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Monday, October 12, 2009

The British stock index FTSE 100 closed at its highest levels in over a year on Monday, following news of stronger commodity prices.

The share index increased by 48.3 points, or 0.9% to finish the day at a level of 5,210.17, a figure not seen since last September.

The best performer was the Old Mutual insurance company, reaching a sixteen-month high after gaining 4.6%.

Some economic analysts think that the FTSE index could continue to gain for the remainder of the week. David Jones, the chief market strategist at IG Index, said that “the next FTSE target traders are eyeing in the short term is the 5,350 high hit in September last year and the way sentiment is going it would not be a surprise to see that hit this week.”

Other European markets also posted gains on Monday. The German DAX index gained 71.35 points to a level of 5,783.23, while the French CAC 40 increased 46.19 points to 3,845.8.

Monday, November 28, 2005

SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered.

This long-anticipated flight was originally expected to be launched in January 2005, however a series of setbacks forced a series of delays, with the flight most recently scheduled to be in early 2006. It was intended to be launched from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The maiden voyage was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite and a Space Services Incorporated space burial payload.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

A fire broke out at a record release party in Oakland, California late on Friday night. Nine were confirmed dead the following morning with the death toll rising to 24 the next day.

The warehouse, known as Ghost Ship, was hosting a party for the release of the newest album by Joel “Golden Donna” Shanahan. It is in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, a mix of commercial and residential buildings nestled together. The structure is one block away from Fire Station No. 13 and at least 55 firefighters spent four hours containing and stopping the fire which began at approximately 11:30 p.m.

Firefighters and police cordoned off the block to spectators. The two-story, mixed-use structure also housed the artist collective Satya Yuga who hosted the show and is being searched by firefighters. Out of approximately 50 attendees, at least 25 were declared missing. Shanahan was among the survivors.

Efforts to rescue partygoers were compounded by the roof caving in during the inferno as well as the stacks of furniture, art pieces, and supplies which turned into obstacles for first responders.

Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf:

The structure is owned by Chor N. Ng, who is also the proprietor of several other buildings in the East Bay. On November 13 Ng was cited by the city for having stacks of garbage in and around the warehouse. Most fatalities were reported to have occurred in the upstairs portion of the building where escape was hampered by unstable stairs and miscellaneous art pieces lying in the way. The building lacked any smoke detectors and sprinklers; fire extinguishers were found outside of the premises.

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Monday, June 21, 2010

Sweden’s first royal wedding since 1976 took place Saturday when Crown Princess Victoria, 32, married her long-time boyfriend and former personal trainer, Daniel Westling, 36. The ceremony took place at Stockholm Cathedral.

Over 1,200 guests, including many rulers, politicians, royals and other dignitaries from across the world, attended the wedding, which cost an estimated 20 million Swedish kronor. Victoria wore a wedding dress with five-metre long train designed by Pär Engsheden. She wore the same crown that her mother, Queen Silvia, wore on her wedding day 34 years previously, also on June 19. Victoria’s father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, walked Victoria down the aisle, which was deemed untraditional by many. In Sweden, the bride and groom usually walk down the aisle together, emphasising the country’s views on equality. Victoria met with Daniel half-way to the altar, where they exchanged brief kisses, and, to the sounds of the wedding march, made their way to the the silver altar. She was followed by ten bridesmaids. The couple both had tears in their eyes as they said their vows, and apart from fumbling when they exchanged rings, the ceremony went smoothly.

Following the ceremony, the couple headed a fast-paced procession through central Stockholm on a horse-drawn carriage, flanked by police and security. Up to 500,000 people are thought to have lined the streets. They then boarded the Vasaorden, the same royal barge Victoria’s parents used in their wedding, and traveled through Stockholm’s waters, accompanied by flyover of 18 fighter jets near the end of the procession. A wedding banquet followed in the in the Hall of State of the Royal Palace.

Controversy has surrounded the engagement and wedding between the Crown Princess and Westling, a “commoner”. Victoria met Westling as she was recovering from bulemia in 2002. He owned a chain of gymnasiums and was brought in to help bring Victoria back to full health. Westling was raised in a middle-class family in Ockelbo, in central Sweden. His father managed a social services centre, and his mother worked in a post office. When the relationship was made public, Westling was mocked as an outsider and the king was reportedly horrified at the thought of his daughter marrying a “commoner”, even though he did so when he married Silvia. Last year, Westling underwent transplant surgery for a congenital kidney disorder. The Swedish public have been assured that he will be able to have children and that his illness will not be passed on to his offspring.

Westling underwent years of training to prepare for his new role in the royal family, including lessons in etiquette, elocution, and multi-lingual small talk; and a makeover that saw his hair being cropped short, and his plain-looking glasses and clothes being replaced by designer-wear.

Upon marrying the Crown Princess, Westling took his wife’s ducal title and is granted the style “His Royal Highness”. He is now known as HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. He also has his own coat-of-arms and monogram. When Victoria assumes the throne and becomes Queen, Daniel will not become King, but assume a supportive role, similar to that of Prince Phillip, the husband of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sudan blamed Chad on Sunday of launching an air strike on its territory, a day after accusing the country of mounting two other raids.

“This morning at 10.30 local time [0.730 GMT], another visit took place on the same location and using the same method,” said Othman al-Aghbash, a spokesman for the Sudanese army.

Sudan also accused Chad earlier on Friday of launching a pair of airstrikes 60 kilometers (37 mi) into Sudanese territory. Chad promptly dismissed the accusations, claiming that Sudan was “the robber who cries thief.”

Ali Youssef Ahmed, the head of the Sudanian foreign ministry, called the Friday air strikes an “act of war”. He did not comment on whether Sudan was considering to retaliate to the alleged attacks, only saying that “we are considering all options.”

A spokesman for the Chadian government told reporters that “is surprised to learn that the regime in Khartoum is protesting against action by the Chadian air force on Sudanese territory”. A confrontation would be “simply the consequence of the attack on Chad organised by Sudan, using mercenaries armed, trained, financed and directed by satellite by the Khartoum regime”, he said.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has warned that the state of the housing market in the United Kingdom is the current biggest domestic threat to the country’s economy, due to lack of house building, and regulatory issues.

In an interview to be aired on Sky News today, he said the housing market is the “biggest risk” to the economy and has “deep, deep structural problems”. Of house building he said: “There are not sufficient houses built in the UK. To go back to Canada, there are half as many people in Canada as in the UK, twice as many houses are built every year in Canada as in the UK and we can’t influence that.”

“We’re not going to build a single house at the Bank of England. We can’t influence that. What we can influence […] is whether the banks are strong enough. Do they have enough capital against risk in the housing market?”

Carney also said the Bank of England would look into the procedures used to issue loans and mortgages to see if they were being granted appropriately: “We’d be concerned if there was a rapid increase in high loan-to-value mortgages across the banks. We’ve seen that creeping up and it’s something we’re watching closely.”

Kris Hopkins responded to Carney on behalf of the government, saying the government “inherited a broken housing market, but our efforts to fix it are working”. “We’ve scrapped the failed top-down planning system, built over 170,000 affordable homes and released more surplus brownfield sites for new housing. We’ve also helped homebuyers get on the housing ladder, because if people can buy homes builders will build them. Housebuilding is now at its highest level since 2007 and climbing. Last year councils gave permission for almost 200,000 new homes under the locally-led planning system and more than 1,000 communities have swiftly taken up neighbourhood planning. It’s clear evidence the government’s long-term economic plan is working.”

Earlier this month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development called on the UK government to “tighten” access to the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme introduced by George Osborne and the coalition government in 2013. ‘Help to Buy’ has also recently been criticised by three former Chancellors of the Exchequer — the Conservatives Norman Lamont and Nigel Lawson, and former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling. Darling said: “Unless supply can be increased substantially, we will exacerbate that situation with schemes like Help to Buy.”

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, was met with a 250-strong protest today, during his visit to Birmingham, England. The protest was held outside the International Convention Centre (ICC) venue in the British city, where the president addressed supporters of his Pakistan Peoples Party and leading figures of the Pakistani community. Al Jazeera reported that two shoes were thrown at Zardari as he delivered his address, by a man who reportedly managed to break through police barriers to make a personal protest against the President.

Pakistan is experiencing the worst flooding in eighty years and it has been reported that the floods have now hit 14 million people. The president has faced criticism for continuing his tour during the crisis and though the messages of the protesters were many and varied, shown by placards ranging from “Save Pakistan from American terror and Zardari” to “Stop killing innocent Christians, repeal blasphemy law 295 B and 295 A”, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said “[the] one thing they all agree on is that he should not be here.”

Inside the ICC, speaking to a group of supporters, Mr Zardari said the trip had been crucial in raising more than £20 million in aid from Britain and France and for resolving the diplomatic rift between Pakistan and Britain, caused by British Prime Minister David Cameron’s comments about alleged Pakistani terror links. David Cameron said on July 28 that “we cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and…promote the export of terror”. The Pakistani President has said that his European tour is essential to mend the diplomatic rift these comments have caused.

The President’s son has also defended the tour, saying “He’s doing the best he can and what he thinks is best to help the people of Pakistan.” He added that “his personal presence in Pakistan would not be able to raise this much money.”

The Financial Times said the President “struggled at times to be heard above the chanting of hundreds of supporters.” The chanting from the protesters arrayed outside the ICC could also be heard from where the President gave his speech. Many were calling for the Prime Minister’s resignation.

According to the Associated Press of Pakistan the President’s trip has been kept as cheap as possible, with Mr Zardari staying in the “cheapest five-star hotel in Central London” while he met with Mr Cameron. But at today’s protest many held placards decrying the fact that while money was urgently needed in Pakistan the President was taking a tour that would cost the country. Two examples of such placards were: “Thousands dying president is holidaying” and “while Pakistan floods Zadradi enjoys”.

The demonstration was held in the shadow of the Hyatt Regency Hotel where Mr Zardari has been staying. It is one of the most expensive hotels in Birmingham but the raised bridge that links directly to the ICC does provide the best security for the President.

Mohammed Khalil, a local official from the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, told the AFP that “He should be there organising for his own people. Instead he’s here with so many people. The government is paying all the expense for that. That money should be spent on the people of Pakistan, not on himself.” However the President’s son said millions had been raised from Britain and France because of the tour, and that the President would return once worldwide attention had died down.

The protest itself carried on for many hours, from before 2:00 in the afternoon until 4:25, when it ended with a prayer ceremony. The protest reflected the prominence of the Islamic faith in Pakistani culture, with a tarpaulin stretched on the ground to allow for Muslim prayer. National feeling was strong, shown by the numerous Pakistani flags being flown, and the presence of the closing religious ceremony and Islamic prayer mirrors the close-knit relationship nationalist and religious feeling have in Pakistan.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Chemicals in the Thompson River were said to be found after four Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) cars containing chemicals derailed near Lytton, British Columbia, Canada on Tuesday night.

The derailment occurred just northeast of Lytton when a landslide hit in the middle of a freight train with about 100 cars at around 7:00 pm PDT (02:00 UTC) Tuesday evening. One car remained on the tracks, another was on a river bank, and two were submerged in the Thompson, one of them fully submerged and the other partially submerged. CP states that the cars were carrying the chemical ethylene glycol, commonly found in products such as antifreeze and windshield washer fluid. Glycol is water soluble and biodegradable but is causing concern to local fisheries and people dependent on aquatic life survival. Even though there is not enough chemical to be toxic after dilution in the water, there is still expressed concern that it may cause additional stress to aquatic life.

Despite protective measures, like a protective double hull, investigations found that broken valves and holes are causing the chemical to leak into the river. CP Rail originally denied that any chemical was leaking, but is now driving efforts to plug the leaks.

The Thompson River is a tributary of the larger Fraser River. The area is sensitive to harm because migrating salmon pass through and are in already in dwindling numbers in recent years.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Rico Daniels is a British TV presenter living in France who is known for his two television series — The Salvager — whilst he still lived in the UK and then Le Salvager after he moved to France. Rico has been in a variety of jobs but his passion is now his profession – he turns unwanted ‘junk’ into unusual pieces of furniture. Rico’s creations and the methods used to fabricate them are the subject of the Salvager shows.

Rico spoke to Wikinews in January about his inspiration and early life, future plans, other hobbies and more. Read on for the full exclusive interview, published for the first time: