klimatizacebrno.com

Israeli PM Ariel Sharon declared ‘permanently incapacitated’

Posted on December 10, 2022December 11, 2022 by

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

The Israeli cabinet today (Tuesday) declared Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “permanently incapacitated,” a declaration that officially ends his tenure as Prime Minister.

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party won parliamentary elections in March, is currently in negotiations to form a coalition government.

Sharon has been in a coma since suffering a massive hemorrhagic stroke on January 4. Under Israeli law, Olmert can serve in the capacity of acting prime minister for only 100 days, until April 14, before a permanent replacement must be chosen. The official announcement was moved up to Tuesday because the Jewish holiday of Passover begins on Wednesday, April 12. Olmert is expected to be named as Sharon’s permanent replacement.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Israeli_PM_Ariel_Sharon_declared_%27permanently_incapacitated%27&oldid=2304008”

Athletes prepare for 2012 Summer Paralympics at the Paralympic Fitness Centre

Posted on December 3, 2022December 4, 2022 by

Monday, August 27, 2012

London, England — As Paralympians ready for the Games which are set to open later this week, they have access to a world class fitness center inside the Paralympic Village which is designed to maximise their pre-Game preparations.

According to volunteers staffing the center, instead of being a single large room, as in Beijing, the building has numerous rooms. It, along with the adjacent Village Services Centre, is designed to be converted into a school after the games conclude. Rooms have been structured as a gym, an auditorium, and science laboratories.

Gym equipment is supplied by Technogym, an Italian firm that has supplied gym equipment for the Olympics since 2000. Equipment has been provided not just for for the Fitness Centre, but for gyms at all the Olympic venues. The newest equipment is oriented toward maximum flexibility, allowing athletes to exercise the particular muscles that they most require for their sport.

In addition to the equipment, the Fitness Centre also provides instructors trained in the use of the equipment, the likes of which athletes from many countries have never seen before. There are also a number of instructors available to provide motivational training.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Athletes_prepare_for_2012_Summer_Paralympics_at_the_Paralympic_Fitness_Centre&oldid=1731640”

Von D from “LA Ink” TV series sets world record for tattooing

Posted on December 1, 2022December 2, 2022 by

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Realising how visual a medium tattooing is, tattoo artist Kat Von D of TV series LA Ink set a world record while raising funds to fight childhood blindness. In 24 hours, Von D tattooed 400 people with an “LA” logo, in her West Hollywood, California tattoo shop.

The December event at High Voltage Tattoo drew 1000 people in line, although only 400 could get the image emblazoned on them, for a $20 donation. Most learned of the event through her MySpace profile. In all, the funds raised will help 32,000 children’s eyesight, through Vitamin Angels.

Vitamin Angels is the only organization in the world solely dedicated to eradicating vitamin A definciency among children, with the goal of warding off youth blindness by 2020. The year 2020 is chosen because perfect vision is described as “20/20“.

First in line at the event was Jose Flores, who had camped out in front of the store since 7:15 the previous evening. Doors didn’t open until 10 am, and Flores didn’t get the tattoo until Von D was done with her friends and family, including internet celebrity Jeffree Star.

A Guinness World Records official was scheduled to attend, but was caught in a snow storm.

Katherine Von Drachenberg told the Los Angeles Times that, as a teenager, she “be at the mall and parents would grab their kids and be like, ‘Honey!’ It was like that scene in Pretty Woman, where the women on Rodeo Drive think Julia Roberts is going to shoplift. Now people just come up to me more out of curiosity — everyone from grandmas to soccer moms.”

The record setting event was filmed for LA Ink, a series that airs Tuesday nights on TLC in the United States. The series is a spin-off of Miami Ink, a series featuring Von D’s previous place of employ, before she set off on her own.

The series’ second season started last night, however that particular episode will air March 4.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Von_D_from_%22LA_Ink%22_TV_series_sets_world_record_for_tattooing&oldid=2584888”

Triple limb-reattachment fails – boy loses foot

Posted on November 30, 2022December 1, 2022 by

Tuesday, April 5, 2005Terry Vo, the 10-year old Australian boy who had two hands and a foot reattached by surgeons after losing them in an accident, has had to have the foot re-amputated. He will be given a prosthetic foot in its place.

The operation to re-attach three limbs was thought to have been a first – but was ultimately unsuccessful, with the foot having died inside, and receiving insufficient blood supply following the surgery to reattach it.

“That would lead to the small muscles in the foot actually constricting, the toes bending over and a deformed …. foot that is sort of clawed over and doesn’t have good sensation,” said plastic surgeon, Mr Robert Love today, on Australia’s ABC Radio.

“Even if you can get all of that to survive, he [would be] worse off than having had an amputation.”

“What is very disappointing is that for the first two days after [the operation] the foot looked absolutely magnificent,” he said.

Terry’s hands were healing well, said the surgeon. The prosthetic foot would allow him to walk normally, since his knee was intact.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Triple_limb-reattachment_fails_-_boy_loses_foot&oldid=440128”

DaBaby Levitating remix losing US radio audiences after the rapper’s comments on HIV/AIDS

Posted on November 28, 2022November 29, 2022 by

Thursday, August 5, 2021

Rapper Dababy (cropped).jpg

Following remarks by the rapper DaBaby regarding HIV/AIDS at a Miami, Florida festival, his remix of Dua Lipa’s song Levitating has lost a significant amount of radio audience in the United States of America. Yesterday, Billboard reported that, out of all the radio plays for Levitating, DaBaby’s remix now only makes up 49.5% of the radio plays for the song, a 20.7% decrease from last week.

At a performance at the Rolling Loud festival in Miami, DaBaby told an audience, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV/AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cell phone light in the air”, and went on to say, “Fellas, if you ain’t suck a nigga dick in the parking lot, put your cell phone lights in the air.” Lipa responded on her Instagram story by writing that she was “surprised and horrified” by DaBaby’s words, adding that “we need to come together to fight the stigma and ignorance around HIV/AIDS”.

Audacy, which is the second-largest radio group in the USA, told Billboard that they had removed the remix of Levitating from their stations “in light of DaBaby’s homophobic statements”. Jeremy Rice, who is the programming and branding director of Long Island-based WBLI in New York, has said that his station shifted to the version of Levitating that solely features Lipa, saying that WBLI management “just think it’s the right thing to do” given what he called DaBaby’s “plain wrong and hurtful” comments.

Fellow rapper T.I. defended DaBaby, arguing that “If you have a Lil Nas X video, and him living his truth, you gone damn sure have people like DaBaby who are going to speak they truth.” Lil Nas X is a gay rapper, who released the music video for his single Industry Baby on July 23, which “depicted him and a crowd of male dancers seemingly performing nude”, with their genitals blurred, according to Snopes.

Although DaBaby initially stood by his comments, on August 2 he apologised “to the LGBTQ+ community” for what he called “my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS”. While saying that he appreciated “the many people who came to me with kindness, who reached out to me privately to offer wisdom, education and resources”, the rapper also wrote that “social media moves so fast that people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow, educate and learn from your mistakes”.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=DaBaby_Levitating_remix_losing_US_radio_audiences_after_the_rapper%27s_comments_on_HIV/AIDS&oldid=4681398”

Bangladesh security tightened following Pilkhana massacre and Bashundhara City fire

Posted on November 28, 2022November 29, 2022 by

Friday, March 20, 2009

Following the Pilkhana massacre which occurred February 25 and 26 leaving 74 dead and the inferno at the Bashundhara City shopping mall complex March 13 leaving seven dead, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said security measures are being tightened countrywide across Bangladesh.

Fire drills will be enacted at all key-point installations (KPI). Fire fighting systems will be examined by the fire brigade and the public works department (PWD) to ensure functionality. Security measures will be enhanced supplementing areas under private security such as at the Bashundhara City Complex.

The Fire Service and Civil Defence Department requires modernization and needs new equipment to fight fires past the sixth floor of buildings. The Fire Brigade says it needs turntable ladders, snorkels, foam-tenders, lighting units, emergency tenders, fireproof uniforms, and rescue ropes for fire fighting and rescue operations. Transportation to fires is also an issue due to narrow roads, low electrical wires and congestion.

The Bangladesh National Building Code requires fire fighting equipment installed in buildings over seven floors. This code is to be monitored by authorities to ensure compliance with the new guidelines and to make sure buildings are being maintained.

The Bashundhara City Complex opened Monday for shoppers two days after Friday’s blaze. A probe is underway to determine the cause of the fire and to assess structural damage.

Loss of life was minimized as the blaze broke out on a Friday, the beginning of the weekend in Bangladesh, so offices in the upper floors were empty. The lower eight floors are used for shopping and the upper floors are all Bashundhara Group offices.

The mall is valued at Tk 7.0 billion (US$100 million). It is not known if the complex is covered by fire insurance.

It is estimated that it will take over two years to rebuild the area damaged by flames which were burned down to a skeleton. Bashundhara City’s technical advisor, Latifur Rahman, estimated damages at Tk 2.0 billion (US$29m).

Only one television cameraman has been allowed in to film the burnt area. None of the 2,500 shops, cinemas or cafes were burnt by the inferno. The seventh and eighth floors still experience smoke damage, and there was water damage to merchandise.

A three member committee is currently investigating the cause of the fire which will consist of Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, joint secretary of the ministry, representatives of the police, IGP Noor Muhammad, and fire brigade, Director General Abu Nayeem Md Shahidullah. The committee is required to report within the week with their findings. The forensics department is also sifting through the burnt remains.

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries has also formed a committee which has begun interviewing witnesses and recording their testimony alongside the government committee.

It has been discovered that 150 closed circuit cameras were not being used when the fire started. Another mystery is why the mall fire fighting system has been found unused.

	Why the fire burnt so fiercely is a matter to think….These matters seem to be mysterious

“In the shopping mall there is an ultra-technology elevator which runs even without electricity but we have found that locked,” Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, joint secretary (Police) of the home ministry, said. “Why the fire burnt so fiercely is a matter to think. We have to see if there was any incendiary substance there. These matters seem to be mysterious.”

Mall management has been asked to submit substances and items which would have been in the upper floors when the fire started. The fire erupted on the 17th floor and spread quickly to the two floors above and engulfed the three floors below. The aerial ladders belonging to the Fire Service and Civil Defence reached as high as the 13th floor of the 21-storey building.

Videos have been sent to the United States (US) for examination to assist in determining the cause of the fire and to help in the damage assessment. Experts from the US are expected to arrive soon.

Firefighters were brought to the rooftop of the 20-storey tower by helicopter. The only fatality in this operation was Baki Billa, a firefighter of Bashundhara City firefighting department, who fell when climbing down a rope from a helicopter to the roof of the building. Three other firefighters made the transition safely. At this same time, the chief security officer was safely rescued by the Bangladesh Air Force helicopter, a Bell 212. Six security officers of the complex also lost their lives.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Bangladesh_security_tightened_following_Pilkhana_massacre_and_Bashundhara_City_fire&oldid=4231268”

Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with Liberal candidate Brian Jackson, Oxford

Posted on November 26, 2022November 27, 2022 by

Monday, October 1, 2007

Brian Jackson is running for the Ontario Liberal Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Oxford 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.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Ontario_Votes_2007:_Interview_with_Liberal_candidate_Brian_Jackson,_Oxford&oldid=4495441”

Former SA Deputy President Appears In Court

Posted on November 25, 2022November 26, 2022 by

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Former Deputy President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has appeared in a Durban court to face corruption charges. Mr Zuma was dismissed by the President, Thabo Mbeki, earlier in the year, following the conviction on fraud charges of his financial advisor, Schabir Shaik.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Former_SA_Deputy_President_Appears_In_Court&oldid=4538632”

10,000 refuse to pay U.S. taxes to protest Iraq war

Posted on November 24, 2022November 25, 2022 by

Sunday, April 16, 2006

An estimated 10,000 conscientious objectors chose to withhold some or all of their U.S. income taxes due Monday, April 17, in protest to the use of US military power in Iraq. Some plan to instead donate their required tax to charity.

The Internal Revenue Service does not distinguish tax resistors from any other person behind on their taxes, and will apply the same fines and interest used against the other Americans who do not pay their taxes on time. Legal action is possible for extreme cases, but more commonly the IRS uses wage or bank account garnishing.

The tax protestors are well aware of these risks, yet refuse to pay on principle. Jim Allen, who served in the Army for 20 years and now teaches at St. Louis University, acknowledges that he will likely end up paying more due to the fines than he is refusing to pay today. “I am not opposed to paying taxes, but I am when such a large percent is going to pay for war. Sooner or later, they’re going to get their money, but until that happens, I’m going to continue protesting. This is too important not to.” Allen and his wife withheld $1300 – or 42% of what the couple owes the IRS, estimating this to be the proportion of his taxes that would otherwise go to military spending.

Other protestors simply refuse to file at all. Becky Pierce of Boston fills out a 1040 to determine her tax, but then donates that amount to charity without filing. Pierce says she follows in the footsteps of American protesters like Henry David Thoreau, a protester of the Mexican-American War who went to jail rather than pay taxes. “You need to have control of your money,” Pierce says. “I’m a self-employed carpenter. No one is reporting what I make. That’s why I can go unnoticed.”

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=10,000_refuse_to_pay_U.S._taxes_to_protest_Iraq_war&oldid=624881”

Chloroform spill forces evacuation of building at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York

Posted on November 23, 2022November 24, 2022 by

Monday, August 11, 2008

Buffalo, New York —The Buffalo Fire Department and Police were called to a hazmat situation at Canisius College on Main Street after security reported that a one gallon glass container containing chloroform broke, spilling about a pint onto the floor of the college’s science building.

According to communications by firefighters, who arrived at around 8:20 a.m. (eastern time), the glass container spilled on the third floor in room 318. As a precaution the building was evacuated and East Delevan road between Main Street and Jefferson Avenues was closed to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic while crews worked to clean up the spill.

At about 9:15 hazmat crews entered the room and began to clean up the chemical “using kitty litter” and fans to air out the room. They then sealed the material in a five gallon container. At 9:23 a.m. firefighters stated that they no longer detected the chemical in the air and began to pack up their gear.

Officials for the college assessed the situation and decided to keep the building closed for the day. “At 8:22am this morning the Public Safety Department and Buffalo Fire Department responded to a report of a chemical spill on the third floor of the Health Science Center. As the building is cleaned, the Health Science Building will remain closed today and reopen tomorrow morning,” a college official said to Wikinews, adding they could not confirm the firefighter reports.

Firefighters believe the container containing the chemical was knocked over while someone working with maintenance was cleaning the floors.

There are no reports of injuries, but WKBW reports that the maintenance worker was taken to Sister’s of Saint Mercy’s hospital not far from the college for observation.

Chloroform is a common solvent used in chemistry laboratories. Minimal exposure can cause dizziness, headaches and fainting while prolonged exposure can cause liver and kidney damage. It is considered a hazardous material and environmentally unsafe. Banned as a consumer product since 1976 in the U.S., it was previously used in toothpaste, cough medicines and pharmaceuticals.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Chloroform_spill_forces_evacuation_of_building_at_Canisius_College_in_Buffalo,_New_York&oldid=1712707”