Thursday, January 18, 2007

Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated that his country is prepared to have a standoff with the United States.

The move comes as the U.S. decided to send another aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

According to the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the USS Stennis was dispatched to the region to “impress on Iran that the four-year war in Iraq has not made America vulnerable.”

In response to the deployment of additional troops, Ahmadinejad said that Iran was prepared for any possibility in the standoff with the West over its nuclear activities.

“Today, with the grace of God, we have gone through the arduous passes and we are ready for anything in this path. Their aim is to frighten Iran and weaken the resistance of the Iranian nation but they will not succeed,” stated Ahmadinejad.

Iran has stated that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes, but the United Nations disagrees and imposed limited sanctions on the nation last year.

“Unfortunately, some inside the country try to fabricate news and portray a bad image of the great achievement of the Iranian nation […] prescribe compromise, repeat the words of the enemy. Of course, this will have no effect,” added Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad’s announcement comes as Iran announces that the country is prepared to begin the installation of nearly 3,000 centrifuges at its nuclear facility, the Natanz uranium-enrichment complex.

According to an unknown European diplomat, “everything has been prepared for assembling [and installing] the centrifuges at Natanz for the beginning of the industrial phase of enrichment. The hardware is now in place.”

Ahmadinejad also said that enrichment of uranium will begin at the Natanz facility “very soon” and “bit by bit.”

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Many media outlets traditionally deliberately spread hoaxes on April Fools’ Day, including notable quality sources such as National Geographic and Science.

The popular British tabloid The Sun wrote that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to undergo stretch surgery to make him taller than his wife, Italian artist and model Carla Bruni. The report claimed the 5 foot 5 inch leader would be made 5 inches taller in one year using a method by Israeli professor Ura Schmuck. The Sun noted that during his visit to Britain last week, Sarkozy had high-heel shoes while his wife wore a pair of flat pumps.

The Guardian on the other hand ran an article that suggested that Carla would head an initiative by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to bring more glamour, good taste and sophistication to the U.K. general population. This would involve collaboration with Marks & Spencer for high-street fashion and Jamie Oliver for meals and wine.

BBC News had real-looking footage of flying penguins fronted by documentary host Terry Jones, which were actually an advertisement for its new iPlayer.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Officials from the Chicago, Illinois bomb squad and arson squad were earlier investigating a suspicious package found near two Chicago schools which forced their evacuation. It was later determined that the package was dynamite and the bomb and arson unit carried out a successful controlled detonation and issued the all clear at 3:45 p.m. local time.

According to ABC7 news volunteers cleaning up a lot behind the Randolph School discovered a package that they believe to be dynamite. According to Chicago Breaking News a package was found near railway lines in the West Englewood neighbourhood of Chicago. It was later determined to be a pack of commercial grade explosives which were dumped near to the lines. As a precaution the Randolph School and the South Side Occupational Academy high school were evacuated.

The bomb and arson unit later detonated the package and issued the all clear at around 3:45 p.m. local time, no injuries were reported as a result of the incident. The police are still trying to determine how the explosives reached the area.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

A man committed suicide on Tuesday by jumping from the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The unnamed man, believed to be in his twenties and of a South Asian ethnicity, jumped from the 147th floor and landed on a decking area of the 108th floor. His death would be the first known suicide that has happened at the skyscraper—currently the tallest in the world—since the building opened in January 2010.

The owner of the building, Emaar Properties, released a statement saying that at 09:00 local time Tuesday, “an incident involving a male” was reported. They continued, saying, “The concerned authorities have confirmed that it was a suicide, and we are awaiting the final report.” According to witness statements taken by the police, co-workers said the man had had a holiday request denied.

Suicide rates in the United Arab Emirates are higher than several other developed countries. Workers in Dubai say they suffer from “social abuse,” facing long work hours and few days off. Chenji, a Chinese worker in Dubai, spoke to the Big News Network about the man’s suicide, saying, “It’s a desperate act.” He added, “They promise things they don’t give once you get here.”

The Burj Khalifa has been temporarily closed to visitors as a result of Tuesday’s incident.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

A cholera outbreak in the African country of Zimbabwe has killed almost 500 people since August, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO said that the outbreak affected most areas of the country, and that some remote areas had seen fatality rates increase by as much as 30%. Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health reported 484 deaths from 11,735 cases since the outbreak began.

Zimbabwe has had annual outbreaks of cholera for nearly a decade, but this one was the most far-reaching. A report by the WHO stated that the last large outbreak was in 1992, with 3,000 cases recorded.

Cholera is frequently spread by contaminated, untreated water. The spread of the disease was expedited by the collapse of Zimbabwe’s health and sanitation systems; state media reported that most of Harare has been left without water after the city ran out of chemicals for its treatment plant. A resident of Mabvuku, a suburb located east of Harare, told APTV that electricity is not available most of the time, so water is consumed without being boiled first.

The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) said that there have been cases of cholera reported in areas of Botswana, Mozambique, and South Africa that border Zimbabwe, indicating the sub-regional threat of the outbreak. The South African ministry of health confirmed that they had 160 incidents of cholera reported, as well as three deaths.

The European Commission said that it was providing €9 million (US$11.4 million) in funds to assist Zimbabwe with the crisis. “I’m shocked at the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe and call upon the authorities there to respond quickly to this cholera outbreak by allowing full assistance from international humanitarians and regional partners,” said the commissioner responsible for the European Union’s humanitarian aid, Louis Michel.

Other agencies providing aid to the country include the United Nations Children’s Fund, the WHO, and Doctors Without Borders.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

The US military has halted the evacuation of victims of the Haiti earthquake for medical care, reportedly due to uncertainty about who will pay for the costs.

A military official told the New York Times that flights to the US were stopped on Wednesday, as some hospitals didn’t want to receive the refugees.

“Apparently, some states were unwilling to accept the entry of Haitian patients for follow-on critical care. We manage air evacuation missions, but without a destination to fly to we can’t move anybody. If we don’t have permission to bring them, or they won’t take them in, we can’t fly the mission. It’s pretty simple,” US Transportation Command spokesman Capt Kevin Aandahl said yesterday. He did not say, however, which states specifically refused more evacuees.

The New York Times reports that five hundred victims of the quake have been treated in Florida so far. A spokesman for Floridian governor Charlie Crist, however, commented that he wasn’t aware of any hospitals in the state refusing to accept more evacuees. In a letter to US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius earlier this week, however, the governor commented that “Florida’s healthcare system is quickly reaching saturation, especially in the area of high-level trauma care,” and asked for the National Disaster Medical System to be activated. That system is primarily used to help fund victims of domestic disasters.

A doctor in the earthquake-ravaged country, however, remarked that many of his patients could die if not airlifted soon. “We have 100 critically ill patients who will die in the next day or two if we don’t med-evac them,” said Doctor Green, chairman for the University of Miami’s Global Institute for Community Health and Development, to the Associated Press.

An earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.0, struck Haiti on January 12, killing as much as 200,000 people and largely destroying the capital Port-au-Prince; another million have been left without homes.

Monday, April 11, 2005

Anna Ayala, the Las Vegas woman who claims to have found the notorious “chili finger” at a Wendy’s outlet in San Jose, California, has filed lawsuits against other businesses, according to researchers at the Associated Press. Her previous court battles included the national El Pollo Loco chicken-chain, a previous employer, and even General Motors.

Ayala successfully won her suit for medical expenses against El Pollo Loco, after her daughter Genesis contracted salmonella poisoning from eating at the restaurant. However, Ayala lost another suit in 2000 claiming that a wheel fell off her car.

Ayala’s original account of the incident spoke “emotionally and with disgust” to the San Jose Mercury News when she described it to the paper.

“Lies, lies, lies, that’s all I am hearing. They should look at Wendy’s. What are they hiding? Why are we being victimized again and again?” Ayala recently told The Associated Press. Ayala is now in her Las Vegas home, avoiding reporters.

“It doesn’t prove anything,” family spokesman Ken Bono told the San Francisco Chronicle. “My mom has 10 lawsuits. A lot of people have lawsuits. Why would she sue for money? She has plenty of money,” he said.

Nick Muyo, a spokesman for the San Jose Police department, said not to expect new information in the case for at least a week.

“We just want to step back and take a deep breath,” Muyo told Knight Ridder Newspapers. “From a law enforcement point of view, once you establish it is a human finger, you have to wonder is this a case of industrial accident or is this a case of unreported homicide,” he said.

Las Vegas police searched Anna Ayala’s home on Wednesday, retrieving a cooler and other effects from her home, such as a makeup case.

Despite the incident, which has dramatically reduced sales at Northern California Wendy’s outlets, die-hard Wendy’s fans are still turning up for lunch, even at the outlet where the finger was found, at 1405 Monterey Highway, just south of downtown San Jose.

“We’ve eaten here for years,” a police officer told the San Francisco Chronicle under the condition that he remain anonymous. “They’re very nice people. When we work Spartan Stadium, we always eat here,” he said.

San Jose City Council candidate Andrew Diaz still eats the chili. And he witnessed the finger discovery.

“I walked away real slow,” Diaz told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I didn’t want any commotion,” he said.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.