Copiapó, Chile mining accident: in depth
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 The rescue of the Chilean miners trapped in the San José Mine in Copiapó, codenamed Operación San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo Operation), began on Tuesday night, at around 20:00 local time (23:00 UTC). Florencio Ávalos was the first miner to be rescued, at 00:12 local time (03:12 UTC) on Wednesday. He was wearing a shirt signed by all his fellow miners. “The first miner is already with us. We saw it all, him hugging his wife Monica and his son Byron,” said President Piñera shortly after the first rescue. “We still have a long journey.” “This will be recorded on every single Chilean heart forever,” Piñera added. “I hope the miners’ hope stay with us, just like the [February] earthquake victims’ [hope] and what the earthquake took off. We know that the disasters unite us all.” All the 33 miners were rescued. The last miner, Luis Urzúa,…
UK government outlines plans for rail transport
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 The government of the United Kingdom has outlined its plans for the development of the Britain’s railway network in a white paper presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly. Ruth Kelly described the report as “the most ambitious strategy for growth on the railways in over 50 years” and announced that capacity will be increased to cope with an expected 20% growth in passenger numbers over the next seven years through a £10 billion investment. The government is to continue to limit the rate of increase of regulated tickets, which include standard season and saver tickets, to a maximum of 1% above inflation, and plan to introduce a simplified ticketing structure of four basic ticket types. Today’s announcement also extended the government’s commitment made in March of this year to fund extra carriages. An additional 300 brings the total to 1,300…
Felipe Massa takes pole for the first night Formula One race at Singapore
Saturday, September 27, 2008 Ferrari driver Felipe Massa won the second session and the pole position for the Sunday FIA 2008 Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix on the street circuit at Marina Bay, Singapore. This will be the first nightly Formula One event that utilizes artificial lighting and the 800th Formula One World Championship race overall. The previous GP at Singapore held in 1973 was not part of the Formula One. First to end the qualifying was Italian Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), burying his car in the wall. Nelson Piquet Jr. driving for (Renault) was expected to slip into the second session in the 15th place but was bundled out by David Coulthard or the Red Bull team. Piquet’s teammate Fernando Alonso, who topped the second free practice session, performed better in the first session but unexpectedly stopped, showing no time in the second. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren–Mercedes) jumped to…
US Nationwide Pollution Permit Restrictions Upheld
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 The US Army Corps of Engineers decision to place restrictions on issuance of nationwide pollution permits has been upheld by a federal court. In National Association of Home Builders v. Army Corps of Engineers, the District Court for the District of Columbia found that the Corps of Engineers had not acted in an “arbitrary” or “capricious” manner in changing the terms and conditions for issuance of a national pollution permit, including reducing the size of area into which pollutants may be discharged from 10 acres to 1 acre, raising the threshold for requiring additional permits from 1 acre to 1/10 acre, A nationwide permit allows an organization to engage in certain industrial activities on a national basis (such as mining and construction), reducing the amount of paperwork and filings needed for otherwise minor environmental impacts, as opposed to an ordinary permit for a specific location which…
VP Cheney role surfaces in U.S. domestic spying
Thursday, January 5, 2006 United States Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech to the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, admitted to a key role in the domestic spying program. In a ringing defense of the warrantless eavesdropping authorized by President Bush, Cheney said he had “personally presided” over most briefings of selected Capitol Hill lawmakers about the program, which was begun in response to the 9/11 attacks and after Congress passed a September 2001 resolution authorizing the use of force to combat terrorism. The National Security Agency (NSA) has been monitoring certain domestic telephone calls and emails, under the condition that the other end of the message is to or from a foreign location, the White House has admitted. In addition, the New York Times has reported that the agency has been conducting a widespread data-mining operation of such messages, hoping to identify patterns that might tip off the U.S.…
Iran: Wreckage found of plane crashed in mountains; all believed dead
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 Yesterday, the Iranian military announced the wreckage of an Aseman Airlines airplane, which went missing on Sunday morning shortly before it was due to land in Yasuj, had been located at an elevation of about 13,000 feet (4,000 m) in the Zagros Mountains. All 65 people on board were presumed dead. Crews were searching for the aircraft’s two black boxes to try to determine why it crashed. Ramezan Sharif, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said wreckage of the ATR 72-500 twin-engine turboprop had been sighted by a military drone and helicopters had then been sent to the location. Helicopter pilot Captain Soheili said on state television the wreckage was only some 100 feet (30 m) from a peak on Mount Dena, and “large parts of the plane, which were labeled with the Aseman company logo” were visible. The Revolutionary Guards released photos in which they said bodies of victims…
Search
Search Content pages Multimedia Discussions Everything Advanced
Scotland sets date for referendum
Saturday, March 23, 2013 On Thursday, Scotland’s First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond set the date September 18, 2014, for the country’s referendum on political independence from the rest of the United Kingdom. The question to be presented at the ballot is: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”; if a majority vote “Yes”, the union of the parliaments, in-place since 1707, will come to an end. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the SNP believe Scotland would be more prosperous under self-government controlling their own resources, including the oil, fishing and farming industries. The vote comes from what Salmond describes as a chance “to build a better country”. Salmon urged the Scottish population to seize the opportunity for independence, quoted by ABC as saying, “[t]he choice becomes clearer with each passing day – the opportunity to use our vast resources and talent to build a…
CanadaVOTES: Liberal Dr. Eric Hoskins running in Haldimand—Norfolk
On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Liberal candidate Dr. Eric Hoskins is standing for election in the riding of Haldimand—Norfolk. Wikinews contacted Dr. Eric Hoskins, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowing candidates to impart their full message to our readers, uninterrupted. For more information, visit the campaign’s official website, listed below.