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Saturday, March 4, 2006

Los Angeles County prosecutors have brought three felony charges against Stephen Heller for stealing documents from his employer, the law firm Jones Day.

The legal documents discussed the legal ramifications of activist allegations that Diebold Election Systems had used uncertified voting systems in Alameda County elections beginning in 2002. Jones Day represented the controversial electronic voting machine manufacturer at the time. The firm’s lawyers concluded that if such uncertified systems were used, then Diebold could be sued by Alameda County for millions of dollars. The memos also discussed whether the California’s secretary of state had the authority to investigate Diebold.

Mr. Heller has been charged with felony access to computer data, commercial burglary and receiving stolen property. He has pled not guilty.

Blair Berk, Heller’s attorney said, “It’s a devastating allegation for a whistle-blower. Certainly, someone who saw those documents could have reasonably believed that thousands of voters were going to be potentially disenfranchised in upcoming elections.”

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Wikinews correspondent J.J. Liu spoke with Technological University Dublin (TUD) senior lecturer at the School of Surveying & Construction Management, Dr Lorcan Sirr on Friday regarding the supply of housing in the Republic of Ireland and relevant parallels across the rest of Europe, as well as recent developments by the government and private sector that are causing a rise in rents and home prices in the Irish real estate market.

Dr Sirr is a regular contributor to The Irish Times and has provided commentary to Irish radio station Newstalk, national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and various other publications. In addition to being a chartered planning and development surveyor and assessor to the Society of Chartered Surveyors, Dr Sirr is a Peace Commissioner and former external examiner for the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, according to his profile on Worky.

Dr Sirr was a lecturer and former head of research for the Faculty of the Built Environment at the Dublin Institute of Technology, which entered a merger with two partner institutes to become TUD January 1, 2019. He received his bachelor’s degree in estate management at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom, and master’s degree in urban design and PhD in town planning at the University of Manchester. He has a second master’s in literature from KU Leuven, Belgium, and speaks French.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

If you are in the market for new bedding, and not too concerned with the new United States guidelines for mattress fire resistance, now might be a good time to buy. Mattresses sold in the U.S. must meet new federal guidelines for flammability starting on July 1.

The flammability of mattress sets sold in the U.S. is subject to a new mandatory federal regulation requirement passed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on February 16 last year. The requirement, costing mattress manufacturers an estimated $100 million to meet, is scheduled to take effect on July 1. The commission anticipates that the new standards will save 270 lives and 1,330 injuries per year from mattress fires.

“We’ve passed a new open flame regulation and the whole idea behind the regulation is to make sure that if a mattress catches on fire that the fire burns slowly enough that people have enough time to get out of the house and get away,” said Hal Stratton, chairman of the CPSC

Radio and TV advertising spots are reacting to the new regulation by discounting prices on mattresses that fail to meet the new guidelines. Sales made in the mattress industry, like the automobile industry, are highly negotiable on price. The new regulation does not appear to have much “teeth” for mattresses already in the distribution pipeline, but it is a new law that is a bargaining position for potential buyers.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Japan’s government has declared its first ever “nuclear emergency” after pressure rises in the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, combined with a minor radiation leak, caused a 10 km radius around the plant to be evacuated. An attempt to relieve the pressure inside the containment vessels of the plant has been delayed.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company’s 40-year old nuclear facility, 270 km NE of Tokyo, reported mechanical difficulties with its cooling system, although the automated shutdown systems worked correctly. With the core reaction shut down the plant is no longer actively generating heat, but the fuel rods continue to generate excess heat and radiation and need constant cooling.

The cooling system runs a constant flow of water to take the heat away from the submerged fuel rods, but the pumping system requires electricity to operate even after the plant is no longer producing electricity itself—generally from back-up diesel or natural gas generators.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

A Pembroke Pines, Florida teenager killed himself Wednesday, November 19, while broadcasting on the live video site Justin.tv. After making suicide threats and being encouraged by Justin.tv viewers and Bodybuilding.com forum members, Abraham K. Biggs, 19, committed suicide by taking an overdose of opiates and benzodiazepine, which had been prescribed for his bipolar disorder.

Biggs first began blogging about his planned suicide 12 hours before the actual event. He died after taking pills and lying on the bed in front of the webcam. After the broadcast, viewers who apparently thought it was a hoax posted messages such as “OMG”, “LOL”, and “hahahah”.

Hours later, after being alerted by viewers who had noticed that Biggs had stopped breathing, law enforcement and paramedics arrived, discovered his body, and covered the camera. The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office has reportedly confirmed Biggs’ death.

According to Montana Miller of the Bowling Green State University, the circumstances of this case were not shocking: “If it’s not recorded or documented, then it doesn’t even seem worthwhile. For today’s generation it might seem, ‘What’s the point of doing it if everyone isn’t going to see it?'”

Biggs’ sister Rosalind was angry that neither the website nor its viewers reacted soon enough to save him. “They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours,” she said. She described him as “very happy” and “friendly and outgoing.” “On a normal day, you couldn’t really tell that he got as low as he did.” However, he did have relationship problems with his girlfriend, according to a friend.

Mental health professionals have warned about the possibility that other mentally troubled people would copy his actions. According to Dr. David Shaffer of Columbia University, “Any video showing it as heroic or romantic or glamorous could reduce the anxiety people might feel about suicide. It becomes a respectable behavior and lowers the threshold of suicide.” He and other psychiatrists recommend that potentially suicidal teens talk to others and “tell what’s going on.”

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

In late May to early June of 2008, news broke that a previously undiscovered indigenous tribe had been found near the border between Brazil and Peru. Worldwide media was quick to publish the story and the accompanying photographs taken by José Carlos Meirelles. The photos showed people in full body paint aiming bows at the overhead aircraft from which the pictures were taken. Wikinews covered the story as well.

In its Sunday edition, British newspaper The Observer had a story called “Secret of the ‘lost’ tribe that wasn’t” which was about this “discovery” and revealed that the tribe had in fact been known to scientists, including Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI), the Brazilian protection agency for Indian interests.

After this revelation, media newswires branded the original story a hoax. These hoax claims spread nearly as quickly as the original story. Rapidly, news sites even claimed that the photos were fake. The true story, however, is more complicated than that.

The Observer’s article featured an interview with José Carlos Meirelles, one of a handful so-called sertanistas that work for the FUNAI. These are field agents that map the areas of uncontacted indigenous peoples, so that their habitat can be protected. He admitted that his desire to protect these tribes had caused him to overstep his mission.

When given the use of an aircraft to seek out new tribes, Meirelles instead flew over an area where he knew a tribe had been observed decades ago. Ultimately, he was hoping to prove that FUNAI’s policy of not contacting the tribes they observe is better for the tribes. With this flight he hoped to find evidence that the tribe, discovered long ago, was better off for not being contacted.

“When I saw them painted red, I was satisfied, I was happy,” he said. “Because painted red means they are ready for war, which to me says they are happy and healthy defending their territory.”

The photos are of a real tribe, long known to Meirelles and other scientists within FUNAI, but protected under Brazilian law.

Meirelles says he has no regrets, because he just wanted to prove these kind of tribes exist and deserve protection. He said that Peruvian President Alan García had claimed that these tribes were imaginary and that he needed to prove they existed. In doing so, he violated FUNAI policies by flying over their area and taking pictures. Both are prohibited. Meirelles claims he will protect the exact location of the tribe’s territory, even if tortured.

Former president of FUNAI, Sydney Possuelo, agreed that the publication of the photos was necessary to quell the doubt about the very existence such uncontacted indigenous peoples.

Survival International, a human rights organisation formed in 1969 that campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal and uncontacted peoples, admits complicity in the distribution of the original story. Survival International was instrumental in getting the original story international attention.

Nevertheless, Survival International said it did not mislead media because it never described the tribe as “lost”.

“These Indians are in a reserve expressly set aside for the protection of uncontacted tribes: they were hardly ‘unknown’,” said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International in a statement. “What is, and remains, true, is that so far as is known these Indians have no peaceful contact with outsiders.”

“Some of the media got very carried away and started talking about undiscovered tribes,” explains Fiona Watson of Survival International. “There was this interpretation that this was a completely new tribe, completely undiscovered, without bothering to check with sources … Neither the Brazilian government nor Survival has ever used that word, and ‘uncontacted’ means they don’t have any contact with outsiders.”

Monday, January 24, 2005

Riga, Latvia — The Central Bank of Lithuania announced that it plans to adopt the common European currency, the euro in 2007, and replace its national currency, the litas.

Lithunia intends to introduce the use of the euro as an official currency on January 1, 2007, where it will be used alongside the litas until January 15. From January 15, the euro would become the only official means of payment.

Lithuania joined the European Union in 2004, and like the other new member states, it is obliged to adopt the euro when it is ready. However, in order to adopt the euro, a country must be part of the EU’s Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II) for at least two years. During that time, the currency must not fluctuate more than 2.25% in relation to the euro. Additionally, the budget deficit should be under 3% of gross domestic product.

Lithunia became part of ERM II in June 2004, meaning that the earliest it could join the euro would be in June 2006. However, its target is 2007, which, at the present moment, seems to be achievable, considering the country’s low inflation and budget deficit. The litas has been pegged to the euro, since February 2002, at a rate of 1 euro = 3.45 litas.

So far, only 12 out of the 25 members of the European Union have adoped the euro. However, in the next decade, it is expected that most, if not all, of the ten new member states will adopt the currency. Lithuania is expected to be the first to adopt the currency, in 2007. Estonia and Slovenia, which are the only other new member states that are part of ERM II, are also expected to join the common currency at this time.

Larger countries like Hungary, Czechia and Poland, which are not yet part of ERM II, may have to wait until 2010 at least, due to their large budget deficits.

Lithuania has been one of the most enthusiastic new member states concerning European integration. Besides its early adoption of the euro, it was the first country in the EU to ratify the European Constitution.