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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

On Monday, South Korea’s TOP Media entertainment management company announced Seo Minwoo, lead singer of K-pop band 100%, had died at his home in South Korean capital Seoul on Sunday; reportedly, in the evening, local time. In the official statement, the agency said, “The deceased was found to have a cardiac arrest in his home in Gangnam, Seoul. 119 [helpline number] paramedics were dispatched, but he was found to have died.” ^{((ko))Korean language: ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?? 119???? ?????? ????? ?????.}

Seo was 33 years old. He made his acting debut more than a decade ago, in 2006. He appeared in Korean television series Sharp 3. A year later, Seo appeared in The King and I. In 2012, Seo took up singing, and became the lead singer of 100%.

In 2014, Seo rendered compulsory military service. He featured in another television drama in 2016 called Twenty thousand won to Pyongyang.

“The funeral will be held quietly according to the will of the family” ^{((ko))Korean language: ???? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?????}, TOP media’s announcement read. The boy band had concerts scheduled for April 21 and April 30 in Japan.

A compilation of brief news reports for Friday, May 15, 2009.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed budget cuts and layoffs for California yesterday.

Californian education budgets would be cut by $3 billion USD for the next five years if California voters gave a yes votes to the budget-related measures for May 19’s special election.

Schwarzenegger is also ready to sell state properties including the San Quentin State Prison and the Los Angeles Coliseum to raise money for the state.

Sources

• Associated Press. “Schwarzenegger Proposes Layoffs, Deep Budget Cuts” — FOXNews.com, 14 May 2009
• Christie, Jim. “California governor sees $15.4 billion gap, urges deep cuts” — Reuters, 14 May 2009

Nintendo DS sales hit one million units last April. However, even with Nintendo’s moderate success with their DS gaming system, all video game sales have declined 17%.

GameSpot writer Tor Thorsen claims that Nintendo DSi, the current release of the Nintendo DS, is an acronym for “Dominating Sales in America.”

Sources

• Thorsen, Tor. “NPD: US April sales slide 17%, DS tops 1 million” — GameSpot, 14 May 2009
• “UPDATE 1-U.S. video game sales down 17 pct in April-NPD” — Reuters, 14 May 2009

Eight-time gold medalist Michael Phelps, in a recent conference Thursday, told reporters he will enter a swimming competition today.

This is Phelps’ first swim meet since he was photographed with a marijuana pipe in his mouth.

Phelps will swim the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly races.

After the marijuana pipe photo was released, Phelps was unsure of whether he would swim again.

Sources

• Crouse, Karen. “Phelps Has Company on Comeback Trail in Charlotte” — The New York Times, 14 May 2009
• Newberry, Paul. “Phelps ready for 1st race since Beijing” — Associated Press, 14 May 2009

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Around 9:00 a.m. local time (0800 UTC) today, an explosion occurred at Barajas International Airport, in Madrid, Spain.

A car bomb exploded in the Level-D Parking Garage of the recently completed Terminal 4. A Spanish official declared that the police first received a telephone call warning them about the bomb, and then a second call with the type of vehicle. The second caller claimed the attack for the Basque nationalist group ETA. Thanks to the telephone call, the police could evacuate most of the area. One man is reported missing after the explosion, and 26 people including two police officers were reported to be injured in the blast. The terminal sustained serious damage, and the situation in the airport became chaotic on one of the busiest days of the year.

Arnaldo Otegi, spokesman of ETA’s political wing Batasuna, did not condemn the attack, but said the peace talks are not interrupted by the explosion. The Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba condemned the attack, saying that it “breaks nine months without violence on the part of ETA, which breaks the permanent ceasefire.” Only in June, the Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced peace talks with ETA. But tonight, Zapatero ordered the suspension of all dialogue, because “with violence, there can be no kind of dialogue.”

Thursday, November 8, 2007

What you are about to read is an American life as lived by renowned author Edmund White. His life has been a crossroads, the fulcrum of high-brow Classicism and low-brow Brett Easton Ellisism. It is not for the faint. He has been the toast of the literary elite in New York, London and Paris, befriending artistic luminaries such as Salman Rushdie and Sir Ian McKellen while writing about a family where he was jealous his sister was having sex with his father as he fought off his mother’s amorous pursuit.

The fact is, Edmund White exists. His life exists. To the casual reader, they may find it disquieting that someone like his father existed in 1950’s America and that White’s work is the progeny of his intimate effort to understand his own experience.

Wikinews reporter David Shankbone understood that an interview with Edmund White, who is professor of creative writing at Princeton University, who wrote the seminal biography of Jean Genet, and who no longer can keep track of how many sex partners he has encountered, meant nothing would be off limits. Nothing was. Late in the interview they were joined by his partner Michael Caroll, who discussed White’s enduring feud with influential writer and activist Larry Kramer.

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.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Police have bailed the driver of a coach which crashed on Tuesday in Cornwall, England, killing two people.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving following fatal injury of two elderly women when the coach reportedly hit a wall. A further seven passengers, seriously injured in the crash, were hospitalised.

Devon and Cornwall Police reported being alerted to the incident, about three miles (five kilometres) from the town of Looe, at approximately 1:00pm local time (1200 UTC) on Tuesday. The force arrested the 57-year-old male coach driver from Exeter on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He has been released on bail.

The cause of the crash is not yet known although police say they are investigating the incident, in which no vehicle other than the coach was involved. The passengers were travelling on a coach trip from Exmouth to Looe with Age UK.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Twenty-four cars of a west-bound Canada Pacific train were thrown from the tracks after the train collided with a semi tractor-trailer in poor weather and visibility near Regina, Saskatchewan around 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. The driver was rushed to hospital.

The accident took place on a level section of Highway 46 just north of Highway 1, about 25 kilometres east of Regina. The RCMP spokesperson reported the crossing is marked with lights, but weather may have played a role.

“Road conditions were wet and sloppy and it’s foggy,” RCMP Cpl. Brian Jones said to the CBC. The bad weather, including a heavy overnight snowfall, may have contributed to the accident.

Most of the 93 cars in the train were empty bulk transit cars, used for moving agricultural products such as grains. The RCMP report that neither train or truck were transporting any hazardous materials.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday that its board has approved a loan package worth US$1.13 billion to be granted to Pakistan.

The move came after the IMF reviewed Pakistan’s economic performance with a standby arrangment worth $11.3 billion aimed at improving the country’s balance of payments. According to a statement by the fund, disbursements have reached $7.27 billion from the plan.

The IMF described Pakistan’s economic situation as having improved in spite of “adverse security developments and a rapidly changing political environment”, although saying the economy was still vulnerable.

The board also noted that it would grant waivers for several performance criteria Pakistan did not meet, namely overrunning the budget deficit and surpassing State Bank of Pakistan borrowing limits.

Pakistan requested a bailout package two years ago from the IMF, as it was struggling with three-decade-high inflation rates; the country has also seen much violence from rebel groups, with bombings having killed over 3,200 people since July of 2007.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Two police vehicles were damaged and police officers narrowly avoided injury in Great Yarmouth, England after a mob of over 100 people assembled outside a local police station.

The event has been labelled by local police as a ‘major incident’ and has so far resulted in 15 arrests pertaining to violent disorder, possession of drugs and taking a vehicle without consent. Over 100 police officers were involved in the event; many of them from bordering counties.

The mob assembled in the early hours of Monday morning and threw missiles including wine bottles and beer cans at the building.

The conflict is thought to be connected to the prior arrests of three people driving a van containing sound equipment in connection with an unlicensed music event which was being monitored by the police several hours earlier. At the event, police had made three arrests and seized 44 vehicles.

The police are also investigating a burglary which occurred on Harfrey’s Industrial Estate in the close vicinity of the illegal music event. Police Chief Supt Scully has warned people away from the area as it is now being treated as a crime scene.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

The legality of speeding and parking fines in New South Wales, Australia is set to be tested in court this week. A lawyer from Sydney will challenge the authority of the state’s infringement processing bureau to issue fines for speeding and parking offences.

The lawyer claims that when the NSW government moved control of the bureau from the NSW Police to the Office of State Revenue in October 2001, the government failed to make correct legislative changes. He claims that all fines issued since the move are invalid.

The basis of the case revolve around whether or not the infringement processing bureau has powers to issue penalty notices (fines) under NSW law.

The bureau said that the case would only be relevant to fines which are disputed by a person in court. The bureau said that only five per cent of fines are challenged.

“People who did not elect to go to court and have paid their infringement notice will not be affected by any decision, so the issue of refunds does not arise,” a statement by the Office of State Revenue said.

For the 2004/2005 financial year, the infringement processing bureau recorded revenues of AUD$158.7 million from fines.

NSW Opposition leader Peter Debnam said the government has once again failed to write legislation correctly. “The bottom line with this thing is that the Government simply hasn’t done its homework. We see this time and time again, legislation going through parliament, and it ends up costing tax payers a fortune,” he said.