has been resolved. “Melamine has been found in the wheat gluten from a new supplier in the United States, who sourced this wheat gluten in China,” said Henderson. “This is the same ingredient that Menu Foods made reference to in its recall press release of March 16. Melamine has not been found in the wheat gluten that we obtain from our other suppliers.”

Henderson refused to name the supplier of the wheat gluten, leaving that up to the FDA. “We have had correspondence with the FDA and we know that they are diligently following-up on the supply of the suspect wheat gluten. It is not our place to name the supplier as we do not want to interfere in any way with the important investigation they are conducting.”

Menu Foods is maintaining the warning on the previously recalled product. “The recalled product is unfit for consumption by pets. It contains melamine. The pet food that we have manufactured after March 6 is safe and healthy,” stated Henderson.

Menu Foods is the manufacturer of several brands of cat and dog food subject to a March 16, 2007 recall.

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Science academies urge teaching of evolution

Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Interacademy Panel on International Issues (IAP), a global network of the world’s science academies, has released a statement urging parents and teachers to provide children with ‘the facts about the origin and evolution of life on Earth’. The statement is signed by 67 of the 92 member academies of the organisation, and notes that in some schools around the world, “testable theories” about evolution are being “concealed, denied or confused by theories not testable by science”.

The statement presents four “evidence-based facts” that no scientific evidence has ever contradicted. These include the Earth being approximately 4.5 billion years old, life on Earth being at least 2.5 billion years old, and commonalities in all living organisms indicating a common primordial origin based on the process of photosynthetic organisms.

The news follows developments, mainly in the United States, where there is a concerted effort to include the teaching of ‘intelligent design‘ (ID), a theory which claims that complex biological features indicate that the presence of an intelligent ‘designer’ in schools. Opponents of this movement argue that it doesn’t qualify as a scientific theory, and is simply a disguise for creationist beliefs. In the US, where the separation of church and state is mandated by constitutional law, efforts to include ID in school syllabi were quashed by the courts, as the teaching of religion in schools is against the Establishment clause of the constitution of the United States. Despite this, George Bush has in the past remarked that he believes intelligent design should be taught in schools. The President has not shown any sign of plans to personally intervene in the legal debate however.

In December 2005, following legal case between the parents and the school district of Dover (Pennsylvania, USA), the judge decided that intelligent design was a religious view, and that it was unlawful to teach it as an alternative to evolution within the classroom. The IAP statement suggests that the science academies believe that ID is still being taught within some schools, however.

A Gallup poll conducted in May concluded that 46 percent of Americans believe that God created man in his present form sometime in the past 10,000 years, with 13 percent believing mankind evolved with no divine intervention and 36 percent saying that mankind developed over millions of years from lesser life forms, but with God guiding the process.

The IAP statement acknowledges limitations in current understanding, but argues that the process of science allows it to be open-ended and subject to correction and expansion as new understanding emerges.

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May

7

Java Control Statements}

Java Control Statements

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Infocampus

The Java if illumination is utilized to test the condition. It checks boolean condition: ensured or false. There are unmistakable sorts of if articulation in java. java/j2ee classes bangalore

if illumination

if-else elucidation

if-else-if

Java IF Statement The Java if elucidation tests the condition. It executes the if piece if condition is considerable. Java IF-else Statement The Java if-else elucidation likewise tests the condition. It executes the if piece if condition is bona fide generally else square is executed. Java IF-else-if wandering stool Statement The if-else-if wandering stool verbalization executes one condition from various declarations. Java Switch Statement The Java switch verbalization executes one declaration from various conditions. It would appear that if-else-if step articulation.

Java Switch Statement is disregard to work out The java switch proclaim is disregard to work out. It gathers it executes all presentation after first match if break proclaim isn’t utilized with switch cases. Java For Loop The Java for circle is utilized to underscore a touch of the program two or three times. On the off chance that the measure of highlight is settled, it is prescribed to use for circle.

There are three sorts of for drift in java.

Simple For Loop

For-each or Enhanced For Loop

Labeled For Loop

Java Simple For Loop The key for circle is same as C/C++. We can show variable, check condition and development/decrement respect. Java For-each Loop The for-each circle is utilized to investigate show or assembling in java. It is less unpredictable to use than clear for float since we don’t have to extend respect and utilize subscript documentation. It handles parts begin not record. It returns section one by one in the depicted variable. Java Labeled For Loop We can have name of each for circle.

To do in that limit, we utilize name before the for circle. It is valuable on the off chance that we have consented to circle so we can break/proceed with particular for circle. Traditionally, break and proceed with catchphrases breaks/proceeds with the inward most for float as they say. Java Infinitive For Loop in the event that you utilize two semicolons ;; in the for circle, it will be infinitive for circle.

On the off chance that the measure of emphasis isn’t settled and you should need to execute the float in any event once, it is supported to utilize do-while circle. The Java do-while circle is executed at any rate once in light of how condition is checked after circle body. Java Infinitive do-while Loop in the event that you pass real in the do-while circle, it will be infinitive do-while circle.

Java Break Statement The Java break is utilized to break circle or switch articulation. It breaks the present stream of the program at showed condition. In case there should develop an occasion of interior circle, it breaks essentially inward circle. Java Break Statement with Inner Loop It softens inward float simply up case you utilize break declaration inside the inside circle. Java Continue Statement The Java proceed with illumination is utilized to proceed with circle.

It proceeds with the present stream of the program and skirts whatever is left of the code at chose condition. If there should develop an occasion of inward circle, it proceeds essentially inside circle. Java Continue Statement with Inner Loop It proceeds interior float just on the off chance that you utilize proceed with illumination inside the internal circle. Java Comments The java remarks are illuminations that are not executed by the compiler and mediator. The remarks can be utilized to give data or clarification about the variable, framework, class or any assertion. It can likewise be utilized to cover program code for particular time.

Sorts of Java Comments There are 3 sorts of remarks in java.

1.Single Line Comment

2.Multi Line Comment

3.Documentation Comment

1) Java Single Line Comment The single line remark is utilized to remark just a singular line. 2) Java Multi Line Comment The multi line remark is utilized to remark diverse lines of code. 3) Java Documentation Comment The documentation remark is utilized to make documentation API. To make documentation API, you have to utilize javadoc mechanical gathering.

Infocampus offers java training in bangalore. We also provide java certification training path for our students in Bangalore. on day time classes, end of the week instructional courses, evening group classes and quick track instructional courses. Contact 9738001024 to know more about java course in Bangalore Visit http://infocampus.co.in/java-training-bangalore.html

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com}

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May

6

Twelve injured in Washington after ride at fair topples over

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Twelve injured in Washington after ride at fair topples over
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Sunday, April 19, 2009

At least twelve children have been injured after a swing ride at the Puyallup, Washington Spring Fair toppled over.

The ride is called a ‘LollySwing’, which is located in Kiddyland, where the riders sit in swings while the machine spins them around. It is owned by Funtastic Traveling Shows which has been a ride provider for the fair for over 50 years. The accident happened at around 6:30 p.m. (PDT).

Injuries are being described as mostly cuts and bruises, but one child was reported to have been in a neck brace and was taken to a local hospital. Five other children were also hospitalized.

According to one witness, “it just all of a sudden topped over.” The cause is under investigation. The ride has been at the fair for the past five years. Among the seven largest operators of fair rides in Washington, from 2001 to 2007 there were only seven reports of injuries related to mechanical failures.

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May

6

Romania will do everything possible to spare journalists kidnapped in Iraq

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Romania will do everything possible to spare journalists kidnapped in Iraq
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Saturday, April 23, 2005

The president of Romania, Traian B?sescu, said on Friday that his country will do everything possible in order to free the three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq a few weeks ago, after Islamic militants released a video threatening to kill them.

Al-Jazeera reported a few days earlier that the Iraqi militants would kill the journalists unless the Romanian government withdraws its troops from the country within four days. With 850 troops, Romania has one of the largest contingents in Iraq. In January this year, after President B?sescu was elected, he pledged to send more peacekeeping troops in Iraq.

On Friday evening, the colleagues and relatives of the journalists gathered in front of the Cotroceni Palace, B?sescu’s residence, to call for their release. After learning of the released tape, B?sescu returned from the GUUAM summit in Chi?in?u, Republic of Moldova, where he was an observer, to Bucharest, where he called for a meeting with the relevant departments to discuss the issue.

The families of the journalists were also invited to Cotroceni, and sympathy was expressed for them. The President told them that, “The state institutions are doing everything we can [to save the three journalists].”

Reporter Marie-Jeanne Ion, from Prima TV, and cameraman Sorin Dumitru Miscoci and reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian, from newspaper România Liber?, were kidnapped in Baghdad on March 28, one day after President B?sescu made an unexpected visit to Iraq to announce a supplement of troops.

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May

6

Manchester City loans Joe Hart to Torino

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Manchester City loans Joe Hart to Torino
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Saturday, September 3, 2016

On Wednesday, English football club Manchester City F.C. announced that they had loaned their goalkeeper Joe Hart to Italian club Torino F.C. till the season end.

Hart joined City from Shrewsbury Town F.C. in 2006. Since then, he has won four Premier League Golden Gloves for keeping most clean sheets in a season, which is a League record. In a decade at the Etihad Stadium, Hart has won two Premier League trophies, two Football League Cups and one FA Cup.

Hart debuted for England at the age of 21, and has represented the country at UEFA Euro 2012 and 2016 and FIFA World Cup 2014.

Signing the contract, Hart said, “I am very excited to compare myself in an important and beautiful League such as Serie A.”((it))Italian language: Sono molto felice di potermi confrontare in un campionato bello e difficile come la Serie A.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart’s move away from Manchester City came about a week after Pep Guardiola signed Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo from FC Barcelona.

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May

6

Finnish metal band win 51st Eurovision Song Contest

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Finnish metal band win 51st Eurovision Song Contest
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Sunday, May 21, 2006

Lordi, described as “cartoon metalheads” wearing latex monster masks, beat runner-up Russian “heart throb” Dima Bilan to win this year’s 51st Eurovision song contest held in Athens, Greece. Bosnia’s Hari Mata Hariwas came third.

In a spectacular show, hosted by Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas, Lordi amassed 292 points after a public vote – 44 ahead of Russia. Greece’s singer Anna Vissi, who was one of the favourites to win, came 9th, followed by Ireland’s Brian Kennedy. From the start of the song contest as well as during the televoting, the Greek organisers presented viewers choreographies and dances inspired by Greek culture and music, both ancient and modern. In addition, the world famous Greek singer Nana Moushouri was presented by the hosts and gave the sign for the start of televoting.

Wielding spark-spewing instruments, the “Monster-themed” rock band beat 23 other competitors, scoring 292 points from telephone voters in 38 countries with its song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” in a performance that both shocked and amused viewers.

A spokesperson for Lordi said: “We won the contest, looking like this,” he said. “It just goes to show that Europe is not such a bad place.” The Finnish band thanked viewers for voting for their song, which featured the lead singer hoisting a double-headed-axe microphone stand above his head. The win has been dubbed as a “radical departure” from the catchy pop tunes, folk songs and emotional ballads normally associated with Eurovision.

Complete with distorted guitars, a catchy chorus and “mock-demonic imagery,” Lordi is reminiscent of 1970s American band Kiss – an inspiration acknowledged by lead singer Mr Lordi. “What this has shown is that there are different styles of music than just pop and rock,” Mr Lordi told news media after the surprise victory. “That should be the goal of Eurovision,” he said.

Mr. Lordi, whose real name is Tomi Putaansuu, hails from Lapland and says his band’s masked personas are just characters. “The guys behind the masks are not interesting – underneath, there’s just a boring, normal guy who walks the dogs, goes to the supermarket, watches DVDs and eats candies. You really don’t want to see him.” he said. But the characters “live on stage and they live in a fantasy world”, he said. “This element of mystery is one of the cornerstones of Lordi.”

The band has upset many Finns with their outrageous behaviour. “This is a victory for rock music… and also a victory for open-mindedness,” Mr Lordi said. “For the millionth time, we’re not Satanists or devil worshippers. This is entertainment. The masks are like our calling card and we’ll never perform without them. It would be like Santa Claus handing a child his gifts at Christmas time and then pulling off his beard…”

The 51st annual Eurovision was broadcast live across Europe, watched by an estimated 100 million viewers. Regarded by many as the “contest good taste forgot,” Eurovision is adored by fans of kitsch and camp everywhere.

Lordi join the likes of Abba, Bucks Fizz, Dana and Celine Dion on the elite list of Eurovision winners.

Because of Lordi’s first place finish, next year the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest will take place, for the first time, in Helsinki, Finland.

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