Saturday, October 6, 2007

France have defeated New Zealand 18-20 in the quarter-final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales.

New Zealand led 13-3 at half time, after Dan Carter kicked two penalties and Luke McAlister scored a try. France missed chances to score with Lionel Beauxis and Jean-Baptiste Élissalde both missing penalties and Damien Traille missing a drop goal attempt. Lionel Beauxis scored France’s first points with a penalty just before half time.

However, New Zealand centre Luke McAlister was harshly sin-binned early in the second half for illegally blocking a French player and preventing a try scoring opportunity. France took advantage of having the extra man, and levelled to 13-13 by the time the 10 minute suspension had elapsed with Lionel Beauxis adding a penalty and Thierry Dusautoir scoring a try. New Zealand then scored through Rodney So’oialo to regain the lead, but after Frédéric Michalak made a run, before passing to Yannick Jauzion who scored the try which was then converted, France led 20-18. The teams slogged it out for 15 minutes, but New Zealand could not make a breakthrough. Luke McAlister missed a last minute drop goal attempt as France held on to win.

Some New Zealand fans blamed the loss on English referee Wayne Barnes due to alleged bias towards the French team. Controversial decisions included Luke McAlister’s sin binning and an apparent forward pass that led to France’s second try, allowing them to take the lead. However, most neutrals also noted an apparent forward pass in the build up to an earlier New Zealand try and consider Barnes to have done a reasonable job in such a high profile game.

France advance to the semi-final stage of the tournament and will play England, who defeated Australia 12-10 earlier today, in a repeat of the 2003 semi-final.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern about crises in Chad, Kenya, and the Sudan. The U.N. chief is recently back from Africa where he attended the African Union summit in Ethiopia and met with leaders in Kenya.

On rebel efforts to overthrow the government in Chad in recent days, the secretary-general welcomed an African Union initiative to have the leaders of Libya and the Democratic Republic of Congo mediate the crisis. He says the United Nations will do its utmost to help resolve the crisis, urging the Security Council to act swiftly to help bring an end to the violence.

“It has devastating consequences not only for the people of Chad and Darfurian refugees seeking shelter there, but also for Darfur itself,” said Ban.

Mr. Ban told reporters the situation in the neighboring Darfur region of Sudan is no less troubling. He says the deployment of the AU-U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, must be sped up and urged member states to properly equip the troops.

“UNAMID still lacks required aviation and ground transportation – chiefly helicopters. Additional troops will not make up for this shortfall,” said Ban. “Those countries that called for intervention in Darfur are under special obligation to deliver on their promises.”

While at the AU summit, Mr. Ban says he discussed some of the outstanding issues affecting the deployment with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, and he expects the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) to be signed this week. But Mr. Ban remained vague on whether some of the agreement’s sticking points – such as night flights, land agreements, and advance notice of U.N. movements – had been settled.

On Kenya, Mr. Ban says he has been deeply engaged in the post-election crisis and told political leaders during his visit there that they bear particular responsibility for the future of Kenya.

“I stressed to all the Kenyan leaders the need to stop the unacceptable violence and killings, and to resolve their differences through dialogue and democratic process. I also appealed to all the political leaders to think beyond their individual interests or party lines and to look to the future of Kenya as one country,” he said.

Mr. Ban also met in Nairobi with his U.N. predecessor, Kofi Annan, who is leading the panel of eminent Africans trying to mediate the crisis, and said they discussed his roadmap for the talks.

Security of U.N. personnel in Africa and elsewhere has been high on the secretary-general’s agenda, especially in the wake of the December bombing in Algeria that killed 17 staff members. Mr. Ban announced that he is naming diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi to chair an independent panel on safety and security of U.N. personnel and premises. Brahimi is an Algerian, but Mr. Ban says he has no concerns about his fairness or objectivity in heading up the panel.

Monday, November 5, 2007

In the 1980’s and the 1990’s there were multiple allegations of sexual abuse of children or non-consenting adults in the context of Satanic rituals that has come to be known as The Satanic Panic. In the United States, the Kern County child abuse cases, McMartin preschool trial and the West Memphis 3 cases garnered worldwide media coverage. One case took place in Jordan, Minnesota, when children made allegations of manufacturing child pornography, ritualistic animal sacrifice, coprophagia, urophagia and infanticide, at which point the Federal Bureau of Investigation was alerted. Twenty-four adults were arrested and charged with acts of sexual abuse, child pornography and other crimes related to satanic ritual abuse; only three went to trial with two acquittals and one conviction. Supreme Court Justice Scalia noted in a discussion of the case, “[t]here is no doubt that some sexual abuse took place in Jordan; but there is no reason to believe it was as widespread as charged,” and cited the repeated, coercive techniques used by the investigators as damaging to the investigation.

One of the most visible Satanic organizations—though one that was never a suspect or charged in any of the Satanic Panic cases—is the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey. Members of the Church, such as Peter H. Gilmore, Peggy Nadramia, Boyd Rice, Adam Parfrey, Diabolos Rex, and musician King Diamond, were active in media appearances to refute allegations of criminal activity and the FBI would later issue an official report debunking the criminal conspiracy theories of this time.

Gilmore feels Satanists are often misunderstood or misrepresented. LaVey’s teachings are based on individualism, self-indulgence, and “eye for an eye” morality, with influence from Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand; while its rituals and magic draw heavily from occultists such as Aleister Crowley. They do not worship—nor believe in—the Devil or a Christian notion of Satan. The word “Satan” comes from the Hebrew word for “adversary” and originated from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally applied to an angel. Church of Satan adherents see themselves as truth-seekers, adversaries and skeptics of the religious world around them.

On a windy October day in Central Park, Wikinews reporter David Shankbone sat down with the High Priest of the Church, Peter H. Gilmore, who has led LaVey’s congregation of Satanists since his passing in 1997 (he became the High Priest in 2001). They discussed the beliefs of the Church, current events, LaVey’s children and how Satanism applies to life and the world.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Top broker and Wall Street adviser Bernard L. Madoff, aged 70, was arrested and charged by the FBI on Thursday with a single count of securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud. He allegedly told senior employees of his firm on Wednesday that his $50 billion business “is all just one big lie” and that it was “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme (since at least 2005).” Mr. Madoff faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $5 million. FBI agent Theodore Cacioppi said Mr. Madoff’s investment advisory business had “deceived investors by operating a securities business in which he traded and lost investor money, and then paid certain investors purported returns on investment with the principal received from other, different investors, which resulted in investors’ losses of approximately $50 billion dollars.”

The former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market is also the founder and primary owner of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the closely-held market-making firm he launched in 1960. The firm is one of the top market maker firms on Wall Street. He founded his family firm with an initial investment of $5,000, after attending Hofstra University Law School. He saved the money earned from a job lifeguarding at Rockaway Beach in Queens and a part time job installing underground sprinkler systems.

A force in Wall Street trading for nearly 50 years, he has been active in the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), a self-regulatory organization for the U.S. securities industry. His firm was one of the five most active firms in the development of the NASDAQ, having been known for “paying for order flow,” in other word paying a broker to execute a customer’s order through Madoff. He argued that the payment to the broker did not alter the price that the customer received. He ran the investment advisory as a secretive business, however.

Dan Horwitz, counsel of Mr. Madoff, in an interview, said that “he is a longstanding leader in the financial-services industry with an unblemished record; he is a person of integrity; he intends to fight to get through this unfortunate event.” Mr. Madoff was released on his own recognizance on the same day of his arrest, after his 2 sons turned him in, and posting $10 million bail secured by his Manhattan apartment. Without entering any plea, the Court set the preliminary hearing for January 12.

Madoff’s hedge fund scheme may rank among the biggest fraud in history. When former energy trading giant Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001, one of the largest at the time, it had $63.4 billion in assets. The scheme would dwarf past Ponzis, and it would further be nearly five times the telecommunication company WorldCom fraud and bankruptcy proceedings in 2002.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a separate civil suit on Thursday against Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and its eponymous founder Mr. Madoff. It was docketed as “U.S. v. Madoff,” 08-MAG-02735, by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan). SEC, New York associate director of enforcement, Andrew M. Calamari, asked the judge to issue seizure orders on the firm and its assets, and appoint a receiver. The SEC pleads, among others, that “it was an ongoing $50 billion swindle; our complaint alleges a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions.” It further accused the defendant of “paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from other, different investors” for years. Madoff’s hedge fund business had previously claimed to have served between 11 and 25 clients and had $17.1 billion in assets under management. But virtually all of the assets were missing.

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Louis L. Stanton on Thursday appointed Lee Richards, a Manhattan lawyer, as the firm’s receiver. A hearing is set for Friday, for a ruling on the SEC’s petition to grant plenary powers to the receiver over the entire firm, and an absolute asset sequestration.

Doug Kass, president of hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management said that “this is a major blow to confidence that is already shattered — anyone on the fence will probably try to take their money out.”

Sunday, February 12, 2006

According to the Thai News Agency Sondhi Limthongkul, an outspoken critic of the government and Prime Minister, may face legal action.

This would not be the first time the de-facto leader of the campaign to oust the Prime minister has faced legal action over his words. In 2005, a number of lawsuits were filed by the Prime Minister against Sondhi, most notable being a 1 billion baht suit in November. Thailand’s King, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama the ninth) made use of his 78th birthday speech to comment on the issue and advise that the government must accept some criticism. This resulted in the dropping of the lawsuits.

Sondhi’s recurring open-air rallies and protests have made calls for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to resign or to be impeached. It is remarks made at a rally held this weekend at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok that are under scrutiny by lawyers for the ruling Thai Rak Thai party. Dr Surapong, who announced the party’s investigation of the remarks, described them as “offensive” and “verbal abuse”. He called for a halt to the accusations whilst a petition detailing alleged offenses of the Prime Minister was reviewed.

That petition was submitted for the attention of the King as the climax to Sondhi’s last rally in Royal Plaza on February 5. After addressing a crowd estimated to number more than 100,000. Sondhi then delivered the petition through an aid at the residence of the President of the Privy Council. Several accusations are leveled at the Prime Minister in the petition, including allegations that he has used his position for personal financial gain.

A new petition seeking the Prime Minister’s impeachment, which was started on February 10, reached 7,500 signatures in just 3 days. Thammasat university’s student union has started this effort which, according to the country’s constitution, requires a total of 50,000 signatures gathered within 180 days for the impeachment process to begin.

Sunday, August 6, 2006

Wikimania 2006 is the second annual Wikimedia conference. Hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it began August 4 and will run until August 6.

Wikimania began with a keynote presentation from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation. Wales played a short portion of a clip from a recent episode of U.S. television program The Colbert Report discussing Wikipedia. In the clip, Colbert says that “any website that has a longer entry on truthiness than Lutheranism has got its priorities straight.” His keynote continued by re-emphasising Wikimedia’s mission, as stated by Wales in a Slashdot interview: “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing”.

Wales stated that Wikipedia is “not as good as Britannica — yet”. Additionally, he also stated that in the coming year, Wikipedia will be making “a turn towards quality”. “We have always had this goal, but we all know we’re not there yet – in the coming years one of the themes is going to be a turn towards quality.” said Wales.

He then introduced Brad Patrick, the general counsel and recently-appointed interim CEO of Wikimedia. Patrick said he found Wikimedia after reading Wales’ list Ten Things That Will Be Free on Lawrence Lessig‘s blog. After discovering the Wikimedia Foundation, Patrick emailed Wales about meeting for lunch. He had lunch with Wales a few months later and was hired as general counsel shortly after.

Wales went on to describe Wikia, the company he co-founded with Angela Beesley. He announced that Wikia has received venture capital, allowing them to hire full-time engineers to work on the MediaWiki software. He emphasized that Wikia, has “a total commitment to free knowledge and respect for communities.”

Later, Wales announced that the One Laptop Per Child project will be including Wikipedia as the first element in the content repository. He also announced that the board has approved Wikiversity as “a center for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities”. Wikiversity will “create and host a range of free-content multilingual learning materials for all age groups in all languages”. It will be launched soon with a three language, six month, beta trial period.

Wales described a project called Wikiwyg: a WYSIWYG editor for the wiki. Wikiwyg is an attempt to make the wiki easier to edit. “An intelligence test by making it hard to edit, just does not work,” noted Wales. While the release date is uncertain both Wikia and Socialtext are devoting full-time engineers to the project.

Wales emphasized the need to focus on quality. He also briefly discussed the commitment in the German Wikipedia to rolling out a stable version. He stated that if we do not have it rolled out by next year’s keynote “we are making a big mistake”.

Wales finished his keynote by giving an update on his Ten Things That Will Be Free and proposing “that the foundation seek funding to hire community coordinator and recruiters for important languages where we currently do poorly”.

Other notable speakers included Ward Cunningham, Lawrence Lessig, Eben Moglen and many members of the Wikimedia communities.

The day wrapped up with a poster reception and a party celebrating Wikia’s 250,000 articles and Wikia’s founders Angela Beesley and Jimmy Wales birthdays.

Archived copies of many of the presentations are available on the Wikimania wiki.