News briefs:January 11, 2008
Contents 1 Wikinews News Brief 01-11-2008 01:20 UTC 2 Introduction 3 Events of worldwide notability, military action, disasters etc. 3.1 At least 24 killed in suicide bombing in Pakistan 3.2 Alabama father throws children in river 3.3 British troops may have received contaminated blood from American donors 3.4 George Bush arrives in Middle East 3.5 Pentagon releases video of incident involving Iranian ships in Persian Gulf 3.6 China has plan to obtain North Korea’s nuclear weapons 3.7 Hezbollah network Al-Manar available to wider international audience 4 Non-disastrous local events with notable impact and dead celebrities 4.1 Moderate earthquake strikes off the Oregon coast, US 4.2 Hollywood “Mayor” Johnny Grant dead at 84 4.3 China bans free plastic bags 4.4 John McCain and Hillary Clinton win New Hampshire primaries 4.5 Canupa Gluha Mani speaks about Lakota Oyate, Lakota freedom 5 Business, commerce and academia 5.1 Singapore Airlines bid for China Eastern…
Web.com announces second quarter results
Friday, August 18, 2006 Web.com, a web-hosting and online services company, has released its second quarter financial results and associated statements – and it’s clear that the company has experienced both the ups and downs of executing on its goals. On the upside, the company achieved an industry-first achievement of securing a non-exclusive license agreement with Hostopia.com Inc. last month. The agreement granted Hostopia rights to two of Web.com’s patents over five years on a non-transferable basis. The specific licensed patents were U.S. Patent numbers 5,680,152 and 6,789,103 and broadly cover methods for website building and web hosting control panels. Importantly for revenues, the license agreement states that Hostopia will pay Web.com a royalty equal to 10% of their gross U.S. retail revenues for five years. On the downside, the company failed to deliver on the expected and announced acquisition of Houston-based WebSource Media – a business offering “easy and…
Volkswagen engulfed by diesel emissions scandal
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Chief Executive of Volkswagen Martin Winterkorn issued on Sunday a public apology and announced an outside inquiry would be carried out, after the company became engulfed in a scandal about diesel emissions tests. Over the weekend there were damaging revelations that the car manufacturer has been using illegal software to enable diesel cars to cheat on mandatory emissions tests. An investigation into alleged breaches of environmental law was originally initiated on the advice of the International Council on Clean Transportation, a European NGO. The United States Environmental Protection Agency requested tests be carried out by West Virginia University, where the secret software was discovered. Volkswagen has suffered a significant drop of almost a fifth in the value of its shares. There have been knock-on effects for other car manufacturers who have also seen their share values fall after suggestions that the scandal could extend much further…
News briefs:April 24, 2005
Sunday, April 24, 2005 Contents 1 NYSE to merge with Archipelago; NASDAQ to buy Instinet 2 Bush nomination to UN post faces bi-partisan problems 3 Romanian reporters call for release of hostages in Iraq 4 5-year-old girl arrested and handcuffed by Florida police 5 British government considering new nuclear power stations
U.S. Senate approves revised bailout package after controversial additions
Saturday, October 4, 2008 The U.S. Senate passed a revised bailout bill designed to help the struggling U.S. financial economy, which has measures nearly identical to the bill rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday. “Senate Democrats and Republicans believe it is essential that we work quickly on this important legislation to restore confidence to our financial system and strengthen the economy,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The new revisions include raising the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000, a move designed to please progressives. However, the $110 billion in tax breaks, earmarks and what has been called pork barrel spending is not offset by any increases in revenues and has added opposition to the bill from some Representatives in the House. Earmarks added into the bailout bill included $192 million in tax rebates for the Virgin Islands rum industry, $148 million in tax cuts for the wool…
Inquiry blames surgical failures for Scottish patient deaths
Friday, February 17, 2012 A fatal accident inquiry concluded three patients who underwent keyhole surgery to remove their gall bladders died as a result of mistakes during, and after, the operations. Agnes Nicol, George Johnstone, and Andrew Ritchie died within a three-month period in 2006 whilst in the care of NHS Lanarkshire in Scotland. Later expanded to look at all three deaths, the inquiry initially established to look into the case of Nicol, 50, who received surgery in late 2005. A surgeon at Wishaw General Hospital mistakenly cut her bile duct and her right hepatic artery. Whilst suturing her portal vein, her liver was left with 20% of its normal blood supply; the errors were not discovered until her transfer to liver specialists at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary. By then, her liver was seriously damaged. She developed septicaemia, dying from multiple organ failure in March 2006. Johnstone, 54, underwent the same…
Fire kills three and closes main transport route into Western Australia
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 A fire in the Borrabbin National Park between Southern Cross and Coolgardie Western Australia, has so far burnt out 29,000 hectares and killed three truck drivers when the convoy they were travelling in was engulfed by the flames. Great Eastern Highway the primary road for all traffic from Perth heading to the East Coast of Australia has been closed. An alternate route is in place, police are diverting traffic at Norseman. The diversion adds 250 km(160 mi) for the journey to Perth. The three truck drivers died on Sunday night after they joined a convoy that was released from Coolgardie after being told that the road was safe. Kieran McNamara director general of the Department of Environment and Conservation(DEC) admitted that it had been caught out by its decision to reopen the road at 8pm (wst) on 30 December. Mr McNamara said “The decision was made…
Scotland wins Gold, Silver in 400m IM
Monday, March 20, 2006 David Carry and Euan Dale yesterday pulled off a remarkable feat for Scotland — claiming both first and second place in the 400m Individual Medley swimming race in Melbourne. For Carry, who swam a 4:15.98, the gold was his second of the games and Scotland’s forth gold medal in swimming until now. He becomes the first Scottish person to win two golds at the games in thirty-two years — David Wilkie being the last Scot to do so in 1974. The games have presented several surprises thus far — most notably Australia’s failure to win more than one gold medal in the men’s events up to this point. Matthew John Cowdrey won the sole gold medal for Australia in the 50m freestyle on Saturday. By contrast, the Australian women have had an excellent start so far, with a medal haul of 21 out of a possible…
Skeletons found under home in Hertfordshire
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Catherine McGuigan, a resident in South Mimms, Hertfordshire, UK, found skeletons from over a century ago buried under her dining room. She had hired builders for an extension for her cottage, where she has lived for eleven years, and at the beginning of April they found human bones in the ground. Her cottage was built over a burial ground; from 1697 to 1820 the land was owned by the Religious Society of Friends. In the 1600s, members of the society, better known as Quakers, were persecuted for their beliefs and so were not allowed to be buried in consecrated church grounds. Instead burials, which were also sometimes for others not recognised as parishioners – such as homeless people, often took place in the countryside. The Daily Mail states in its April article that the Religious Society of Friends have advised McGuigan that she “must cremate” the…
US plan for broadband Internet released
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 The United States Federal Communications Commission released a plan to provide broadband Internet access to at least 90% of the American population today, and sent a copy of the plan to Congress, which will consider whether to introduce legislation to enact portions of the proposal. Other parts will be decided on by various government agencies. The plan is intended to spur adoption of broadband Internet in the US by extending broadband access to areas of the country, such as rural areas, that do not currently have such access, as well as substantially increasing the speed of existing broadband installations. Currently, only around 65% of American households have broadband connectivity; if approved, the new plan would increase that number to 90% by 2020. According to a statement from the FCC, the plan would provide a “foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way…