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Saturday, July 9, 2005

A Friday protest in downtown Richmond drew around 200 protesters to Virginia’s state capital to demonstrate against strip mining practices of Massey Energy Company. Demonstrators marched through town and gathered in front of the company’s office building where nearly 20 laid in the street of the city’s main thoroughfare, and were nearly arrested. A few linked arms around a sidewalk structure to avoid being hauled away by police.

Chanting “Blankenship, Blankenship, Blankenship,” and waving bed sheets for flags, the demonstrators demanded to be seen and heard by the Massey Chairman and CEO, Don Blankenship. Arrests for civil disobedience were avoided when two security guards were sent by the company to retrieve a list of their demands.

The demonstration, timed to coincide with Scotland’s G8 conference, was organized by a group called “Mountain Justice Summer” and environmentalists to protest mountain top removal mining techniques. The company’s mining operations are located in the Appalachian Mountain chain in the states of Virginia, West Virginia , Kentucky and Tennessee. Massey is the United States‘ fourth-largest coal mining operation.

A statement issued by a Massey spokesman defended their respect of people’s rights, and decried what they said was, “a great deal of misinformation.”

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that unofficial “legal observers” accompanied the demonstrators and carried notebooks to record crowd and police activity.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

China has stated that they will cease all military exchanges with the United States in response to a US$6.4 billion (NT$204 billion) weapons deal with Taiwan going ahead. He Yafei, Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister, said that there would be a “serious negative impact” with regards to the relationship between the US and China.

Taiwan and mainland China have been ruled by separate governments since 1949, and neither recognize each other’s independence. In an effort to regain control of Taiwan, the government in Beijing has been open to running the island like Hong Kong, in a “one country, two systems” manner, but people in Taiwan support the status quo. The Chinese defense ministry said that they had “decided to suspend planned mutual military visits”. They “strongly demand” that the United States “respect the Chinese side’s interests,” calling for the proposal to be rejected.

China summoned the US Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, to warn the US Government about the consequences, and to urge for cancellation of the deal. The Pentagon proposed the deal, that was first promised during the later days of the Bush administration, to Congress earlier.

Yafei issued a statement on the Foreign Ministry website stating that “the United States’ announcement of the planned weapons sales to Taiwan will have a seriously negative impact on many important areas of exchanges and co-operation between the two countries.”

However, the US is defending itself. “Such sales contribute to maintaining security and stability across the Taiwan Strait”, Laura Tischler, spokeswoman for the US State Department, said.

Beijing is threatening to review co-operation on major issues and impose sanctions on companies selling arms, even though US companies are banned from selling arms to China as a result of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, so it is not clear what the effect will be. A Chinese defence ministry spokesman said that the sanctions reflected the “severe harm” the deal would have. A foreign ministry spokesman stated that there would be “repercussions that neither side wishes to see” if the deal went ahead.

Taiwan, one of Asia’s few functioning democracies, welcomed the proposal, with Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou being quoted as saying “It will let Taiwan feel more confident and secure so we can have more interactions with China.”

The arms deal includes UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, communications equipment and MIM-104 Patriot missiles, but does not include the F-16 fighter jets that Taiwan’s military were looking for. The US is legally obliged to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons under the Taiwan Relations Act 1979.

In 2003, an unnamed US briefing stated that “[the US] would have to get involved if China tried to use coercion or force to unilaterally change the status of Taiwan”.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Brett McKenzie is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the London North Centre riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Friday, November 3, 2006

On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Scarborough-Agincourt (Ward 39). Two candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Wayne Cook, Mike Del Grande (incumbent), Samuel Kung, Lushan Lu, Sunshine Smith, and John Wong.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Pakistan’s coalition government will be no more, announced Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and former Prime Minister. The coalition, which was formed between the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), was said to have reached a disagreement over the restoration of judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf in November 2007.

According to party spokesman Sidiqul Farooq, the 9 PML-N ministers in government will hand in their resignation papers to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani on Tuesday afternoon.

Sharif blamed the PPP for failing to meet deadlines to restore the senior judges fired by Musharraf, which was Sharif’s main condition for joining the coalition. The latest deadline for reinstating the judges was set for May 12, as talks between Sharif and PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari ended in London without reaching any deal. The government had originally promised to reinstate the judges by April 30.

Most of the disagreement lies within the question of how much power should be returned to the judges. Sharif has campaigned for a total reinstatement of power, while Zadari favors constitutional amendments that would limit their power.

Information Secretary Ehsan Iqbal, one of the ministers who will be resigning, supported Sharif’s campaign for reinstatement. He called the series of events “a defining moment” for Pakistan. “Without the rule of law, without an independent judiciary, the country cannot move ahead democratically or constitutionally,” he said.

At a press conference, Sharif said he will contest the by-elections on August 18, which could earn him a seat in Parliament. The Pakistan Peoples Party say they will not put a candidate against him in the elections.

“A day will come when the judges shall be restored,” Sharif said. “If we surrender on this issue to the wishes of the military dictator, it will take us generations before we get an independent judiciary.” He also said that despite quitting the government, he wishes to continue supporting the PPP-led government on an issue-by-issue basis. “We will not become part of any conspiracy to destabilize the democratic process,” he said.

The Pakistan Peoples Party responded in a statement. They called the announcement of resignation “a pause in the process and not a break in the purpose of restoration of judges”. They also said they do not intend to fill the vacated ministries, hoping the issue can be solved “amicably and in a spirit of accommodation and mutual trust”.

Some analysts fear the judicial dispute will extend further, leaving the government unable to focus on more important issues facing the country. “This is a huge setback for the government,” said Shuja Nawaz, a Pakistani security analyst in Washington, D.C.. “This crisis will distract attention from critical issues, and the real losers will be the people of Pakistan.”

Saturday, December 15, 2007

2007 Taipei International Travel Fair (Taipei ITF), supported by governments with new premiums promoted by Executive Yuan in the future, started with a great new scale at December 14 to 17. In the opening morning yesterday, governmental people and ambassadors from several countries including Taiwan successively visited this show.

The show organizer, Taiwan Visitors Association (TVA), held 2 opening ceremonies for Cross-Strait Pavilion and the main show. In the side of Cross-Strait, several teams performed traditional entertainment shows like “Bian Lian” (Face-Changing) and Martial Arts of Shaolin Monastery (In Chinese: Shaolin Kungfu) successively at press conference and welcome reception yesterday and opening ceremony today. Participants from China and Taiwan hoped the relation from Cross-Strait can be improved with tourism industry.

In the main opening ceremony, Premier of the Republic of China Chun-hsiung Chang not only announced the premiums of “2008-2009 Visit Taiwan Year” but also said: “We (the Executive Yuan) will still encourage foreign visitors visit Taiwan and also provide premiums for groups with a charter airline. with our ‘2008-2009 Visit Taiwan Year’ in the future”.

Not only Chun-hsiung Chang, Minister of Transportation and Communications Duei Tsai, Commissioner of Tourism Bureau of MOTC Janice Lai, and the current President of Palau Thomas Esang Remengesau, Jr. visited this show. Governments in several divisions participated in this show to showcase traditional cultures from several divisions with unlimited potentials on tourism industry in Taiwan.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

File:Tuna.jpg

This Tuesday, at a wholesale auction at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, a 512-pound bluefin tuna was sold for over sixteen-million yen ($177,000 USD). The great fish was bought and then shared by the owners of a local sushi restaurant and a Hong Kong-based dining establishment. This tuna is the most expensive fish sold on record since 2001, when a 440-pound tuna was sold for over twenty-million ($220,000) at the very same market.

When asked by local media outlets why he decided to purchase this giant tuna, the Hong Kong restaurateur said, “I want[ed] to make an impact on the Japanese and Hong Kong economies by buying the highest-priced tuna.”

This locally caught tuna was among over two-thousand others bought and sold at this bustling fish market. Japan is the world’s largest consumer of seafood per annum. With tuna being a major staple of their cuisine, the Japanese eat nearly eighty-percent of all commercially caught bluefin.

However, tuna consumption in Japan has declined over recent years due to the change in the spending habits of its people as a result of economic downturns from the most recent recession.

“Consumers are shying away from eating tuna…We are very worried about the trend,” a spokesperson for the Tsukiji market told the Associated Press.

In addition to the lack of demand and declining tuna stocks, fishermen and wholesalers worldwide are worried by the possibility of tighter fishing regulations that will be sanctioned and enforced by the Japanese government. Despite this promise, many environmentalists say that this is not going far enough; they say that the only way to curb the inevitable extinction of the Pacific bluefin tuna is to initiate a trade ban on the fish altogether.

Friday, January 5, 2007

Former U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist suffered paranoid delusions in 1981 during withdrawal from a dependence on prescription painkillers, according to his recently-released FBI file.

The late head of the U.S.’s top court began taking the drug Placidyl in the early 1970s for insomnia and back pain while he was an associate Supreme Court justice. His dependence on the drug was first made public when he was hospitalized for symptoms related to it in 1981, but the delusions were only revealed in the release of the file this week.

A doctor who treated Rehnquist told an FBI investigator the justice had “bizarre ideas and outrageous thoughts. He imagined, for example, that there was a CIA plot against him.” Another doctor said Rehnquist “had also gone to the lobby in his pajamas in order to try to escape.”

Rehnquist had been taking nearly three times the recommended maximum daily dosage of the drug. His delusions came when doctors at George Washington University Hospital took him off it. Eventually, they put him back on Placidyl and weaned him off slowly until he was cured of his dependence.

The FBI conducted an extensive investigation into Rehnquist’s drug dependence at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee during his 1986 confirmation hearings to become chief justice.

Rehnquist’s file was released to media and lawyers this week as part of a public records request. Rehnquist died in September 2005 and because his privacy could no longer be violated, the FBI OK’d its release.

The FBI was also asked to investigate Democrats who were set to testify against Rehnquist at the 1986 hearing, the file showed. The Democrats were set to testify Rehnquist intimidated minority voters in the early 1960s as a Republican Party official in Arizona.

It’s not clear if the bureau ever did investigate the Democrats, however a memo in the file shows then-Assistant Attorney General John Bolton, the most-recent United Nations Ambassador for the U.S., approved the investigation and said he would “accept responsibility should concerns be raised about the role of the FBI.”

Rehnquist first took his seat as associate justice in 1972 and served on the court until his death.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Larry Stevens is running for the Libertarian Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Kitchener-Conestoga riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.