Sunday, March 20, 2005

KYUSHU, Japan —

A powerful magnitude 7 earthquake rocked Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu at 10:53 am local time today (0153 UTC), prompting the Japanese Meteorological Agency to issue tsunami warnings for the area. The tsunami warnings were canceled later in the day.

A 75-year-old woman was killed in Fukuoka city by a falling wall. At least 400 people were injured by the quake. Local Fukuoka Airport and high speed bullet trains in the area temporarily suspended operations to look for damage.

According to the agency, the epicenter of the earthquake was in shallow water in the Sea of Japan, off the north coast of Fukuoka Prefecture.

Small aftershocks continued throughout the day, with authorities advising that residents should be prepared for aftershocks of up to magnitude 6.

In the aftermath of the quake, people were quickly alerted to the state of the situation by television reports, telephone, and text-messaging systems.

Interviewed by telephone in Hitoyoshi, well inland from the epicenter of the quake, a local resident noted the severity of the quake was frightening, and left the elderly woman unable to remain seated on a chair. Shutting off gas was the first priority, with the local television coverage providing a quick status update for the situation, followed by an interruption by national emergency network coverage.

A foreign resident of Fukuoka city reported taking refuge under his desk for several minutes as books and ornaments fell from shelves. He prepared to evacuate to high ground in case of a tsunami, but news reports indicated little danger from a tsunami. He also reported that Japanese residents appeared unconcerned by the quake, with many strolling near Momochi beach shortly after the quake, showing little apparent concern.

In Tenjin, downtown Fukuoka, Fukuoka Building’s windows shattered, and the block was quickly cordoned off. In addition to Fukuoka Building, many other buildings and businesses remained closed to shoppers.

Wikinews contributor Oarih reports that a festive atmosphere pervaded the streets, however, as employees from Nishinihon Shimbun (a major Japanese newspaper) passed out one-page articles on the earthquake and curious onlookers investigated the damaged buildings and sidewalks. Many residents, relieved by the relatively low damage inflicted by the earthquake, started visiting pubs and restaurants at lunch for a celebratory beer. With train and subway services disrupted, queues over 100 people long formed at some Nishitetsu bus stops in Tenjin as dusk approached.

The penetration of modern text-messaging by the Japanese Keitai, the common Japanese cell phone system more prevalent than computer-based email, led to quick status checks on many family members located near the coast around Fukuoka, close to the quake’s epicentre. Wikinews contributor Oarih reports that cell phone service providers were swamped by the spike in use, however, and both voice and text services remained unreliable for much of the day.

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.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

On Sunday, a long-distance snapshot of New Jersey governor and former Republican United States presidential candidate Chris Christie and his family on a beach outside the gubernatorial residence in Island Beach State Park went public, raising criticism of the governor, who had ordered Island Beach and the rest of New Jersey’s state parks closed the previous Friday amid a budget dispute. The response included comments from fellow Republicans and tourists, a plane over Seaside Park, and a variety of memes showing the Governor’s beach chair digitally added to other images.

“[Christie’s] rise to national prominence was that he had this reputation as a fighter, and that when he was fighting he was on the side of the Everyman and the New Jersey taxpayer against the status quo,” Republican political strategist Kevin Madden offered. “I think the danger of the photos is that it undermines that.”

Christie’s lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, said, “If I were governor, I sure wouldn’t be sitting on the beach if taxpayers didn’t have access to state beaches. We need to end the shutdown now. It’s hurting small businesses and ordinary New Jerseyans.” Guadagno is planning to run for governor.

One visitor to Atlantic City, New Jersey — Matt Jenkins — told the press, “I think it’s a shame, it’s hideous.”

Regardless of whether they shared Jenkins’ opinion, users of Photoshop and similar programs added the Governor in his beach gear to images of television programs such as Jersey Shore and The Sopranos, movies like Jaws, and one scene from the Oval Office.

On Monday, a plane towed a banner over Seaside Park reading, “Tell Gov Christie: Get the hell off Island Beach State Park,” echoing the Governor’s own words in 2011, in which he told visitors “Get the hell off the beach” as Hurricane Irene approached. The plane received applause from beachgoers.

The dispute that precipitated the shutdown concerned a law letting the New Jersey state government decide how much money the state-founded health insurer Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey would be allowed to accumulate before being required to contribute to the New Jersey state health fund passed the state Senate but not the House, which is largely made up of Democrats. Governor Christie supported the bill. On Sunday, he told the press he would sign any budget the legislature sent him so long as the bill is passed as well: “If they send it to me with Horizon, I will sign it. If they send it to me without Horizon I will use my authority to make a smaller budget[…] If they send me a budget today the shutdown would be over. The Legislature is deciding not to send me either budget.” The smaller budget that the governor proposed would include less funding for schools and other programs. Late Monday, the state legislature complied with the governor’s stipulations, and Governor Christie signed the bill, reopening the state’s parks in time for the Fourth of July holiday.

Christie enjoyed an approval rating of roughly 70% after his response in 2012 to Hurricane Sandy, but his popularity suffered following a 2016 scandal called Bridgegate, in which some of his aides ordered some of the entry lanes into the George Washington Bridge, a major artery for the commute from New Jersey into New York City, closed during rush hour, possibly as political retaliation against a politician in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the town most potently affected by the closure. He also lost the Republican presidential nomination to now-President Donald Trump and the vice presidential nomination to Mike Pence.

Christie defended his decision not to cancel his family’s vacation plans by pointing out that many of New Jersey’s beaches, over 100 miles (160 km) remained open to visitors and saying that he has the right to use the gubernatorial residence and that his visit required no government services. The Guardian noted a state helicopter shuttled the governor between the park and the state capital, Trenton.

New Jersey is one of several U.S. states that did not have budgets ready for the fiscal year. The northeastern state of Maine also underwent a government shutdown.

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Monday, May 9, 2005

Workers at Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana have completed a successful test-run of a chemical reactor designed to dispose of Cold War stockpiles of VX nerve agent.

After encountering initial difficulties when the temperature in the reactor grew too high, workers were able to adjust the speed of the device. 180 gallons of VX and water were turned into a caustic but far less lethal compound, that can be further reprocessed into an inert substance.

A residue of 14 parts VX per billion remained; the Army’s eventual goal is less than 20 parts. One drop of VX can kill a grown man.

The conversion of the VX stockpiled at the facility is projected to take two years. Then the drain cleaner-like waste product with its small residue of VX will need to be sent to another facility for reprocessing into a safer, biodegradable compound.

A controversial plan has Dupont doing the reprocessing at their facility in New Jersey, and dumping the compound into the nearby Delaware River.

Sunday, April 3, 200528 year old Alex Sanchez, outfielder for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, is suspended without pay for 10 days for using a performance enhancing drug. Sanchez is the first player to be suspended under Major League Baseball’s new, stricter drug policy.

The Baseball officials and the players’ union have both decided to not disclose the specific substance which tested positive.

Sanchez originally planed an appeal against the ban, but decided against it. He denies taking any performance enhancing drugs and blames the positive test on over-the-counter vitamins, muscle relaxants and protein shakes that he takes, but has not identified any specific medications as of yet.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Dell Inc. announced on Tuesday that it will partner up with the Microsoft-Nortel Innovative communications alliance (ICA) team to sell Unified Communications and VoIP products.

The announcement on Tuesday the 16th of October 2007 includes Dell selling VoIP, data and wireless networking products from Nortel and the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and other unified communications products.

The partnership with both manufacturers should allow Dell to provide a pre-integrated solution.

In March 2007, competitors IBM and Cisco announced they would join in the competition for developing unified communications applications and the development of open technologies around the unified communications and collaboration (UC2) client platform an application programming interfaces (APIs) offered by IBM as a subset of Lotus Sametime.

“We want to make it simple for our customers to deploy unified communications so their end users can get access to all their messages in one place – whether its e-mail, phone or mobile device. This will pave the way for more business-ready productivity tools,” said vice president of solutions, Dell Product Group, Rick Becker.

• Customers have four options:
  • Core Office Communication Server 2007 – provides instant messaging and on-premise Microsoft Live Meeting.
  • Office Communication Server: Telephony – enables call routing tracking and management, VoIP gateway and public branch exchange (PBX) integration.
  • Audio and Video Conferencing – allows point-to-point conference, video conference and VoIP audio conference.
  • Exchange Unified Messaging – provides voicemail, e-mail and fax in Microsoft Outlook, and anywhere access of Microsoft Outlook Inbox and Calendar.