Wednesday, October 3, 2007

The official New South Wales bushfire season for 2007 has been declared for only three days and already 46 fires burn across the state. It is believed that at least some of the fires have been deliberately lit.

Weather conditions are hampering firefighting efforts, with high temperatures and strong winds helping to fan the flames.

Major fires are currently burning at Little Pittwater Bay on Sydney’s West Head, Cowan North of Sydney, Port Stephens and at Evans Head on the NSW North coast. The fire at Cowan has caused transport chaos as it caused the closure of the Pacific Highway, F3 Freeway and the Northern railway line for several hours this afternoon.

Residents around the fires at Port Stephens and Evans Head have been advised by the NSW Rural Fire Service to prepare their properties for the onset of fire.

With many of the fires thought to of been started by arsonists, NSW Premier Morris Iemma warned that arsonists would face imprisonment. “It makes you sick. There are sadly too many people out there that don’t get the message,” Mr Iemma.

“They are sick minds who deliberately light these fires, or even to recklessly do it”.

A police strike force with 10 officers and two support staff to investigate the fires had also been set up with Mr Iemma stating that if more resources were required, the strike force would be provided with them.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

In a vote of 74-25 last Thursday, the US Senate passed a measure that would change bankruptcy laws, making it harder for individuals seeking relief from their debt burden to avoid repayment. Almost twenty Democrats joined Republicans, who currently hold a majority of the seats in the US Senate, in passing the bill.

Lobbyists for credit card companies and financial services firms have worked for the bill during the last two administrations. A similar measure passed both the Senate and House during the previous administration, but then President Bill Clinton pocket-vetoed the measure in 2000.

Democrats sought to soften the bill by allowing bankruptcy filers to negotiate directly with lenders for relief, but the amendments were defeated by the Republican-controlled Senate. Proponents of the bill claim the rise of bankruptcy filings to nearly 1.5 million a year shows that abusers of credit use the filings to shield themselves from irresponsible practices.

“There has been an explosion of bankruptcy,” said Iowa Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the bill’s sponsor. “We preserve the principle of a fresh start, but we also establish a principle that if you have the ability to repay some of your debt, you are not going to get off scot-free.” However, Massachusetts Democratic Sen., Edward M. Kennedy said, “This legislation makes the bankruptcy courts of the United States the collection agency for the credit-card industry.”

The bill impacts a broad spectrum of bankruptcy law, but the most significant impact is on personal bankruptcy filings. Individuals who get behind in repaying credit card debt face high interest charges and stiff late payment fees. By only meeting minimum payment requirements, borrowers remit to the lender over the life of the loan an amount in interest and other fees that can far exceed the value of the principal balance of the loan. This can put consumers who run up high balances on various cards at financial risk of default. Critics of the bill blame these aggressive lending practices as a contributing factor in the rising trend of bankruptcy filings from 1996.

The proposed bill doesn’t only affect debtors with credit card debt.

It also affects debtors who have run up large medical bills.

Patients with a past medical history that disqualifies them from full medical coverage, can easily find themselves facing insurmountable medical bills after just a short stay in the hospital. These individuals will no longer be able to get a fresh start after these personal disasters, and will be forced to live in poverty until they can pay off their medical bills as part of their Chapter 13 filing. (Prior to this bill, they would have been able to file Chapter 7, completely discharging their debt.)

Chapter 7, which accounts for 70% of bankruptcy filings, allows individuals to eliminate most non-secured debts after liquidating assets, with the notable exemption of one’s principle residence in most states. The Senate passed bill would change Chapter 7 eligibility by applying a means-test, where those with a median income higher than the state average would be required to file under Chapter 13 provisions. Under Chapter 13 protection, an individual’s debt is not forgiven; rather it is restructured for payment under more lenient terms.

This was the first major overhaul of federal bankruptcy law in many years.

Under the old bankruptcy law, a personal bankruptcy attorney could not be held financially responsible for his clients mendacity. Under the new bankruptcy law, the bankruptcy attorney is responsible for his client’s lies to the Court about his assets and the bankruptcy attorney and his insurance carrier can be held responsible by the Bankruptcy Court.

The result is that personal bankruptcy attorneys (this does not apply to corporate bankruptcy attorneys) are likely to flee the personal bankruptcy field when the new law takes effect. Their insurance companies will not offer the sort of coverage that they would need to continue to practice.

So when consumers need to file personal bankruptcy under the new law, they will be unlikely to find a bankruptcy attorney to represent them. Consumers will have to file pro se: such consumers will be likely to fail due to the complexity of the law.

The bottom line is that the field of personal bankruptcy law as a practice area of law will cease to exist when the new bankruptcy law takes effect, and consumers will be unable to secure legal counsel and so consumers will lose what legal protections counsel now affords them.

Under the new bankruptcy law about one half million Americans will be forest to pay for at lest 5 years on longer they will be held in servitude as chattel they will be completely subservient to a dominating influence of the company that holds the loan. Their loan will be put on the market for sale for profit. The people will be forced to work harder. People who fail to go to court will have a arrest warrant made out in their name and people who refuseto pay. They will be subject to fines and or jail. About fifty thousand Americans will punished by a fine and or about three thousand Americans every year will go to jail under the new bankruptcy law. For some people this will be a third strike they will be put in jail for life.

The bill has the support of President Bush, and its passage in the House sometime next month seems likely. If enacted into law, lending companies will recover more money on what otherwise would be written off as bad loans. Those persons of median and higher income seeking relief would be required to file under Chapter 13 status and pay up to $100 per month under court imposed conditions. It is expected the proposed changes would cause a sharp increase in filings before the new law could take effect.

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Government and police sources suspect the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) are responsible for a bomb threat against Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney whilst he addressed an event in Belfast, Northern Ireland yesterday.

Last night, Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Mark McEwan told press a “primary line of investigation” indicated the loyalist paramilitary group was behind what he called “disgraceful actions”. The scare stopped Coveney mid-speech as he addressed guests at the John and Pat Hume Foundation, and forced over twenty-five homes to evacuate.

Police say between nine and ten in the morning, a white Vauxhall van was hijacked near to Shankill Road. Its driver, allegedly while having his family threatened by two gunmen, was forced to transport what was believed to be explosives. He first drove to a nearby street, where the device was placed inside the vehicle. He then drove to the Holy Cross Chapel beside the Houben Centre where Coveney was speaking.

Coveney was reportedly minutes into his speech at the “Building Common Ground” peace-building event before being pulled away, according to priest Gary Donegan, who spoke before him. Security informed Coveney of the bomb threat and he was evacuated to a “secure location” by the PSNI and Gardaí.

The driver was described by attendee Sarah McKinley from Downtown Radio and Cool FM as a “workman, clutching a toolbag standing outside”. He was in tears, apologising to guests at the venue after he told security. McKinley said the victim was “completely shellshocked” and “said he had been hijacked and told to drive to the Centre.”

McEwan said the victim was being treated in hospital but said nothing of his condition. He told of the circumstance the driver was placed in: “Just think about this: the victim believed at this point he was driving a van containing a live bomb — and that his family were being threatened.”

According to McEwan, a security threat remained in Northern Ireland and “an attack is likely”. However, he did not comment on whether the weapons used to threaten the driver were real, only that at the time, the danger felt real. Nor did he say whether Coveney was the target or in need of additional security. Coveney had previously, along with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, been depicted in loyalist graffiti.

A source told The Irish Times loyalists blame Irish ministers, including Coveney and Varadkar for feeling undermined by the contentious post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol. The Irish Independent says the hoax was related to the Protocol, and planned in advance.

It comes after the United Kingdom counter-intelligence agency MI5 lowered its terrorist threat assessment for Northern Ireland from ‘severe’ to ‘substantial’ Tuesday. At the time, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis said it reflected “the significant progress that Northern Ireland has made, and continues to make, towards a more peaceful, more prosperous and safer society.” But he added vigilance is still needed against the “minority” who threaten the peace.

Politicians in Ireland and the UK condemned the attacks. Coveney himself said he was “saddened and frustrated that someone has been attacked and victimised in this way”, referring to the driver. Lewis characterised the hijacker as a member of the “small minority willing to use violence to advance their goals”, condemning those involved.

Leader of the Northern Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party Colum Eastwood said the Foundation “is an organisation dedicated to promoting peace and reconciliation” and called the attack “an attempt to drag us back”. From the organisation, Tim Attwood assured: “A suspect device will not stop the work of the John and Pat Hume Foundation.”

The hoax affected local schools and a nursing home. Donegan added it forced a funeral to be cancelled: “Whatever mindless people did what they did today, forget about the actual event itself, but there’s a family grieving who now didn’t even have a funeral”. McEwan said it was “clearly designed to cause maximum disruption to the local community”.

Before being interrupted, Coveney told attendees: “The patient work of reconciliation and deepening of relationships does need to continue on our own island.” His address was meant to be followed by a panel discussion.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Recently, Finnish open-source video game developer Perttu Ahola discussed Minetest, his “longest ever project”, with Wikinews.

Started in October 2010, Minetest was an attempt by Ahola to create a sandbox game similar to Minecraft. Minecraft is a multi-platform commercial game, which was in alpha version when Ahola challenged himself to create something similar to it from scratch, he told Wikinews.

Minetest is an open-source game, which is free for anyone to download and play. It is written in the C++ programming language, and the source code is available on code-hosting site GitHub. According to Ahola, Minetest attempts to run on older hardware, with limited graphics, but to be accessible to more people: those who have outdated technology, and making it available for no cost. Minecraft, on the other hand, is a paid game, currently costing USD 26.95 for its computer version. Minecraft is currently owned by Microsoft, and performs poorly on older hardware.

A correspondent from French Wikinews contacted Perttu Ahola via Internet Relay Chat a few weeks ago, discussing Minecraft. This interview is built on top of the previous interview, as we take a deeper dive into knowing more about this free game which is about to turn ten years old in a few months.

Monday, December 31, 2007

What would you tell your grandchildren about 2007 if they asked you about it in, let’s say, 20 year’s time? If the answer to a quiz question was 2007, what would the question be? The year that you first signed on to Facebook? The year Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse fell apart? The year author Kurt Vonnegut or mime Marcel Marceau died, both at 84?

Let’s take a look at some of the international stories of 2007. Links to the original Wikinews articles are in bold.

Friday, December 12, 2008

A US$14 billion bailout package deal for the “Big Three” United States automakers — Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors — has been rejected in the United States Senate after failing a procedural vote.

The bill was rejected after bipartisan discussions on the bailout broke down when Republican Party leaders insisted that the United Auto Workers (UAW) union agree to increase wage cuts by next year in order to bring their pay into line with those of Japanese automobile companies in the United States. The UAW refused to meet the demands.

The final vote count in the Senate was 52-35, eight short of the 60 needed to pass. Only ten Republicans joined forty Democrats and two independents in voting for the bill. Three Democrats voted with thirty-one Republicans against it.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said that he was “terribly disappointed” by the failure of the bill to pass. “I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It’s not going to be a pleasant sight,” Reid said. “Millions of Americans, not only the auto workers but people who sell cars, car dealerships, people who work on cars are going to be directly impacted and affected.”

Republican Senator Bob Corker was also unhappy about the rejection. “We were about three words away from a deal. We solved everything substantively and about three words keep us from reaching a conclusion,” he said.

Some Democrats now want U.S. President Bush to reserve a portion of the $700 billion bailout package earmarked for Wall Street to assist the flagging car industry.

Stock markets worldwide fell dramatically on the news, with Japan’s Nikkei average losing 484.68 points, or 5.6 percent, reaching a level of 8253.87 points. Shares in the auto companies Toyota, Nissan and Honda all dropped by no less than 10 percent apiece. European stocks, such as those in the United Kingdom and Germany, also lost ground, with the FTSE-100 index of leading shares falling 176.3 points to a level of 4,211 at midday.

Friday, October 9, 2009

US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that the Senate Finance Committee will vote on a sweeping health care reform bill next Tuesday. US President Barack Obama has made clear that extending health insurance coverage to as many Americans as possible is his top domestic priority.

Republican lawmakers, however, are still overwhelmingly opposed to the bill, saying it is too expensive and would expand the role of government in people’s health care.

Obama and his fellow Democrats in the Senate received some good news late Wednesday from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which put the total cost of the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill at $829 billion over the next decade, below Obama’s stated goal of $900 billion. The budget watchdog organization also said the health care bill would help reduce the federal budget deficit over the next ten years.

Harry Reid said he believed health care reform was moving forward. “And so today we stand closer than ever to fulfilling that fundamental promise, one for which we have fought for more than 60 years,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, however said that the cost estimate was “irrelevant”, because the final bill that will actually emerge from both houses of Congress is likely to look very different and cost a lot more. “What matters is that the final bill will cost about a trillion dollars, vastly expand the role of government in people’s health care decisions, increase premiums and limit choice,” McConnell said.

McConnell said Republicans favor a step by step approach to health care reform, focusing on prevention and wellness programs and dealing with the high costs of malpractice insurance doctors have to pay due to fears of excessive lawsuits.

Under the Finance Committee’s bill, US residents would be required to get health insurance or face a penalty, and insurance companies would face tough new regulations. For example, insurance companies could no longer reject coverage for people due to pre-existing conditions.

The Senate Finance Committee is likely to pass the bill, which will then have to be merged with one passed by the Senate health committee before it goes to the full Senate floor for debate.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

United States stock indexes posted gains on Friday, marking a four-week long positive streak. This comes despite a report released by the US Labor Department on the same day, which said that the US economy shed 663,000 jobs in March, with the unemployment rate reaching 8.5%, the highest since 1983.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a modest gain of half a percent or 39 points, ending the day at 8,017. The index has not closed above 8,000 since February. The last time the Dow had risen for four weeks in a row was between September and October of 2007, when the stock index reached its all-time high of over 14,000. The streak is the index’s best since 1993.

The broader S&P 500 gained eight points, or one percent, by the closing bell. The Nasdaq Composite had the largest gains of the three indexes, up 1.2% to 1,622. Both the S&P and the Dow gained over 3% over the course of the week, while the Nasdaq was up almost 5%.

In other markets, both the German DAX and the Japanese Nikkei 225 indexes remained even, whilst the British FTSE 100 slipped 2.3%.