marathon06.org

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Wikinews interviewed the creator of a parody website satirizing American political commentator Glenn Beck, about his thoughts after prevailing in a domain name dispute brought by Beck before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Florida resident Isaac Eiland-Hall created the website in September, and it asserts Beck uses questionable tactics “to spread lies and misinformation”. Eiland-Hall was represented in the case by free speech lawyer Marc Randazza.

Wikinews interviewed Randazza for the article “US free speech lawyer Marc Randazza discusses Glenn Beck parody”, and previously reported on the Beck v. Eiland-Hall case in articles, “US free speech lawyer defends satire of Glenn Beck”, “Satirical website criticizes Glenn Beck for ‘hypocritical’ attempts to silence free speech”, and “Glenn Beck loses domain name case over parody website”.

Monday, June 19, 2006

2000 Cantabrians are still without power a week after a huge snowstorm struck and took out the electricity in mid and south Canterbury.

Sunday June 18 came and brought more snow to mid and south Canterbury, but just a minuscule amount compared to last weeks.

Civil Defence says “It is keeping an eye on the situation, and welfare work is continuing to make sure everyone is coping. Iroquois helicopters are reportedly on standby at Wigram Air Base if needed,”

Chief executive of Orion (a power company) Roger Sutton says, “Another 20 or 30 homes are without power in the Lake Coleridge area.”

Repair crews were taken out of duty on Sunday because the snow got too deep, but should be back on the job Monday June 19.

NZ Post also reports that they have had to cancel deliveries to some Dunedin suburbs because it got too icy. NZ Post says that deliveries will continue on Tuesday June 20 or if the weather clears up before that.

The MetService has put severe weather warnings for some of the central cities of the North Island.

Barry Stratton, Transit, says that all roads are open in the South Island, but some will have delays.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Rescuers in Brazil are seeking a plane that disappeared Friday carrying six people, two local pilots and four British investors interested in a possible new housing development.

The dual-engined Cessna 310, operated by Aero Star, lost contact with Air Traffic Control (ATC) eight miles (13km) off the coast near Ilheus, where it was intending to land in nine minutes time and was making a visual approach to Ilhéus Jorge Amado Airport. The flight had originated in Salvador and made last contact at 5:43 p.m. local time (2043 GMT) with Ilheus control tower.

The four passengers have been identified as Sean Woodhall, Ricky Every, Alan Kempson and Nigel Hodges. The planned development they had been considering is a luxury estate planned by Worldwide Destinations, who Sean Woodhall owns. It is based in Spain and constructs worldwide luxury property developments.

Ricky Every works for Worldwide Destinations, and Alan Kempson and Nigel Hodges are both directors of UK finance company Diamond Lifestyle Holdings, who had been considering a deal with Worldwide. At least three of the four did not live in the UK.

The search for the aircraft is focusing on a location 20 miles (32km) North of Ilheus, where there are eyewitness reports that a light aircraft was flying extremely low and without lights, leading authorities to believe the aircraft loss power. Investigations are probing some reports of witnessing a plane crash, and there are unconfirmed rumours that wreckage has been found.

Brazil’s Coast Guard, three Aero Star helicopters and Bahia state police are all participating in the search. The weather was good at the time and the flight crew hadn’t reported any issues to ATC.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

It was revealed today that George H. W. Bush will be attending the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney next week. Mr. Bush is a wealthy businessman and member of Skull and Bones. He has also been President of the United States and the head of the CIA, and is the father of the current US President George W. Bush.

The conference will be held at the Sydney Opera House. The Forbes website says that at the event “senior figures from the world’s leading companies and institutions will discuss the best ways to nurture and capitalize on innovation and reveal the latest global trends.” Other attendees will be former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, former NSW Premier Bob Carr and, controversially, Steve Forbes, president and chief executive officer of Forbes Inc, and one of the signers of the Statement of Principles of Project for the New American Century.

Mr Knobloch of the 30A network described the attendees as “a few hundred neo-conservative corporate chiefs”. An article written by James Goodman and hosted on the 30A network website alleges a connection between Mr Forbes, the Bush family, and the policies of the administration of George W. Bush.

“Ironically enough, Forbes now leads the charge in the US business world against the ‘Axis of Evil’ (which of course includes Iran). Backing the US ‘War on Terror’ to the hilt, Forbes is one of Bush’s key business sponsors. In January 2004 it proudly announced ‘Bush is Best’,” the article said.

The 30A network is organising a protest in Sydney to coincide with the conference. It is not yet known if the ASIO risk assessment for the event will change as a result of Mr Bush attending.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Heavy rains started on Sunday early morning throughout most of southern Pakistan as Cyclone Phet approached landfall. At least 370 millimeters were reported by the meteorological office in the port city of Gwadar on Friday; 208 milimeters in Jiwani, 139 milimeters in Pasni, 63 milimeters in Turbat and 60 in Ormara.

Heavy rains and thunderstorms hit southwestern Balochistan and parts of interior Sindh Saturday evening leaving thousands displaced and around 40 villages to be washed away by the heavy rains.

The storm system has moved from Oman and is expected to reach Pakistan by Sunday evening. According to the Oman News Agency, at least twelve people have been killed in Oman alone.

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Wednesday, March 29, 2006The Australian House of Representatives today acknowledged the impact of the recent devastating Cyclone Larry and the efforts of the support given to the residents and communities of north Queensland in order to restore normal life.

Phillip Ruddock (Liberal, Berowra) moved a motion expressing this after Question Time today, which included a description of the devastation wrought on the area, the response by the Australian Government and the Australian Defence Force, and thanked the efforts of people for their “willingness to roll up their sleeves and get on with the job of cleaning up and rebuilding their towns and centres.”

The Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley (Labor, Brand) supported the motion, and congratulated the move to put General Peter Cosgrove in charge of operations, stating that soldiers “know how to work through logistics issues…how to work around officialdom or blockages”, praised both local federal and state members of Parliament, and especially the Labor Queensland state premier, Peter Beattie.

Bob Katter (Independent, Kennedy) was more critical in his speech. Katter thanked Beattie for his immediate response, but also described his confrontation with him and said how first responses were “simply not working”, but also praised Beattie’s decision on Cosgrove. Katter also described how the incident was “the worst natural disaster inAustralian history” and how the banana industry in north Queensland was decimated. Katter went on to describe the financial problems of the people in the region, the “huge gap” between the cost of rebuilding and insurance payouts, also asking “Are we going to pay people virtually nothing to sit on their backsides to do nothing or are we going to pay them a decent wage and have them rebuilding our communities for us?”

The debate is set to continue in the Main Committee, as an opportunity for many more members of the House of Representatives to speak to the motion, without taking up further time in the Chamber.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

The New Zealand Government has tabled the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill, despite unprecedented political opposition.

In 2003 the Hon Annette King signed a Treaty with Australia agreeing to hand control of the natural health products sector over to an Australian regulatory body, however she needs to pass enabling legislation in New Zealand. “This will be a world-class joint scheme designed to regulate the safety, quality, effectiveness and promotion of therapeutic products in both New Zealand and Australia. That includes the regulation of complementary and alternative medicines, over-the-counter and prescription medicines, medical devices, blood and blood products and tissues and cellular therapies,” Ms King said.

Twice the Bill has been thrown out by select committees, but the Government is determined to ram it through Parliament, according to the New Zealand Health Trust.

“Late tonight the Bill was finally tabled, with no announcement from the Minister,” said Amy Adams, spokesperson for the Trust, “Clearly the Minister is keen to sneak it into Parliament under cover of the silly season, in the hope that she can keep it under the public’s radar.”

“I welcome the support of a majority of the House who want to see the Bill go to Select Committee where New Zealanders can have their say,” Ms King said.

The NZ Health Trust conducted research earlier this year which showed 62% of New Zealanders used natural health products. “This Bill represents a massive and irreparable change to the way we make rules for New Zealand dietary supplements,” Mrs Adams said.

“Under the proposed regime, well over a million New Zealand consumers would find the choice of products adversely affected, and experience cost increases. So you can see why the Government is trying to sneak this into the House without any fuss – they don’t want the public to know.”

All the political parties except Labour have pledged their opposition the proposal, despite some intense lobbying by Australian and New Zealand officials.

“It is a very serious thing to hand sovereignty over your country over to another nation,” Mrs Adams said. “And all the other political parties see the sense in making sure the sector is regulated from New Zealand – not as a minor state of Australia.”

Ms King said: “The Bill… ensures that New Zealand will have an equal say in the setting up and running of the new Authority and joint scheme.” The new authority will be like a crown-owned entity and will have to provide an anuual report and a statement of intent to parliament each year.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Brampton – Suresh Joachim of Mississauga, Ontario continues to amaze, breaking yet another world record, this time at The Bay Court in Shoppers World.

From Thursday, September 22 at 8 am, to Saturday, September 24 at 3:05 pm, Suresh ironed continuously for 55 hours and 5 minutes, in front of the thousands of onlookers shopping at the mall those three days.

The achievement, now submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records, breaks the previous record by Eufemia Stadler of Zurich, Switzerland. Stadler completed 40 hours of continuous ironing from September 16-18, 1999.

Originally from Sri Lanka and Australia, Joachim is no stranger to the folks at Guinness. He currently holds twenty other records, ranging from greatest distance travelled on ‘up’ and ‘down’ escalators (225.44 km between May 25 and May 31 1998), furthest travelled on a treadmill in one week (659.27 km at a gym in Paris, France), and longest dance marathon by an individual (100 hours at the Dixie Outlet Mall).

This September, Suresh watched television in the lobby of WABC in New York City for 69 hours and 7 minutes, breaking the previous record by 19 hours. The event was covered daily on the talk show “Live with Regis and Kelly” as part of their Guinness World Record Breaker Week. He also recently set the record for longest time rocking in a rocking chair, at 75 hours.

A DJ on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire recently tried to break Joachim’s record for longest continuous time as a DJ. He was unsuccessful, and Suresh’s 120-hour World Record set on Geethavaani Tamil Radio in Scarborough stands unharmed.

The event helped raise funds for the Universal Fund for Suffering Children, whose funds are “utilized to save the world’s children from poverty, disease and war.” All of Joachim’s stunts have been dedicated to this charity.

What’s next for Suresh? He plans to start static cycling from October 18th, 2005 to October 22nd, 2005, in Britain. Suresh’s goal is 150 world records, which would beat the long-time record breaker Ashrita Furman, who has accumulated 94 records. While Furman started two decades ago, Suresh only discovered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1991, and started record breaking in 1996.

You can visit Suresh online at www.sureshjoachim.org

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Observatories around the world watched the skies early on Sunday morning as a European space probe, the SMART-1 crash landed on the Moon; the first time a European made object has landed there and, as the first, it made quite a bang. For the culmination of its three-year mission the probe left its orbit around our nearest neighbor and smashed into the Lake of Excellence at around 4,500 mph. The impact created a brand new crater and scattered debris up to 30 miles, in contrast to the gentle touchdown of the Eagle lander (when Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon) 37 years ago.