Australia’s New South Wales Fire Brigades in crisis over bullying
Sunday, June 13, 2010 The New South Wales Fire Brigades (NSWFB) in Australia has come under scrutiny as a report highlights the latest in a string of sexual abuse and harassment cases. The report also describes the humilation of new recruits in “bizarre” initiation rituals. The independent investigation led by KPMG, a Swiss audit, taxation and advisory firm, found that less that 9% of those who claimed to have suffered from such abuse were said to be satisfied by the action taken by the NSWFB. The investigation states that “there are still instances of bullying and harassment … and they are not being adequately addressed…Some degree of physical bullying and intimidation is present across all areas of the organization, including the administration directorates.” Physical abuse in the NSWFB has become a critical issue, with most cases manifesting in the initation of new recruits. These initiations require them to remove their…
Dell joins Microsoft-Nortel VoIP Team
Saturday, October 20, 2007 Dell Inc. announced on Tuesday that it will partner up with the Microsoft-Nortel Innovative communications alliance (ICA) team to sell Unified Communications and VoIP products. The announcement on Tuesday the 16th of October 2007 includes Dell selling VoIP, data and wireless networking products from Nortel and the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and other unified communications products. The partnership with both manufacturers should allow Dell to provide a pre-integrated solution. In March 2007, competitors IBM and Cisco announced they would join in the competition for developing unified communications applications and the development of open technologies around the unified communications and collaboration (UC2) client platform an application programming interfaces (APIs) offered by IBM as a subset of Lotus Sametime. “We want to make it simple for our customers to deploy unified communications so their end users can get access to all their messages in one place –…
Mumbai One City, Two Worlds}
Click Here To Know More About: Land Surveying Companies Hatch And Hatch Site Mumbai One City, Two Worlds by George Gonigal The nations financial capital Mumbai has so far been witnessing skyrocketing real estate prices. But as population is escalating at the same pace and people are pouring from all over, the city is struggling to fit them all. As Mumbais profile attributes, it houses number of glitzy apartments and also many middle-of-the-road apartment buildings. But dont go by this faade, to buy an apartment in Mumbai one has to have a hefty bank balance to count on. All this has contributed to Mumbai real estate being the most expensive of all in the country. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5emwB-lOns[/youtube] On one hand this city is home to the Indian film industry, and other big shots of politics and business world but on the other side half of the city’s population still lives in…
British actor and comedian Sir Norman Wisdom dies aged 95
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Tributes are being paid following the announcement late last night that the veteran British actor and comedian Sir Norman Wisdom has died at the age of 95. He passed away peacefully at the Abbot’s Wood nursing home, Ballasalla, Isle of Man yesterday evening. Following a series of strokes over the last 6 months, his health had declined severely. Sir Norman’s career spanned almost seven decades, during which time he starred in 19 films, and 38 sitcoms, most as the inept character “Pitkin”, the persistant thorn in the side of his boss, Mr. Grimsdale. His most well known serious role came in the television play Going Gently in 1981, for ITV, in which he played a patient in hospital suffering from terminal cancer. Following the news, the Albanian Ambassador in the UK, Zef Mazi explained that Sir Norman’s death was covered on all the news channels in…
Manitoba volunteers go to war against Red River flooding
Monday, April 6, 2009 Over 1,600 volunteers registered to help build approximately 65,000 of the 500,000 sandbags to create dikes 20.5 feet (6.2 meters) high to protect the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba in the war against the Red River of the North flood. 700 volunteers answered at the rural municipality of St. Andrews alone. Once sandbags are filled for West St. Paul, St. Andrews, and Selkirk, then frozen culverts must be cleared. The height of the river is expected to be Thursday, and predictions are that it will be less than Flood of the Century of 1997. There is no precipitation in the forecast, and snow in the province should be melted by the end of the week. “The fear right now is we have to get that ice out of the river. The Amphibex [Excavators] are still working and breaking the ice apart, and everyday we buy with the warm weather…
Digest/22November2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 Digest for 22-29 November 2004 < 15-22 November 2004 • Index • 29 November-5 December 2004 > This a collection of articles whose datelines read between 22 and 29 November. They have not necessarily gone through a peer-review process, and may not even be done. This is essentially an index right now. Click on an article’s title to read it in full. Activists protest against School of the Americas22 November, 2004, United States Antiwar magazines report up to 16,000 protesters demonstrated outside a United States military school this weekend, demanding it be closed in connection with accused human rights violations. Dan Rather resigns as anchor, to stay on as correspondent22 November, 2004, USA Dan Rather has announced that he will retire on March 9th, 2005 as anchor of CBS Evening News. He will continue to be an investigative reporter for both of the 60 Minutes shows.…
Asbestos controversy aboard Scientology ship Freewinds
Friday, May 16, 2008 Controversy has arisen over the reported presence of blue asbestos on the MV Freewinds, a cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology. According to the Saint Martin newspaper The Daily Herald and the shipping news journal Lloyd’s List, the Freewinds was sealed in April and local public health officials on the Caribbean island of Curaçao where the ship is docked began an investigation into the presence of asbestos dust on the ship. Former Scientologist Lawrence Woodcraft supervised work on the ship in 1987, and attested to the presence of blue asbestos on the Freewinds in an affidavit posted to the Internet in 2001. Woodcraft, a licensed architect by profession, gave a statement to Wikinews and commented on the recent events. According to The Daily Herald, the Freewinds was in the process of being renovated by the Curaçao Drydock Company. The article states that samples taken…
Andrea Muizelaar on fashion, anorexia, and life after ‘Top Model’
Monday, November 26, 2007 In the 18 months since Andrea Muizelaar was crowned winner of the reality TV series Canada’s Next Top Model, her life has been a complete whirlwind. From working in a dollar store in her hometown of Whitby, Ontario, to modeling haute couture in Toronto, she had reached her dream of becoming a true Top Model. But at what cost? Unknown to casual television viewers, Muizelaar had been enveloped in the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which inevitably became too much for her to bear. She gave up modeling and moved back to Whitby, where she sought treatment for her disorder, re-entered college, and now works at a bank. Where is she now? Happy and healthy, she says. Recently Andrea Muizelaar sat down with Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman in a candid interview that stretched to nearly two hours, as she told all about her hopes and aspirations, her…
Toyota Drivers View On The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix}
Click Here To Know More About: Quad Bikes For Sale Submitted by: Mark Clarkson The Panasonic Toyota racing team is heading to Central Europe for the 2006 Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix this Saturday, August 6. The Hungarian F1 Grand Prix will take place in the capital city of Budapest, and the event will be held on the Hungaroring racetrack. The Hungaroring racetrack is said to be a long winding circuit that contains numerous curves and corners. It is also a difficult location for Formula One drivers and road test engineers because of the extreme heat and subsequent high temperatures. Two of the most promising drivers of Panasonic Toyota racing team will put their skills and Toyota wheels to the test by representing their team for the 21st Hungarian Grand Prix. Ralf Schumacher, currently ranked sixth in the drivers championship, commented: Budapest is a beautiful city that I always like…
Satirist Stephen Colbert runs for U.S. President
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 The American satirist Stephen Colbert has announced that he will run for the Presidency of the United States. He made his announcement on his mock news show The Colbert Report. However, Colbert said that he would only run in his home state of South Carolina as a favorite son. He also said that he would represent both major political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. It is not known how far Colbert will go with his character during his electoral run. Colbert has hosted The Colbert Report, a spin-off to another satirical television series, The Daily Show, since its creation in 2005. “I didn’t have a job back then. I wonder what it was like to have a job back then. I am sure I could ask a dentist or a surgeon. He would know.” On the show he plays a right-wing political pundit, based on…