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Thursday, August 25, 2005

Rescuers are searching for the victims of the Tans Peru airliner crash which occurred earlier this month. Emergency services rescued 5 survivors on Thursday morning.

TANS say that 41 people were killed and a further 57 injured in this, the fifth airliner crash worldwide this month. The Boeing 737-200 airliner crash-landed in heavy jungle near the city of Pucallpa, 840 kilometers (522 miles) northeast of Lima, the capital city.

Peruvian authorities have ordered an investigation and have shipped the aircraft’s two flight data recorders, or “black boxes” to the United States for data retrieval.

Jorge Belevan said “We’ve also found five more survivors and that takes the number (of survivors) to 57. Two people are still missing and there are 41 dead,” Local authorities also said that the death toll is likely to rise due to inaccessible location of the crash site. This is the second TANS Peru plane crash in three years, following the January 2003 crash of flight 222 in the Peruvian rainforest. In that plane crash there were no survivors.

Peruvian government lawyer Marco Ochoa said that rescuers are opening the skin of the aircraft to determine whether there are more bodies trapped inside.

Survivors said that the plane was caught in a fierce storm about 10 minutes before the crash. The plane then caught fire and landed in swampland.

Monday, June 20, 2011File:R. Lee Wrights LPNC 2012 State Convention.jpg

R. Lee Wrights, a candidate for the U.S. Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination, took some time to speak with Accredited Wikinews Reporter William Saturn about his presidential campaign and positions on political issues.

Wrights, a native of North Carolina, is an activist and lifetime member of the Libertarian Party who currently serves as the editor of several Libertarian publications. He previously worked as a medical technician in the United States Air Force and earned degrees in History and Journalism at Willmar College.

He is currently being challenged for the nomination by National Guard officer R.J. Harris, radio host Jim Duensing, former Nevada Libertarian Party chair Jim Burns, marketing executive Roger Gary and attorney Carl Person. 2008 Vice presidential nominee Wayne Allyn Root is also expected to make a run.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Earlier this month, former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith announced his candidacy for Florida’s open Senate seat in the 2010 midterm election. Smith, who was one of New Hampshire’s senators for two terms — which amounts to twelve years — said he is running for office in his recently adopted home state due to his disapproval of the direction in which America is headed. He is very optimistic about the conservative change he can potentially bring to Congress which is currently controlled by liberal-minded members of the Democratic Party.

Smith has, however, some major hurdles to overcome in the Republican primary. He is facing two well known politicians who have been elected to statewide office numerous times. The chief of these is current Governor Charlie Crist, a moderate-to-liberal who is currently leading in the polls. The second is former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio, a center-right 38-year-old who has been criticizing Crist for months on the support he has shown for President Barack Obama’s controversial economic stimulus package.

Despite trailing both in recent polls, Smith believes that the polls themselves are irrelevant as the primary is over one year away. He is devoting the remainder of this summer to building up grassroots and financial support for his campaign.

Wikinews reporter Joseph Ford had the opportunity to speak with him about his run this past weekend.

“We must deliver a message that appeals to all members of the Republican Party, and that will appeal to Floridians in the general election,” Smith proclaimed. “I am in this race because I want to make my experience as a U.S. Senator available to my fellow Floridians.”

Friday, January 13, 2006

In a recent ZNet Commentary, Howard Zinn wrote that a group of people, including Gino Strada, Paul Farmer, Kurt Vonnegut, Nadine Gordimer, and Eduardo Galeano, are promoting the creation of worldwide gatherings to renounce war. Their intention, according to Zinn, is to make worldwide renunciation of war so popular that halting existing wars and preventing the beginning of new wars is politically irresistible.

In his article, After This War, Zinn asks, “should we not think beyond this war? Should we begin to think, even before this shameful war is over, about ending our addiction to massive violence, and using the enormous wealth of our country for human needs?” He goes on to talk of ending not just “this war or that war but war itself. Perhaps the time has come to bring an end to war, and turn the human race onto a path of health and healing.”

The five people have been actively involved in global issues for many years and have a solid track record of accomplishments on the world stage.

Dr. Gino Strada is a war surgeon and the founder of Emergency, a nonprofit, humanitarian organization dedicated to providing assistance to civilian victims of war. His recent book Green Parrots: A War Surgeon’s Diary helped persuade Italy to abandon the use and manufacture of a flying anti-personnel mine.

Dr. Paul Farmer is a Harvard professor and practicing physician. In 1987, he helped found the worldwide health organization Partners in Health, which treats some of the poorest people on Earth. Dr. Paul Farmer has received a “genius” award from the MacArthur Foundation.

Kurt Vonnegut is an American writer and humanist, currently serving as Honorary President of the American Humanist Association. As a WWII prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany, Kurt witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden. This event formed the core of his book Slaughterhouse-Five. In a column for In These Times, he began “… our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees … the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East … like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.”

Nadine Gordimer from South Africa received the 1991 Nobel Prize in literature and 1974 Booker Prize. She received worldwide praise for her leadership for South Africa to re-examine and replace its long held racist policy of apartheid.

Eduardo Galeano’s books combine history, political analysis, journalism and fiction. “I’m a writer obsessed with remembering, with remembering the past of America … condemned to amnesia. The Open Veins of Latin America is one of Galeano’s works covering the exploitation of Latin America by foreign powers from the 15th century onwards.

Both Nadine and Eduardo’s books are recognized by the Great Books Foundation as among the top 40 books in Citizens of the World: Readings in Human Rights. We Say No by Eduardo Galeano and Comrades by Nadine Gordimer are listed there along with the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, Independence by Mahatma Gandhi, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

Howard Zinn is a U.S. historian, political scientist and author of fifteen books. Howard writes, “In a world of clashing interests—war against peace, nationalism against internationalism, equality against greed, and democracy against elitism—- it seems to me both impossible and undesirable to be neutral in those conflicts. I do not claim to be neutral, nor do I want to be… . I will try to be fair to opposing ideas by accurately representing them.”

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

At 2 am, September 25, UTC time, the jury of Wikimania 2007 City Contest announced that Taipei has been chosen as the host city of Wikimania 2007.

“Taipei had the winning combination of a dedicated and experienced bidding team, a great venue with centralized accommodation and community areas, and strong sponsorship opportunities. Taipei also provides the opportunity to focus attention on the growing Asian language projects and the international aspect of the Wikimedia Foundation, as well as learning about other free knowledge efforts and projects in the region,” the jury said.

“This was a very difficult decision. Every one of the shortlisted bids this year were outstanding,” the jury continues. The other 3 bidding cities are Turin (Italy), Alexandria (Egypt) and London (United Kingdom).

Wikimania is a conference for users of the wiki projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Researchers and speakers presented studies and experiments on Wikipedia and other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, on wiki culture and technology, and on the world of free knowledge. The first conference was held in Frankfurt, Germany from August 4 to 8 in 2005; the second ran from August 4 to 6 in 2006 in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States. The third run will be held in Chien Tan Overseas Youth Activity Center, Taipei, Taiwan from August 3 to 5 in 2007.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Supreme Court in Lausanne, Switzerland has ruled that Texas hold ’em poker is a game of luck, rather than a game of skill. As a result, only casinos can host poker tournaments in Switzerland. Private games with friends, even where money is at stake, are still permitted under the ruling.

Poker tournaments had been growing in popularity in the country, with many events held in hotels and bars. Such venues do not have to pay the 50% tax on profits levied on licensed casinos, nor comply with regulations combating money laundering and gambling addiction. Poker is now categorised alongside roulette and slot machines, which as games of luck can only be played inside casinos. Mathematics, strategy, and bluffing were less important in determining the result than chance, said the judges, overturning a lower court ruling to the opposite effect, and disagreeing with the stance of the country’s Federal Gaming Commission.

Before the ruling, it had been estimated by the Swiss Federation of Casinos that there were about 100 unlicensed poker tournaments every weekend. A Swiss poker website, SwissPokerTour.ch, has described the result as “a black day for all amateur poker players in Switzerland.”

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Indian Ocean – The death toll continues to grow and millions face a homeless life in the new year as coastal communities in south Asia struggle against continued aftershocks and flooding caused by the largest earthquake to strike the planet in more than a generation.

The magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake struck off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia on December 26, 2004, at 00:58:50 UTC (or 07:58:50 local time in Jakarta and Bangkok).

The earthquake was the strongest in the world since the 9.2-magnitude Good Friday Earthquake which struck Alaska, USA in 1964, and the fourth largest since 1900. More than 140,000 deaths[1] were caused by resulting tsunami, which in Thailand were up to 10 meters (33 feet) tall, and struck within three hours of the initial event.

Multiple tsunamis struck and ravaged coastal regions all over the Indian Ocean, devastating regions including the Indonesian province of Aceh, the coast of Sri Lanka, coastal areas of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the resort island of Phuket, Thailand, and even as far away as Somalia, 4,100 km (2,500 mi) west of the epicenter.

While the earthquake and the tsunamis are no longer ongoing (other than aftershocks), the humanitarian and economic crisis generated by the disaster is still ongoing. This report will attempt to cover the crisis as it continues to develop.