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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 Beaches—East York (Ward 32). Four candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Donna Braniff, Alan Burke, Sandra Bussin (incumbent), William Gallos, John Greer, John Lewis, Erica Maier, Luca Mele, and Matt Williams.
120 years after it was founded, the University of Wales (UoW) will shut down. Already comprised of several institutions, two will merge fully while two more will become independent universities.
With a charter from 1893 and the Prince of Wales as its chancellor, problems began at UoW last year after concerns the head of a Malaysian partner institution, a local pop artist, had non-legitimate qualifications. This was followed by Thailand’s authorities denouncing another UoW partner as illegal, then an investigation in the UK into all the UoW’s foreign ties.
The Quality Assurance Agency said UoW’s overseas checks on foreign institutions were inadequate. The UK Border Agency is investigating a possible visa scam whereby foreign students were sold exam answers for a qualification leading to UoW entry and British visas. Two colleges — Rayat London College and Lampton College — are suspended over the claims.
Trinity St David and Swansea Metropolitan universities are to merge, forming University of Wales: Trinity St David. It is to use the latter’s own royal charter, which is itself 190 years old. Newport and Glyndwr are set to become universities in their own right. The dissolution follows calls from the leaders of rival universities for the end of UoW.
“I warmly welcome the historic decision taken today by the University of Wales Council,” said UoW Vice-Chancellor Professor Medwin Hughes, who will fill the same role for the new University of Wales: Trinity St David. “The transformed University will serve and deliver for Wales.” His counterpart for Newport, Dr Peter Noyes, said “The inevitable end to the story of the University of Wales should not detract from a distinguished history lasting 12 decades. Wales should be sad that this day has come[.]” UoW chairmain Hugh Thomas has resigned.
The Prince of Wales is among past students, having spent a 1969 term there. The institution’s various member organisations at one point included the now-separate Cardiff University.
HIV-positive man receives 35 years for spitting on Dallas police officer
A Dallas County jury concluded that Willie Campbell’s act of spitting on policeman Dan Waller in 2006 constituted the use of his saliva as a deadly weapon. The incident occurred while Campbell, 42, was resisting arrest while being taken into custody for public intoxication.
“He turns and spits. He hits me in the eye and mouth. Then he told me he has AIDS. I immediately began looking for something to flush my eyes with,” said Waller to The Dallas Morning News.
Officer Waller responded after a bystander reported seeing an unconscious male lying outside a building. Dallas County prosecutors stated that Campbell attempted to fight paramedics and kicked the police officer who arrested him for public intoxication.
It’s been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears.
Prosecutors said that Campbell yelled that he was innocent during the trial, and claimed a police officer was lying. Campbell’s lawyer Russell Heinrichs said that because he had a history of convictions including similarly attacking two other police officers, biting inmates, and other offenses, he was indicted under a habitual offender statute. The statute increased his minimum sentence to 25 years in prison. Because the jury ruled that Campbell’s saliva was used as a deadly weapon, he will not be eligible for parole until completing at least half his sentence.
If you look at the facts of this case, it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury.
The organization Lambda Legal (Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund), which advocates for individuals living with HIV, says that saliva should not be considered a deadly weapon. Bebe Anderson, the HIV projects director at Lambda Legal, spoke with The Dallas Morning News about the sentence. “It’s been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears,” said Anderson.
The Dallas County prosecutor who handled the trial, Jenni Morse, said that the deadly weapon finding was justified. “No matter how minuscule, there is some risk. That means there is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death,” said Morse. Dallas County District AttorneyCraig Watkins stated: “If you look at the facts of this case, it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury.”
Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV.
A page at the CDC’s website, HIV and Its Transmission, states: “HIV has been found in saliva and tears in very low quantities from some AIDS patients.” The subsection “Saliva, Tears, and Sweat” concludes that: “Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV.” On Friday the Dallas County Health Department released a statement explaining that HIV is most commonly spread through sexual contact, sharing needles, or transfusion from an infected blood product.
Philippine President calls for resignation of cabinet due to deflation of peso
Amid news of a drop of the Philippine peso for a sixth straight week, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday asked all members of the cabinet to resign, preparing the road for change in the administration.
In the past month the peso has fallen 3.1 percent due in part to accusations that Arroyo cheated in last year’s elections, as well as accusations that her family members have been taking kickbacks from illegal gambling operations.
The central bank may move to buy the peso in an attempt to stem the decline and raise lenders’ reserve requirements so they have less money to bet against the currency.
While Arroyo was asking for the resignations, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and other officials, including Tax Commissioner Guillermo Parayno, Customs Commissioner Bert Lina, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin and Trade Secretary Juan Santos, called for Arroyo’s resignation. The text of their statement is available here.
However, Arroyo refused, and while addressing the nation via radio she said “I am not resigning my office. To do so under circumstances that connote an Edsa 3 (the third people’s revolution) would condemn any successor to the possibility of an Edsa 4, then an Edsa 5, and so on and so on, unless our political system were first reformed to make it more responsive to the people’s will, such that changes in leadership come about in an orderly and stable manner…”
Arroyo said that the time had come to face the fact that the political system had degenerated so much that partisan agenda is coming before national interest.
She pointed to the huge emigration from the country as an indication of the large problems within, while endless scandals and conflict seem to plague the southeast Asian nation.
The President ended her address by promising to bring a resolution to all that has plagued the country.
McDonald’s restaurant to close all locations in Iceland
McDonald’s, the international fast food restaurant chain, will cease all operations in Iceland by the end of October.
The company blames the closure of the nation’s three outlets on drastically increased costs of importing its food ingredients, which mainly came from Germany. McDonald’s corporation says the current economic slump is to blame for rising costs, along with the “unique operational complexity” of keeping them open.
The restaurant, with its distinctive Golden Arches, began its Icelandic operations in 1993. Its outlets were operated by Lyst, a franchising company owned by Jon Gardar Ogmundsson. There are no plans to reopen any of the locations.
“[Stores have] never been this busy before… but at the same time profits have never been lower. It just makes no sense. For a kilo[gram] of onion[s], imported from Germany, I’m paying the equivalent of a bottle of good whisky,” said one Gardar Ogmundsson, the owner of the firm Lyst, to the BBC.
Lyst hopes to operate a new chain of restaurants, which will be supplied by domestic rather than imported food products.
McDonald’s, which operates in 119 countries globally, previously closed its sole retail outlet in Barbados in 1996 after only six months in operation, and withdrew from an additional seven countries in 2000 — including Bolivia — to reduce costs.
Wikinews interviews candidate for New York City mayor Vitaly Filipchenko
In early May, Wikinews extended an invitation to Vitaly Filipchenko, an independent candidate in the 2021 New York City mayoral election, set to take place November 2nd, alongside other candidates. Filipchenko answered some questions about his policies and campaign during a phone interview.
Filipchenko, registered on the New York City Campaign Finance Board as Vitaly A. Filipchenko, is the first Russian candidate for New York City mayor, being born in Tomsk, Siberia in 1973, according to news agency Sputnik. He has since naturalised as a United States citizen. According to the web site, Filipchenko has been educated in road construction and maintenance and owns a moving services company; he describes himself on his web site as a “small business owner”. On his web site’s platform page, he says that “[m]y English may not be perfect – but my platform is.”
Incumbent Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio, who won re-election in the 2017 New York City mayoral election by 66.5%, cannot run for a third term under term limits. As of April 28, 22 candidates are currently running, the majority of whom are also Democrats. Ahead of the June Democratic primary for New York City mayor, a poll conducted May 23 and 24 by WPIX and Emerson College of 12 Democratic candidates with a margin of error of 3.2 per cent has former commissioner for the New York City Department of Sanitation Kathryn Garcia and Borough President of Brooklyn Eric Adams leading with 21.1% and 20.1%, respectively.
Dublin Pride 2018 attracts tens of thousands of people
On Saturday, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride in the Irish capital Dublin attracted a record number of people. According to the organisers of the Pride, about 60 thousand people attended the event, almost double the number of attendees in last year’s Pride.
For the first time, members of the Defence Forces attended the annual rally in their military uniforms, The Independent reported. The Defence Forces were led by Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett. This year’s theme was “We Are Family”. Buildings were decorated in the colours of the rainbow on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Dublin Pride.
According to reports, ex-president Mary McAleese and children’s minister Katherine Zappone had attended the Pride. “Happy Pride everyone! Have a great day celebrating equality, inclusiveness and love”, Health Minister Simon Harris tweeted.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in the Irish Republic 25 years ago in 1993, and the marriage of same-sex couples was legalised in November 2015 after a nation-wide referendum. On June 19, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who is the country’s first openly-gay Taoiseach addressed the Dáil saying, “Today the people I want to pay a special tribute to are the unknown heroes, the thousands of people whose names we do not know, who were criminalised by our forbears”.
Same-sex marriage is illegal in the neighbouring country of Northern Ireland. Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the Sinn Féin political party said, “We stand in solidarity to those in the North who are still struggling to have their families recognised in the most basic of ways – marriage equality”. She added, saying, “The people here, the people of pride are an unstoppable force. Rights are for all. Equality is for all. Change is coming and make no mistake the North is next.”
Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo who was held hostage for 15 days, was traded for five Taliban prisoners, as confirmed by Italian and Afgani authorities.
This likely represents the first time during the Iraq War or War in Afghanistan that prisoners were openly exchanged for a hostage. An Afghani government source said the swap “was an exceptional measure taken because we value our relations and friendship with Italy.”
Maybe the enemy will realize the great benefit they gained from this deal, and tomorrow even the reporters in Kabul won’t be safe. This is not good. The government can’t let the enemy use this strategy.
The move received sharp criticism from allies of Italy. In Washington, a senior State Department official said the United States was pleased the journalist had been released unharmed, but was troubled by possible ramifications of the swap. A spokesperson at the British Foreign Office said the deal sent “the wrong signal to prospective hostage-takers”.
Maxime Verhagen, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands spoke against the swap, “When we create situations where you can buy the freedom of Taliban fighters when you catch a journalist, in the short term there will be no journalists anymore.”
The international backlash is the latest headache for Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who has fought hard to keep troops in Afghanistan despite resistance from pacifists within his centre-left coalition.
Prodi briefly resigned last month after a defeat in the Senate over his foreign policy, including Afghanistan, and needs the Senate next week to approve a refinancing of the mission.
An opinion poll published by Mastrogiacomo’s newspaper, La Repubblica, showed that 51 percent of Italians surveyed supported the exchange, while 41 percent opposed it.
Today, at 12:00 p.m. EDT (UTC-4) the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) staged a “naked” protest in White Plains, New York. The target of the protest was British fashion house, Burberry, and their fur practices.
Two “naked” female PETA members, wearing nothing but bikini bottoms and body paint held billboards with the slogan, “When plaid goes bad.” The body paint was done in the trademarked Burberry Check plaid design.
Two other PETA members were there handing out leaflets and showing a video presentation. The painted protesters were spattered with far less fake blood than other documented PETA protests in this campaign.
PETA is protesting Burberry for the company’s use of fur in its products and how it is obtained. The group has staged similar protests around the world in its ongoing “BloodyBurberry”-campaign.
The protest took place at the intersection of Westchester Avenue and Bloomingdale Road in front of the The Westchester, an upscale shopping mall owned by Simon Property Group. Burberry has a retail store in the mall.
This corner is far from the mall’s entrances and sees little pedestrian traffic. However, it does see heavy traffic by motorists, before whom the protestors were in plain sight. While Wikinews was on the scene, police and news media were the only other pedestrians.
The police presence was significant, numbering at least two vehicles and two mounted police officers. But since there was no crowd to control, they just hung back. Media was also there in numbers. At least two television crews could be observed.
As far as Wikinews can tell, Burberry has yet to make any public comment about any of the “BloodyBurberry” protests.
Beijing’s city legislature has approved a bill, one year in the making, to safeguard the historical and cultural heritage of old Beijing. The new 41-article set of regulations will come into effect May 1, requiring the city to protect listed heritage sites and unlisted sites deemed of historical or cultural value. It also guarantees protection for the area within the city’s Second Ring Road.
Director of the Beijing Administrative Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Mei Ninghua, said “the most encouraging content of the regulations is that Beijing will pay more attention to protecting the old city’s landscape in its entirety, rather than just focussing on scattered heritage sites.” This means the old city layout, colours of buildings, and the names of houses and lanes will have legal protection.
“We took measures to protect the city’s siheyuan courtyard houses by tagging protection plates on more than 650 of them in 2003, preventing them from being demolished or damaged during the city’s massive housing reconstruction projects,” said Mei.
“Now the new regulations give legal buttress to the protection of siheyuan courtyard homes, as well as other unmovable ancient treasures, that have yet to be listed but are at risk of being demolished during urban renovation.”
Canada’s Beaches—East York (Ward 32) city council candidates speak