Friday, March 31, 2006

The world’s second largest auto parts maker, Delphi Corporation, has announced today that 8,500 salary workers may be out of a job soon as part of a major restructuring plan, which will also include voiding the contract with the UAW union. The move would also shutdown over a third of its factories worldwide, including twenty one located in the United States.

Eight plants in the U.S. are slated to continue operating. Those located in Clinton, Mississippi, Brookhaven, Mississippi, Lockport, New York, Rochester, New York, Warren, Ohio, Vandalia, Ohio, Kokomo, Indiana, and Grand Rapids, Michigan will continue to serve as Delphi properties. The rest of the factories are said to either be sold to other companies, or to be closed entirely.

The plans were brought up to a bankruptcy judge earlier today. In addition to the proposed closings and layoffs, 34,000 workers may experience cut wages and less benefits. Hourly workers wages will drop from $27 to $22 an hour soon, and will further decrease to $16.50 in late 2007.

Delphi previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2005. In the original filing, requests were made to drop the hourly wages down to $12.50 an hour.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

NASA’s Cassini–Huygens spacecraft has discovered evidence for a large-scale saltwater reservoir beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The data came from the spacecraft’s direct analysis of salt-rich ice grains close to the jets ejected from the moon. The study has been published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature.

Data from Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer show the grains expelled from fissures, known as tiger stripes, are relatively small and usually low in salt far away from the moon. Closer to the moon’s surface, Cassini found that relatively large grains rich with sodium and potassium dominate the plumes. The salt-rich particles have an “ocean-like” composition and indicate that most, if not all, of the expelled ice and water vapor comes from the evaporation of liquid salt-water. When water freezes, the salt is squeezed out, leaving pure water ice behind.

Cassini’s ultraviolet imaging spectrograph also recently obtained complementary results that support the presence of a subsurface ocean. A team of Cassini researchers led by Candice Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, measured gas shooting out of distinct jets originating in the moon’s south polar region at five to eight times the speed of sound, several times faster than previously measured. These observations of distinct jets, from a 2010 flyby, are consistent with results showing a difference in composition of ice grains close to the moon’s surface and those that made it out to the E ring, the outermost ring that gets its material primarily from Enceladean jets. If the plumes emanated from ice, they should have very little salt in them.

“There currently is no plausible way to produce a steady outflow of salt-rich grains from solid ice across all the tiger stripes other than salt water under Enceladus’s icy surface,” said Frank Postberg, a Cassini team scientist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

The data suggests a layer of water between the moon’s rocky core and its icy mantle, possibly as deep as about 50 miles (80 kilometers) beneath the surface. As this water washes against the rocks, it dissolves salt compounds and rises through fractures in the overlying ice to form reserves nearer the surface. If the outermost layer cracks open, the decrease in pressure from these reserves to space causes a plume to shoot out. Roughly 400 pounds (200 kilograms) of water vapor is lost every second in the plumes, with smaller amounts being lost as ice grains. The team calculates the water reserves must have large evaporating surfaces, or they would freeze easily and stop the plumes.

“We imagine that between the ice and the ice core there is an ocean of depth and this is somehow connected to the surface reservoir,” added Postberg.

The Cassini mission discovered Enceladus’ water-vapor and ice jets in 2005. In 2009, scientists working with the cosmic dust analyzer examined some sodium salts found in ice grains of Saturn’s E ring but the link to subsurface salt water was not definitive. The new paper analyzes three Enceladus flybys in 2008 and 2009 with the same instrument, focusing on the composition of freshly ejected plume grains. In 2008, Cassini discovered a high “density of volatile gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as organic materials, some 20 times denser than expected” in geysers erupting from the moon. The icy particles hit the detector target at speeds between 15,000 and 39,000 MPH (23,000 and 63,000 KPH), vaporizing instantly. Electrical fields inside the cosmic dust analyzer separated the various constituents of the impact cloud.

“Enceladus has got warmth, water and organic chemicals, some of the essential building blocks needed for life,” said Dennis Matson in 2008, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“This finding is a crucial new piece of evidence showing that environmental conditions favorable to the emergence of life can be sustained on icy bodies orbiting gas giant planets,” said Nicolas Altobelli, the European Space Agency’s project scientist for Cassini.

“If there is water in such an unexpected place, it leaves possibility for the rest of the universe,” said Postberg.

Friday, March 24, 2006

The Australian government has granted temporary visas to 42 of the 43 West Papuan asylum seekers who arrived by boat in January. The group accuse the Indonesian military of “conducting genocide in their homeland.” The 36 adults and seven children spent five days at sea in a traditional outrigger boat before arriving in far north Queensland’s Cape York. They have been since been detained under Australia’s Mandatory Detention policy.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said the 42 West Papuans have been given temporary protection visas (TPV). “These people have completed their medical and character checks and will be moved into the community,” she said. Most of the group are being relocated by private jet from Australia’s remote immigration detention centre on Christmas Island to Melbourne. Senator Vanstone said a decision was still pending on one of the asylum seekers, as there were further specific case issues to be addressed.

However, the Indonesian government says the refugees should be sent back. Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has told Prime Minister John Howard that the group should not be given political asylum. He assures that they would not be prosecuted. Last month, Indonesia’s ambassador, Hamzah Thayeb, warned that Australia’s relationship with Indonesia would be affected if the Papuans were granted asylum.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer dismissed suggestions that the decision would cause a rift between Australia and Jakarta. “We’ve got an excellent bilateral relationship with Indonesia and we wouldn’t expect that any particular issue is going to bring that into question,” he said. Mr Downer personally informed his Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirajuda, of the decision. “It’s a matter of some significance between our two countries,” said Mr Downer.

Indonesia has insisted that there are no human rights abuses in Papua. Djoko Susilo, a member of Indonesia’s parliamentary foreign affairs commission, labelled the decision “an unfriendly gesture by the Australian Government.”

Since their arrival, the 43 West Papuans have accused the Indonesian military of “genocide in their homeland,” taken over by Indonesia in the 1960s after a widely disputed independence referendum.File:West-Papua-Rally Darwin2.jpg

Herman Wainggai, who spoke for the asylum-seekers, thanked the Australian Government and people for a fair and just decision. “We were threatened in an extremely dangerous position … We had to flee to Australia from the intimidation of the killing and the persecution inflicted by Indonesian authorities against us,” he said.

“We trust that Indonesia will act with maturity and see that the situation in West Papua is very serious and one which must be dealt with peacefully and with humanity, not by violent means,” he said.

The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) has denounced the Australian government’s decision, urging the government to send a formal protest note to the Australian government over the visas and political asylum granted to the 42 Indonesian citizens. “We question the decision to grant visas and political asylum at a time when the security situation in Papua province is tense,” said member of the House Commission I for defence, foreign and information affairs Effendy Mara Sakti, of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDIP).

Another House Commission member, Yudy Chrisnandy of the Golkar Party, said the granting of political asylum and temporary visas was unethical and could disrupt relations between the two countries.

Amnesty International has expressed particular concern about human rights violations in Papua, but welcomed the decision. “While welcoming today’s decision … Amnesty now encourages the government to consider the plight of the Papuan refugees, as under Australia’s temporary protection regime the refugees now face isolation from their families left behind and face uncertainty about their future,” the organisation said in a statement. Amnesty reports of “extrajudicial executions, ‘disappearances,’ torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detentions in Papua Province.”

Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle also welcomed the decision. “The situation in West Papua is clearly very dangerous for those who assert their right to self-determination, so the decision to grant protection visas is a good one,” Senator Nettle said.

West Papua have been seeking sovereignty since the United Nations handed the province to Indonesia in 1969. A spokesman for the Free West Papua Campaign, Nick Chesterfield, said the decision highlights the dire situation. “What this clearly demonstrates is that the world needs to wake up to what is happening in West Papua and start to actively look at ways of ending the sickening violence that the Indonesian military continues to inflict on the people of West Papua,” Mr Chesterfield said.

“Rather than being isolated and locked up thousands of miles away on Christmas Island, these very courageous individuals can receive the support they deserve from the local community. This decision also means Australians will be able to hear first hand about the atrocities and escalating human right abuses that are unfolding in one of our closest neighbouring countries,” said Mr Chesterfield.

Meanwhile, the “Morning Star” flag of West Papua was raised in Marrickville, New South Wales, by Senator Nettle and the Mayor of Marrickville, Sam Byrne. The flag, officially unrecognised by Indonesia in the West Papuan region, was raised to “urge city citizens to support self-determination for the West Papuans people.”

Uniting Church minister Reverend John Barr, who recently returned from the area, warned of an “intensification of violence” and also recounted demands from protesters to have the Freeport mine and the Indonesian government held responsible for despoiling the Papuan environment. “We have heard one student was shot dead and many are badly wounded. I could hear people yelling and fleeing as my contact spoke to me on the phone from the grounds of the theological seminary,” he said in a statement.

Sunday, February 27, 2005Nine people were rescued by helicopter from the roof of a blazing skyscraper in Taiwan on Saturday.

The people were dining in the rooftop restaurant when a fire broke out lower in the 25 story Golden Plaza Tower. The fire is said to have started in a disco on the 18th floor at about 4pm local time.

Four people died in the fire, including two employees of the tower. The body of a security officer was found on the 18th floor with another body found nearby. Two more were found in an elevator. Two or three people suffered minor injuries after inhaling smoke.

The building in Taichung, Taiwan’s third largest city, houses offices, shops and schools.

Those fleeing the building at ground level had to cover their heads to protect themselves from falling glass and other debris. Fire fighters extinguished the blaze after an hour and a half.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Jimbo Wales is teaming up with book publisher Tim O’Reilly to create a “code of conduct” for bloggers.

The code is expected to address issues of free speech and the practice of allowing mean-spirited comments made by users to remain in the blogosphere. It will also address a perceived need to delete posted comments, particularly those by anonymous users, that are at odds with the code of conduct. Under consideration is the question of whether it is an admissible action in a public forum to delete a comment if it meets one of several objectionable reasons for removing it.

“That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make, believing that uncensored speech is the most free when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech,” said O’Reilly.

Some of the proposed rules of the code, as it is being discussed, might include:

• We are committed to the “Civility Enforced” standard: we will not post unacceptable content, and we’ll delete comments that contain it.

• We define unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that:

• – is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
• – is libelous, knowingly false, ad-hominem, or misrepresents another person,
• – infringes upon a copyright or trademark
• – violates an obligation of confidentiality
• – violates the privacy of others

The code is a draft proposal undergoing development at Wikia, a privately held web hosting company founded by Wales and Angela Beesley.

“If it’s a carefully constructed set of principles, it could carry a lot of weight even if not everyone agrees,” said Wales.

The reception of the code is mixed, but there are many bloggers who feel that such a code of conduct would reduce the effects of unpleasant or malicious speech. “I’ve been assaulted and harassed online for four years,” Richard Silverstein of richardsilverstein.com said. “Most of it I can take in stride. But you just never get used to that level of hatred.”

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Having worked as an aide, advisor, and Executive Assistant to municipal and provincial politicians, Sheila White is running for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Scarborough-Rouge River riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her 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 17, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Savarino Construction Services Corp. has proposed a $7 million hotel project at the Forest and Elmwood Avenue intersection, according to The Buffalo News. The proposal calls for a 5-story, 45,000 square-foot 80-room hotel with underground parking for at least 50 vehicles, and 4,500 square-feet of retail space on the lower level.

Hans Mobius, the owner of the five properties to be purchased in the plan (1109 to 1121 Elmwood), reportedly signed a contract with Savarino to assemble the development.

“We saw a huge opportunity to bring something to the Elmwood Village that will make sense and bring a service that’s currently not available,” said Eva Hassett, vice president of Savarino. “Elmwood is such a wonderful place to eat, shop, walk and spend time. We believe this project will add to that vibrant environment.”

Some business owners in the area see it differently. Wikinews interviewed 2 of the 4 owners whose business’s would be demolished if the development goes through.

Nancy Pollina, of Don Apparel at 1119 Elmwood, who found out about the development only yesterday, said she is “utterly” against the proposal. Her apparel shop has stood at the same location for nearly 14 years. She has volunteered in the community, and helped create several gardens around bus shelters in the city, and served on Forever Elmwood Board for six years as head of Beautification. Patty Morris co-owns Don Apparel with Pollina.

“To say this is a good looking project, I want to say the emperor has no clothes. This [project] does not take into consideration the needs of the college students. I have been told by college students, these shops here, are the reason they leave the campus,” said Mrs. Pollina.

Buffalo State College is 500-feet from the intersection.

Michael Faust, the owner of Mondo Video said, “Well, I do not really want to get kicked out of here. The landlord was very open, and the deal he made with me when I moved in here was ‘the rent is cheap and I [the landlord] will not fix anything and that will not change.'” Faust said he first learned of the development plan, “about 48 hours ago. I found out on Tuesday when the Buffalo News called and asked for my opinion on this.” Faust has not said if he will make plans to relocate. “We have to see if this [house] is going to get knocked down first,” said Faust.

An “informational” meeting, where citizens can voice opinions and learn about the proposal, will be held on Tuesday February 21, 2006 at 5:00pm (eastern), at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center Gallery at Buffalo State College, Rockwell Hall.

Executive director of Forever Elmwood Corporation, Justin P. Azzarella would not comment on whether or not the organization supports the development, saying, “you will just have to come to the meeting.”

Forever Elmwood Corp. is designed to preserve and protect the unique and historic nature of Elmwood Avenue and its surrounding neighborhoods and encourage neighborhood commercial revitalization. The organization was founded in 1994.

Nearly two years ago, the Forever Elmwood Corp. assisted in the blocking of the demolition of the Edward Atwater house at 1089 Elmwood next to Pano’s Restaurant which is at 1081 Elmwood. Owner Pano Georgiadis wanted to expand his restaurant onto the property where the house now stands, but the Common Council denied his permit to demolish saying the house is a historical landmark and needs to be protected. Georgiadis, who has a bleeding ulcer, said that all the court cases landed him in the hospital. “I got a bleeding ulcer, and since then, I don’t care about this house anymore, or this city. I just go to work every day. I think [preservationists] are parasites,” said Georgiadis.

Georgiadis will not be attending Tuesday’s meeting saying, “I will be out of town.”

In 1995 Hans Mobius proposed a plan to develop a Walgreens, that was to be placed in the same location, but residents and business owners shot down the proposal. Walgreens eventually withdrew its request for a variance after pressure from the community.