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Friday, November 20, 2009

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Irish Minister for Sport, Taoiseach and Facebook social network groups are requesting a replay of the controversial FIFA World Cup play-off between Ireland and France in the interests of Fair Play. The FAI lodged an appeal with FIFA and also contacted the French Football Federation (FFF), it appears FAI hopes FFF may agree that a replay is fair play. Both captians, Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, have called for a replay.

The Irish supporters, who in the past have won the FIFA Fair Play Award, are angry after a blatant double handball by Thierry Henry enabled France to score the extra-time goal that cost Ireland entry to next year’s FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa. Most Irish anger has been directed at FIFA, although French captain Thierry Henry has admitted handling the ball.

FAI has argued that there is a strong precedent; in 2005 where FIFA invalidated the result of a FIFA World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a technical error by the match referee. However, Law 5 of the Laws of the Game state that: “The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final.” and a source at Fifa headquarters in Switzerland said that “there is no way the game can be replayed”. The generic concept of fair play is a fundamental part of the game of football and the Fair Play Campaign was conceived largely as an indirect result of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, when the handball goal by Diego Maradona.

The referee Martin Hansson and (referee’s assistants) Stefan Wittberg and Fredrik Nilsson were unable to see the incident but didn’t ask Thierry Henry if he handled the ball. Its hoped the mistake won’t cost the Swedish referee’s a place in South Africa. FIFA’s Fair play policy is playing by the rules, using common sense and respecting fellow players, referees, opponents and fans. The French union representing the nation’s gym teachers declared outrage at what it called “indisputable cheating.”

Minister for Sport Martin Cullen wrote to FIFA president Sepp Blatter urging him to call a rematch in the interests of fair play. Taoiseach Brian Cowen raised the issue with French president Nicolas Sarkozy on the fringes of last night’s EU summit. French Prime minister François Fillon said “neither the French government nor the Irish Government should interfere in the functioning of the international federation”.

A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, July 8, 2013.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Many media outlets traditionally deliberately spread hoaxes on April Fools’ Day, including notable quality sources such as National Geographic and Science.

The popular British tabloid The Sun wrote that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to undergo stretch surgery to make him taller than his wife, Italian artist and model Carla Bruni. The report claimed the 5 foot 5 inch leader would be made 5 inches taller in one year using a method by Israeli professor Ura Schmuck. The Sun noted that during his visit to Britain last week, Sarkozy had high-heel shoes while his wife wore a pair of flat pumps.

The Guardian on the other hand ran an article that suggested that Carla would head an initiative by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to bring more glamour, good taste and sophistication to the U.K. general population. This would involve collaboration with Marks & Spencer for high-street fashion and Jamie Oliver for meals and wine.

BBC News had real-looking footage of flying penguins fronted by documentary host Terry Jones, which were actually an advertisement for its new iPlayer.

Monday, December 18, 2006

A state of emergency was declared Sunday for the U.S. state of Washington by governor Christine Gregoire, as additional reports of storm-related casualties surfaced. The state National Guard has been deployed to aid in distributing supplies.

Thousands were still without power in the coastal and Puget Sound regions, though most urban areas were back with power as late as Sunday afternoon, and outages were mostly contained to rural and unincorporated areas. Puget Sound Energy reported that roughly 500,000 energy customers out of the 700,000 who lost power were back in service by Sunday evening. Seattle City Light, the city’s independent municipal utility, reported only 18,000 customers still without power as of Monday morning, down from a peak of 175,000.

Four additional deaths related to the post-storm power outage had been reported as of Monday, bringing the total number of casualties to eight. A man in Gig Harbor was electrocuted by a downed power line while walking his dog. Another man in Spanaway died when an unattended candle caused a house fire.

Two died from carbon monoxide poisoning in separate incidents related to use of combustion devices indoors. Roughly a hundred additional cases of non-fatal carbon monoxide poisoning were reported from people using generators or grills indoors. News radio stations and authorities warned the public to stay away from downed power lines and not to use grills indoors. Dr. Neil Hampson at Virginia Mason’s hyperbaric unit, where a number of victims were being treated, warned it could be “the worse case of carbon monoxide poisioning in the country”.

On Monday, four new carbon-monoxide deaths were reported in a family of five in Burien due to an indoor generator. In Canada, which had some damage from the week’s storms, two southern British Columbia carbon monoxide deaths were also reported. Despite continued warnings, hospitals are still seeing cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, including a family in w:Shoreline, Washington which was taken to the hospital after they reported symptoms due to their indoor grill. Neighbors of the Burien family suggested that noise concerns are leading people to place noisy generators indoors.

The massive power outage left many stores and gas stations unable to operate. Some businesses opened with the help of backup generators, conserving power by foregoing heat and refrigeration, exterior lighting, and half the interior lighting. Most stores had run out of “D” size batteries, the most common size for flashlights, as well as firelogs and other essentials. Gasoline shortages were reported throughout the area, with one man selling excess fuel for as high as $15 per gallon, over 5 times the average retail price.

The Red Cross set up shelters throughout King and other affected counties for those without power or food. Hotels reported no vacancies as whole families took shelter in powered hotels, especially in Seattle. Restaurants also reported brisk business as people sought out a hot cooked meal. Tons of perishable food were expected to have become unsafe after the prolonged outage disabled refrigerators and freezers both in homes and stores.

Many of those without power visited nearby friends and family living where power had been continued or restored, while others traveled out of the area to places that had not been affected. The widespread outage made long-distance traveling treacherous on some major routes, with roadway lighting, cellular towers, and services disabled by the outage.

Most major roadways which were closed during the storm were reopened on Friday. The 520 Floating Bridge over Lake Washington, a major conduit to the technology-rich Eastside, sustained minor damage. Amtrak, which had halted its Cascades service, resumed Saturday evening. Sea-Tac Airport resumed operations with a reduced flight load, after a transient power outage on Friday disabled the airport radar and caused all planes to be grounded until it was repaired.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Environmentalists in Brazil are urging the country’s residents to urinate in the shower while washing themselves, to help conserve water and save the rainforest. Television ads being aired in the country claim that by doing so, the nation could save over 1,000 gallons of water per household each year.

SOS Mata Atlantica ran the ad campaign in an attempt to use comedy to get people to reduce the amount of water they use. “[The ad is] a way to be playful about a serious subject,” said Adriana Kfouri, a spokesperson for Atlantica.

The animated ad narrated by children shows people, including a trapeze artist, an alien and dancers, all taking a shower while at the same time, urinating in it. The ending of the ad then states, “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!”

Ken Livingstone, former mayor of London, England, proposed a similar campaign in 2006. He said urine should be classified as a “green waste” and that “there is no earthly reason that you need to flush the loo if you have merely urinated. That’s a huge saving of water.”

Saturday, November 5, 2005

The departure from France of the new Airbus A380 superjumbo airliner on a tour of Asia and Australia has been delayed, leading to a rearrangement of its public appearances. Citing “a precautionary measure”, Airbus announced that two of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on the prototype airliner would be replaced before the tour commenced.

Singapore will remain the airliner’s first stop, where Singapore Airlines will display the aircraft they intend to launch into passenger-carrying service in November 2006. It is expected that the Airbus 380 will wear the livery of Singapore Airlines when it arrives on November 11, three days later than originally planned.

The massive airliner will then bypass the planned stop in Malaysia, and fly directly to Sydney, then Melbourne and Brisbane as part of the leadup to Qantas’ 85th birthday celebrations on November 16. Qantas plans to commence A380 operations starting in April 2007.

The Malaysia visit will be rescheduled for November 17, occurring during the return flight to France.

It is unclear whether the originally planned Australian tour dates can be kept, and sources indicate that the airliner’s first stop in Brisbane, on November 11, maybe eliminated in favour of a brief appearance on November 16.

Friday, January 19, 2007

TJX Companies, a U.S. chain, that owns big box stores Winners, a fashion outlet, and HomeSense, a home accessories store, has revealed they had their computers hacked back in mid-December.

It also affected the U.S. and Puerto Rico stores Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and A.J. Wright, which are also owned by TJX Companies. The intrusion could also affect stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

They discovered the hacking in mid-December and revealed the information to the public on Wednesday.

“The company is committed to providing its customers with more information when it becomes available,” TJX Companies said in a statement.

The computers contain credit card, debit card, check, and merchandise return transactions information. The hacker could have accessed transactions during 2003 and from May through December 2006.

Jefferies analyst Timothy Allen said the chain should use this as an opportunity for excellent customer service. He added that they should offer coupons to customers to get them back to shopping in stores owned by TJX.

Customers with questions can call one of the help lines at 866-484-6978 in the United States, 866-903-1408 in Canada, and 0800-77-90-15 for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Skyservice, a Canadian charter airline, has cancelled several flights from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, with reports that the airline has ceased operations.

The company cites debt levels and changes in the vacation travel market with its decision to shut down operations and file for receivership. At the time of the filing in Ontario Superior Court, Skyservice is said to owe almost $9 million CAD to long-term partner and Thomas Cook subsidiary Sunquest Vacations. This situation exacerbated the debt load already put on the airline by a leveraged buyout in 2007 by Vancouver-based private equity firm Gibralt Capital Corporation. That placed more debt than was workable on the troubled airline, along with Roynat Capital calling in their loans to Skyservice earlier in the year.

Skyservice has stated that it will work with its partner companies and other providers to ensure customers stranded by the airline’s sudden shutdown are dealt with effectively, according to a company representative. In addition to customers impacted by the cancellation of flights for the month of April, approximately 860 jobs are expected to be lost as a result of this shutdown.

Tour operator Signature Vacations, under a contract with Skyservice until 2013, has stated that they were prepared for the airline’s receivership, having joined forces with rival service Sunwing Airlines.

Last year, operator Conquest Vacations declared bankruptcy, allegedly due to the economic downturn and reduced revenues throughout the industry.