Author: Admin

A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, January 23, 2012.

If you believe any of these stories deserves more in-depth coverage, feel free to write a full article on the issues raised.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

David McGruer is running for the Freedom Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Ottawa-Orleans 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.

Friday, February 2, 2018

On Wednesday, English football club Arsenal FC announced signing Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from German club Borussia Dortmund (BVB) on “a long-term contract” which runs until 2021. The deal is worth about £56 million, making Aubameyang the costliest player in the history of the club.

The 28-year-old striker joined Borussia in 2013 from French club Saint-Etienne, and since then, scored 141 goals in 213 matches for BVB. In German Bundesliga, he scored 98 goals, scoring one goal in 116 minutes on average. During his tenure at the Signal Iduna Park, the Gabonese captain won the 2017 DFB-Pokal (German Cup).

Aubameyang scored 31 goals in Bundesliga last season. Aubameyang was named 2016 Bundesliga player of the year. A year earlier, in 2015, he won African Footballer of the Year award. He has 56 international caps with Gabon and has netted 23 goals.

Via their official website, Arsenal announced Aubameyang is to wear jersey number 14, previously worn by Theo Walcott until last month when he moved to Everton FC. The Gabonese, who has already scored 21 goals in 24 games this season, reunites with Armenian midfielder Henrick Mkhitaryan. They were teammates at Dortmund until 2016, when Mkhitaryan moved to Manchester United. Mkhitaryan’s transfer to the London club came in exchange of Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez moving from Arsenal to their rivals Manchester in a swap deal.

Dortmund had signed Belgian footballer Michy Batshuayi from Chelsea on loan before Aubameyang’s deal was agreed upon. With Aubameyang’s arrival, French forward Olivier Giroud moved to Arsenal’s cross-town rivals Chelsea. In summer, Arsenal had signed Alexandre Lacazette for a then-club record fee of around £46.5 million.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Brett McKenzie is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the London North Centre 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.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

The UN-appointed panel investigating the oil for food scandal has released its third report.

The report says that Benon Sevan took nearly US$150,000 in cash bribes. Chef de Cabinet for Kofi Annan, Mark Malloch Brown, said that the UN would lift Sevan’s immunity should an approach come from a law enforcement authority and that the UN had been in ‘active collaboration’ with the Southern District of New York.

At the press conference responding to the report, Malloch Brown also said that there was will “a real need for serious, deep-rooted management reform of our organization, and that does not seem to be yet fully accepted by all member states.”

Benon Sevan, who worked for the UN for nearly 40 years before resigning on Sunday, has denied the accusation. In his resignation letter to Kofi Annan, he wrote: “The charges are false and you, who have known me all these years, should know they are false… I fully understand the pressure you are under…, but sacrificing me for political expediency will never appease our critics or help you or the organisation.”

A former UN procurement officer Alexander Yakovlev has pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from UN contractors.

Friday, May 26, 2006

The human rights watchdog NGO Amnesty International described 2005 as a year of contradictions with signs of hope for human rights being undermined through “deception and failed promises” of “arrogant” governments. Amnesty International issues annual reports on the development of human rights issues, with detailed reports on the situation in every individual country.

At the launch of its 2006 International Report, the Secretary General for Amnesty International (AI), Irene Khan, said that a number of governments have “paralyzed international institutions and squandered public resources in pursuit of narrow security interests, sacrificed principles in the name of the ‘war on terror’ and turned a blind eye to massive human rights violations. As a result, the world has paid a heavy price, in terms of erosion of fundamental principles and in the enormous damage done to the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people”.

According to the release report, Iraq sank into a “vortex of sectarian violence in 2005.” Secretary General Khan warned: “When the powerful are too arrogant to review and reassess their strategies, the heaviest price is paid by the poor and powerless – in this case, ordinary Iraqi women, men and children.” A 2004 Lancet study estimates that 100,000 excess deaths have occurred with roughly three times as many injured since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Continuing her criticism of international bodies, Ms Khan stated that “Intermittent attention and feeble action by the United Nations and the African Union fell pathetically short of what was needed in Darfur,” referring to the conflict that a number of reports estimate has killed over 300,000 people.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Australia’s justice minister, Chris Ellison has said that the Australian federal cabinet did not consider security issues when it decided to setup an inquiry into nuclear power.

Speaking to the Nine Network, Senator Ellison said when considering energy, security concerns are not an issue. “When you look at sources of energy you don’t look at any potential terrorist threat,” he said.

The justice minister said that cabinet discussed measures for protecting crucial infrastructure but denies that a nuclear power station is any more of a target than the electricity grid or rail system.

Senator Ellison said that restricting the country’s use on nuclear power because of the threat of terrorism was giving in to terrorists. “Energy sources are very important for the future of any community and I think we’re not about to be stymied or restricted in that approach because of any threat of terrorism,”

“I mean, we’re going to continue living in the way we do. Once we change that, the terrorists win,” he said.

Leader of the Australian Greens Bob Brown says that the failure to consider security implications associated with nuclear power generation is “daft”.

Senator Brown accused the government of failing to consider the possibility of nuclear material becoming available to terrorists. “It’s daft to say the least and it’s really pig-ignorant of the dangers of nuclear material coming into the hands of terrorists,” he said.

Senator Brown said he is concerned that the move encourages Indonesia, a country that he claims to have a terrorist problem to build nuclear reactors. “The Government doesn’t understand that their paving the way for nuclear enrichment or reactors in Australia encourages Indonesia, which has plans for up to 12 nuclear reactors and which the Government knows has real problems with terrorism.”

The Greens leader said that there is a possibility a nuclear reactor could become a terrorist target. “It does make the threat of terrorists getting nuclear materials or targeting a reactor real, and it must be a consideration for any inquiry,” he said.

The opposition has also raised concerns about security risks associated with nuclear energy. Stephen Smith said, “We don’t think that the economics are there for nuclear power stations in Australia, let alone the national security risks that go with that and the waste disposal risks that go with that.”