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Saturday, April 26, 2008

A New Zealand teenager’s conversion of the popular Grand Theft Auto (GTA) video game is gaining popularity and the New Zealand Police are unhappy at their portrayal. Stacy O’Callaghan talked to Wikinews’ Gabriel Pollard about his mod.

The police cars and the police officers have been given a makeover to resemble the New Zealand versions. The planes were branded Air New Zealand, and ambulances were converted to match the local Wellington scheme, among various other changes.

The Beehive, Te Papa and the Sky Tower are looking to be added to the game also. O’Callaghan says, “We actually have the models for these buildings but haven’t figured out how to import them into the game.

“Theres plenty more to come, but thats our progress so far.”

Despite media reports stating the Police were investigating whether or not the mod breached the law prohibiting the unauthorised use of police insignia, O’Callaghan has not heard from the Police at all. He says that if the Police did contact him with their concerns then he might consider taking the download offline. “If people want to start getting all legal and stuff, then I will just remove it.

“I don’t want to offend anyone, I don’t hate NZ Police, I think they are actually one of the best Police forces in the world.”

The 17-year-old has said that his total conversion mod for the San Andreas version of GTA is “fairly popular”. “The mod has been fairly popular considering NZ’s population, and considering NZ’ers aren’t exactly game mod fanatics,” O’Callaghan says. He says the latest version of the mod he uploaded has so far had 466 downloads.

He has made the mod publicly available for any gamer who wants to play the New Zealand-branded version of the game and enjoy the game as much as he now does. O’Callaghan says he doesn’t want to make money off the game change.

The original plan was for the GTA modification to only transform the police cars into New Zealand branded cars but was later extended when O’Callaghan was contacted by other developers. He says, “I originally started with just the police cars back in November last year and left it at that, and then after uploading it people came to me saying they wanted to help out with it and so about a couple of months ago we started making this total conversion.”

O’Callaghan says in the future he would like to join the New Zealand Police and work in computer forensics, failing that he’d like to go into the IT industry.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Sales of automobiles in the United States fell as much as 35% in January, compared to the same month a year ago, as manufacturers reported their January sales.

Ford Motor Company ^NYSE: F sales dropped 42% last month from the previous year. General Motors ^NYSE: GM reported a 49% decline. Chrysler was hardest hit among the domestically owned manufacturers with a plunge of 55%.

The decline in sales has not been limited to just US manufacturers. Japanese automaker Toyota ^NYSE: TM reported a 32% drop in US sales from a year earlier, Nissan Motors^{NASDAQ: NSANY} dropped 30%, and Honda ^NYSE: HMC sales dropped 28%.

Subaru and South Korean Hyundai Motor Company ^LSE: HYUD were two of the few auto firms that reported an increase in sales. They posted gains of eight and fourteen percent, respectively.

On an annual basis, sales overall have also been plummeting. Industry-wide US car sales dropped 18% last year to 13.2 million automobiles.

GM announced today that it will offer voluntary buyouts to 22,000 employees in the US, in an effort to reduce its expenditures.

Last month, GM and Chrysler were given loans worth US$17.4 billion from the government after they warned of imminent bankruptcy.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives voted to effectively reject the Senate version of a bill, passed with bipartisan support, to extend a payroll tax cut two months past its year-end expiration date. The House voted instead to create a conference committee to settle differences between members of both bodies.

Although the tax cut extension itself has support among Republicans and Democrats, lawmakers disagree on how Congress should go about compensating for the cost of extending the cut and the policy changes it would entail.

During an appearance yesterday, President Obama condemned opposition to the Senate-passed version of the bill, accusing Republicans in the House of trying to negotiate on matters unrelated to the bill. Republicans, in response, say there is still time to negotiate the bill, insisting that lawmakers ought to concentrate on a year-long plan rather than a two-month extension. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, however, says he will not agree to negotiate the tax cut extension until the Senate-approved bill is passed by the House.

If the tax cut is not extended and instead expires on December 31, approximately 160 million Americans will be affected by the tax increase; President Obama insists the only way to prevent the tax hike beginning January 1 is for the House to pass the Senate bill. In response, House Speaker and Republican John Boehner wants Obama to “call on the Senate to return” to negotiate. The Senate, shortly after passing the bill, adjourned for the Holiday break.

Also included in the bill is a provision that would require President Obama to make a decision regarding the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, a pipeline that would transport oil from Canada to Texas.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi blamed the congressional year-end impasse on “Tea Party Republicans.” In a letter to President Obama, Speaker Boehner requested he galvanize the Senate to negotiate on the bill’s provisions, writing “The differences between the two different bills can be quickly reconciled to provide the American people the certainty of a full-year bill. There are still 11 days before the end of the year, and with so many Americans struggling, there is no reason they should be wasted. You have said many times that Congress must do its work before taking vacation”.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Sony launched its eagerly anticipated PlayStation Portable (PSP) in the North American market today. The PlayStation costs $250 and plays MP3 files, movies and of course games.

Launched previously in Japan last year with much fanfare, the PSP quickly achieved sales of more than 800,000 units. The device is Sony’s first major attempt at challenging Nintendo’s long held grip on the market for handheld games.

Nintendo currently holds a 90 percent of the market share for handhelds in North America. With the recent introduction of Nintendo DS, the fight for control of this market is expected to become even more intense.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

In a talk made to officials at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Workers’ Party of Korea held on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned officials of a coming “very giant struggle” in the economic field, reported Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun. Present at the meeting, which was held in the headquarters building of the Central Committee, were high-ranking party members and military officials, including Party Secretariat Secretary Jo Yong Won and premier Kim Tok Hun.

The meeting, which had been convened to discuss details on the upcoming fourth Plenary Meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), later released its resolution on said issue, with the last third of December being the chosen time frame for the Plenary Meeting and a review of Party work having been placed on the agenda, among other subjects.

At the Politburo meeting, Kim Jong Un said that “the successes registered by us show that the overall affairs that had been planned to lay a foundation for the economic development of the country and the improvement of people’s living standard have been vigorously pushed forward”, praising successes made in the agricultural and construction fields.

Kim followed by saying that “next year will be an important one as we should wage a very giant struggle as much as we did this year”, and that plans made for next year should “be dynamic, onward, scientific and detailed, and consolidate the foundation for implementing the five-year plan.”

North Korea’s economy has suffered as a result of various factors over the last two years, with a combination of COVID-19 border closures and heavier sanctions topping off a typhoon and heavy flooding. According to Al Jazeera, UN agencies are reporting food and electricity shortages which have been worsened by economic sanctions.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

David S. Touretzky, prominent free speech activist and critic of Scientology, discussed his opinions on the recent Internet backlash against the Church of Scientology in an interview with former Scientologist and Wikinews reporter Nicholas Turnbull. The recent conflict on the Internet between critics of Scientology and the Church has been spurred on in declarations by a nebulous Internet entity using the name Anonymous that the Church of Scientology “will be destroyed”. Anonymous has directed recent protests at Scientology centres across the world, which have attracted significant numbers of individuals supporting the cause. In recent e-mail correspondence with Wikinews, a representative of the Church of Scientology declared that the Church considers the activities of Anonymous to be illegal, and that Anonymous “will be handled and stopped”.

Touretzky, a research professor in artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University, has been a prominent critic of the Church of Scientology since mid-1995, and has been protesting against Scientology vociferously since then; he has also run websites that publish material that Scientology wishes to keep suppressed from the public eye, such as extracts from Scientology’s formerly-confidential Operating Thetan (OT) materials. Touretzky views the actions of the Church of Scientology as being “a threat to free speech”, and has endured harassment by the Church of Scientology for his activities.

The Church of Scientology continues to suffer damage to its public reputation through increased exposure on the Internet and vocal protests by Scientology critics such as Prof. Touretzky. A recent event that focused intense attention on Scientology’s totalitarian attitude was the leak of an internal Church of Scientology propaganda video to the Internet video sharing site YouTube, in which celebrity Scientologist Tom Cruise spoke heavily in Scientology’s jargon and stated that that “we [Scientology] are the authorities” on resolving the difficulties of humanity. The declaration of war by Anonymous followed shortly after this leak, in the form of a video posted to the Internet.

The ongoing dispute, cast by some as Scientology versus the Internet, brought Scientology terms such as “SP” (Suppressive Person, an enemy of Scientology) and “KSW” (Keeping Scientology Working) into general usage by non-Scientologists from the late 1990s onwards; increased attention has been drawn to Scientology by the release of the Cruise video in addition to media coverage. This focus has caused an even greater propagation of these terms across the outside world, as Touretzky comments in the interview.

Wikinews asked Prof. Touretzky about the impact that the activities of Anonymous will have on Scientology, the public relations effect of the Tom Cruise video, the recent departure of individuals from the Church of Scientology’s executive management, the strategies that Anonymous will employ and Touretzky’s experiences of picketing the Church.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Libby Kosmala’s selection in the Australian shooting team for the 2012 London Paralympics highlights age is not a barrier in the Paralympics. Celebrating her seventieth birthday in early July, expected to set a record for most appearances at her eleventh Games, Kosmala is likely to be the oldest athlete in attendance.

Her first Games were the 1972 Heidelberg Games competing in swimming and athletics events and winning a bronze medal in the mixed medley relay. Kosmala then switched to shooting and between 1976–1988 won nine gold and three silver medals.

At the 2008 Beijing Games she narrowly missed a medal, coming fourth in the Women’s Air Rifle Standing SH1. In 2011 at the IPC Shooting World Cup, her level of competitiveness was highlighted by finishing fifth in the final of the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1. Kosmala is looking forward to the London Games saying: “It’s very exciting. I’m looking forward to it. In over ten Paralympic Games, my greatest success was at Stoke Mandeville in 1984, so I’m looking forward to competing in London again for Australia”.

Kosmala loves beating athletes half her age: “Competition brings out the best in you. I’m old enough to be their grandmother for a lot of the players, but they really are lovely”. Kosmala’s training involves physical training, three shooting sessions per week and mental relaxation training. The London Games will be her swansong but she will still keep shooting. She puts her longevity down to steadiness and a keen eye. Ashley Adams is to join her on the shooting team, attending his fourth Games, as will newcomers Luke Cain, Jason Maroney and Bradley Mark.

Russell Short, a vision-impaired thrower and the Australian Institute of Sport’s first athlete with a disability scholarship, in 1988, has been selected for his seventh Games. Another athlete likely to attend his seventh Games is Kieran Modra, a vision impaired cyclist. Selections for the cycling team are yet to be confirmed.

Two athletes who extended their Paralympic careers by changing sports have been selected; Greg Smith, who previously took part in track and field events, will be competing in wheelchair rugby. This is to be his fifth Games. Liesl Tesch, a former Australian wheelchair basketball player and captain, will be competing in sailing for her sixth Games.

Contrasting Australian Paralympians with their Olympian counterparts, the Australian Olympic Committee recently selected sporting shooters Russell Mark and Michael Diamond for the London Games; this to be their sixth Olympics and equalling the participation records of rower James Tomkins, sailor Colin Beashel, and equestrian Andrew Hoy.