Wikinews Shorts: June 14, 2007
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A compilation of brief news reports for Thursday, June 14, 2007.
A bomb blast during a soccer match at stadium in Pattani injured 14 police officers who were providing security for the game between two local teams.
Police said the bomb was placed inside a flower planter and detonated via cellphone, and that five officers were seriously injured.
Related
- “13 schools torched in southern Thailand” — Wikinews, June 14, 2007
Sources
- Agencies. “Soccer match bomb wounds 14” — Bangkok Post, June 14, 2007
- “Bomb at soccer injures five” — The Nation (Thailand), June 14, 2007
A 29-year-old man in Riau was confirmed today to have died of the H5N1 strain of avian flu, making him the 80th person in Indonesia to die from the virus.
“Before showing bird flu symptoms, he slaughtered and cooked sick chickens,” Muhammad Nadirin of the Health Ministry’s Bird Flu Center was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.
Indonesia has the highest number of human deaths from H5N1, and the highest number of cases at 100.
Sources
- Agence France-Presse. “Indonesia confirms 80th bird flu death” — Channel NewsAsia, June 14, 2007
- Kyodo News. “Indonesia bird flu cases top 100, death toll rises to 80” — Yahoo! News, June 14, 2007
An outbreak of H5N1, the avian flu virus, was reported today by a livestock official in Myanmar. He said about 1,000 chickens were slaughtered after the virus was found on June 3 in 28 chickens on a farm in Bago, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of Yangon.
It is the first outbreak of the bird flu in Myanmar, also known as Burma, since April.
Sources
- Agence France-Presse. “Myanmar reports fresh outbreak of bird flu” — Channel NewsAsia, June 14, 2007
- Associated Press. “Burma reports new bird flu outbreak” — The Irrawaddy, June 13, 2007
Hamas has said that their forces have taken control of the main compound of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas located in Gaza City.
Abbas was not in the compound at the time.
Reports also say that Fatah members fled the compound just before it was attacked.
Sources
- “Report: Hamas forces take over Abbas’s compound” — Jerusalem Post, June 14, 2007
- “Hamas takes over presidential compound in Gaza City” — International Herald Tribune, June 14, 2007
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- 20 Foot Container
Submitted by: David Chandler
Nearly every gardener has some type of gardening tools. In fact, it is nearly impossible to have a garden without the necessary garden tools. What kind of gardening equipment you use will obviously depend on the size and extent of your garden, what you are able to handle, if you want to spend a lot of time in your garden or get it done quickly, and finally, how much money you are willing to spend.
While many gardeners do not have expensive or high-tech gardening tools, all of them have some type of gardening equipment for cultivating. Tools for cultivating can include both hand held tools and power tools. What kind you buy depends on how serious of a gardener you are. Hand tools include your everyday items like shovels, spading forks, rakes, trowels, and diggers. These can all be used to get a garden ready for planting and are relatively easy and do not require much strength to use. Other tools include a wheel cultivator, pickax, and mattock.
While power tools are a little more expensive than hand tools, they really cut down on the hard labor. The most essential piece of gardening equipment is undoubtedly the tiller. The tiller will break up the ground and get it ready for planting, chop up any debris, and help mix in fertilizer and compost. If you do not want to spend the money on a tiller, you can hire someone or rent a tiller. Other power tools that are very popular include chippers and garden shredders.
If you have shrubs, hedges, or small trees in your yard, pruning tools are a vital piece of gardening equipment. Pruning shears are good for branches about in diameter, while lopping shears can handle branches from a half inch up to about 2 inches. Pole pruners are on a pole and can reach branches about 15 feet above ground. Hedge shears and pruning saws are both larger, more heavy-duty pruning tools for the serious gardener.
Since your plants must be watered in order to survive, and lets face it, it doesn’t rain whenever we want it to, gardening equipment for watering is a must have. The one thing you cannot get along without is a water hose, everything after that is optional. Many gardeners use sprinklers or drip irrigation hose. There are even timers you can purchase for sprinklers or drip hoses, if you are willing to drop the extra cash.
Gardening without gardening tools would be a nightmare. Sure there are some people who enjoy getting a little dirty while they plant their flowers, but even those types of people have the most basic of gardening tools, like a rake or a hoe. Gardening equipment is a part of gardening, as important as the dirt and the seeds.
About the Author: For more information about garden tools, visit
gardentoolinfocenter.com
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US president Obama, Congress call for blocking of executive bonuses at AIG insurance company
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009
United States President Barack Obama stated Monday that insurance giant AIG is in financial trouble due to “recklessness and greed,” and called for legal action to stop the company from giving out millions of dollars in bonuses to its executives.
“It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay,” Obama said. “How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat.”
Obama’s statement comes after reports surfaced last weekend saying the insurance agency, which is in deep financial trouble, had paid US$165 million to executives in bonuses, after receiving $170 billion as part of a government bailout plan.
AIG has said that the bonuses have to be given out, as the company is legally required by contract to do so. A representative with the National Economic Council, Lawrence H. Summers, also said that the bonuses were required to be given out. If AIG had refused to give out the bonuses, employees could file a lawsuit against the company for the money.
“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” AIG CEO Edward M. Liddy said in a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Saturday.
Liddy said that he asked Geithner “to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.”
“I want everybody to be clear that Secretary Geithner’s been on the case,” Obama said. “He’s working to resolve this matter with the new CEO, Edward Liddy, who, by the way, everybody needs to understand, came on board after the contracts that led to these bonuses were agreed to last year.”
If the bonuses cannot be stopped, the U.S. Congress says they want AIG to reimburse the government. Congress is looking to impose stiff new taxes on the pay, or ordering the company to return the money which was originally granted from a government bailout. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday, senator Richard Shelby promised that the treasury will recover all of the money. Several U.S. senators along with Liddy have sent letters to AIG asking for the bonuses to be renegotiated, something AIG agreed to and says they will reduce future bonuses by 30%. Senators state that if Libby does not respond by renegotiating the bonuses, the Senate Finance Committee will propose an excise tax. Not only will an excise tax be proposed on AIG, but all companies receiving bailout money and their employees who receive bonuses.
| What is the highest excise tax we can impose that will stand up in court? Let’s find out. | ||
Numerous House Democrats have introduced legislation which would place a 100% tax on any bonuses of over $100,000 from companies that are receiving government bailout funds. Meanwhile in the Senate, a bipartisan proposal by Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) would levy a special 90% excise tax on AIG’s bonuses. Asked Senator Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee: “What is the highest excise tax we can impose that will stand up in court? Let’s find out.”
