Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the United States Border Patrol and local officials from both sides are looking into tightening security at a Quebec library. The library has been deliberately on the border of Canada and the U.S. since it was built in 1904 by American sawmill owner Carlos Haskell and Canadian wife Martha Stewart Haskell for availability to both countries.

At Haskell Free Library and Opera House, in Rock Island, Quebec, a black line diagonally runs across the center of the library to mark the international border. Ironically the line puts the seats in the U.S. and the opera stage in Canada.

Both towns share the same water supply, sewer systems and emergency crews thus they cross the border without going against the law. In total, there are three streets that cross the border and there are cameras on both sides to monitor illegal activity, but that doesn’t tighten border security enough officials say.

“There’s been an increase in illegal activity, both north and south, in the last little while,” said operations officer for the Border Patrol’s Swanton sector, Mark Henry.”There have been some significant cases. This all fits in to the larger picture of the Border Patrol strategy to gain operational control of our borders.”

“I don’t think they’re aiming at people who go pick up groceries and come back. It’s people that want to use this in a bad way,” says Cpl. Luc Bessette, a spokesman for the RCMP.

To enter the U.S. at Haskell Free Library and Opera House, in Rock Island, Quebec, all one needs is directions to go to Stanstead, Quebec, directions to the local library and walk through the doors; they have illegally entered Derby Line, Vermont, U.S. If one walks across from Stanstead St. to Derby Line they will be at the checkout in the U.S., go to the library from Derby Line to Stanstead St. and they have officially entered back into Canada. The international border also is on Canusa St., a residential street in Stanstead, Quebec and Beebe Plain, Vermont.

If someone wants to see their neighbour across the street, they would be re-entering the U.S. Anyone who comes from Stanstead St. to Derby Line, to visit their neighbour, must report to Customs or they could be sent to jail for illegally entering. However, residents do not need to notify Customs if they cross the border inside buildings.

Currently, the front door is in Vermont and if Quebecers couldn’t enter the front they would have to go through the back way. If Americans wanted to park in the parking lot they couldn’t because it is legally in Canada.

A meeting will take place this 19 June at 7 p.m. local time asking whether residents want to prevent people from crossing the border regularly or, in some cases, illegal crossings. During a meeting last Thursday in Stanstead, Quebec, local officials from both countries (towns) said border walls and fences will not be put up due to local residents’ concerns. They say there are other alternatives.

There is also a movement to separate Vermont from the U.S. or to make it the 11^th province of Canada, with three territories. The website “Vermont Canada” says the state should join Canada due to its remaining liberal policies as opposed to the U.S.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Kyrgyzstan‘s parliamentary conflict intensified Sunday as Felix Kulov, appointed acting minister of securities by the reconvening former parliament, endorsed the newly elected parliament and threatened to “take measures to arrest” MPs of the former parliament that would not step down peacefully.

“The new parliament is legitimate and the old parliament’s term has expired,” Kulov, who was freed from prison by protesters following the overrunning of the presidential palace, said.

“According to the law, the new parliament has to start work… There are people whom I don’t like in the newly elected parliament, but I am a law-abiding citizen and will obey the new parliament.” He said that he had lost an election because of the interference of deposed president Askar Akayev‘s authorities, “But despite this, I acknowledged my defeat. We’re not hicks here, we’re members of the UN.”

“Your term has expired. You had been elected for five years. A new parliament has to be elected. Whether you like it or not, I will obey its orders,” Kulov said to the former MPs. “If you attempt to call people to go on the streets, I will be forced to arrest you; please don’t take offence.”

His threats were challenged by acting Prosecutor General Azimbek Beknazarov who said, “These are the people who freed you, will you arrest them?”

Kulov, appearing to apologize for his remarks, responded “I am tired; I apologize for that.”

Beknazarov, closely allied with acting Prime Minister and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, admitted the newly elected parliament was officially recognized. But Alevtina Pronenko, a member of Bakiyev’s acting cabinet, said of the situation, “I think that the people will not stand for this.” She said the decisions of the former parliament should be considered valid.

“If we can’t agree, we will not avoid a civil war,” Beknazarov said.

The Supreme Court declared the new parliament illegitimate and endorsed the former parliament several days ago on March 24, but the Central Election Commission voted to endorse the new parliament, saying the Supreme Court’s decision was illegal.

The OSCE is sending legal and constitutional experts to unravel the parliamentary conflict. The OSCE also rejected the recently declared June 26 election date. “I don’t believe this [date] is realistic because it’s a very short period of time. There are still a lot of questions unresolved — constitutional questions,” Markus Mueller, the OSCE’s envoy to Kyrgyzstan, said. “If it does not become quieter, elections will just add to the instability.” Its secretary general, Jan Kubis, arrived in Bishkek on Sunday. Kubis, who was involved in negotiations in the Ukraine last year, met with Bakeyev and other opposition leaders.

Bakiyev said Akayev remained the president under the constitution but ways of removing him as president legally were being examined. He also offered Akayev immunity were he to return to Kyrgyzstan.

Kulov said that he was “too busy” to even think about running in the new election, which Bakayev has said is planning on running in.

Ousted interior minister Keneshbek Dushebayev’s announced plans to march on the capital with Akayev supporters did not come to fruition. About 700 protesters supporting Akayev gathered about 50 miles from Bishkek, in Akayev’s native area of Kemin, and about 150 of them blocked a main road into the capital before dispersing. They said they did not accept Bakiyev as their leader.

“We have not and will not arrest our political opponents or former officials,” Kulov said.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Recently, Wikinews spent time with with United States Paralympic skier Jasmin Bambur who was at Copper Mountain, Colorado for the IPC Nor-Am Cup.

((Wikinews)) We’re interviewing Jasmin Bambur. He is a guy. He’s from Serbia, right?

Jasmin Bambur: Yes, ma’am, I am from Serbia but I race for US Paralympic.

((WN)) How did a Serb end up racing for the USA?

Jasmin Bambur: It’s very simple. You just get married to a fine American lady and she give you citizenship and you ski fast and you get on the team. That’s very simple.

((WN)) Why do the Australians love you so?

Jasmin Bambur: We’re a very small community, as ski racers, and we’re always great friends. So we kind of hang out together and help each other out. And then in the end, depends who wins, either hate them or love them.

((WN)) They said you’re some sort of professional racquetball player or something?

Jasmin Bambur: It’s actually team handball. It’s a sport [where] you have seven players like rugby. And yes, I played it professionally until I was 18 in Europe. And when war started in Kosovo, I moved to the United States and that’s how I end up here.

((WN)) You weren’t always a sit skier?

Jasmin Bambur: I am a sit skier now but actually the reason I am a sit skier is I had a car accident in 2000. I fell asleep driving. Driving and sleeping don’t go together. I don’t know why.

((WN)) Yeah, that’s a difficult lesson to learn. So how have you been doing at this event?

Jasmin Bambur: Skiing? I’ve been skiing for about ten years, racing about four. And so far it’s going great.

((WN)) You won a medal, at this thing, right? One of these days?

Jasmin Bambur: I won two medals in Super G, two third places, and yesterday I got second place in slalom.

((WN)) And what’s your favourite one?

Jasmin Bambur: Favourite is Super G.

((WN)) Because you go fast?

Jasmin Bambur: Yes, fast and very little turning. So that’s my pick[?].

((WN)) Thank you very, very much.

Jasmin Bambur: No problem.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Chinese officials have said that their country’s exports surged last December to edge out Germany as the world’s biggest exporter.

The official Xinhua news agency reported today that figures from the General Administration for Customs showed that exports jumped 17.7% in December from a year earlier. Over the whole of 2009 total Chinese exports reached US$1.2 trillion, above Germany’s forecast $1.17 trillion.

Huang Guohua, a statistics official with the customs administration, said the December exports rebound was an important turning point for China’s export sector. He commented that the jump was an indication that exporters have emerged from their downslide.

“We can say that China’s export enterprises have completely emerged from their all-time low in exports,” he said.

However, although China overtook Germany in exports, China’s total foreign trade — both exports and imports — fell 13.9% last year.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Canadian Astral Media Inc. will buy out Standard Radio Inc., which runs many radio stations in Canada. Standard Radio Inc. is the largest privately owned multimedia company in Canada.

Montreal based Astral Media Inc. will buy all of the assets from Standard Radio Inc. for about CAN$1.2-billion. Standard Radio Inc.’s 52 radio stations, and Astral’s 29, will be brought together by Astral Media Inc. This will give Astral 81 radio stations in total. This makes Astral the largest radio operator in Canada of FM and AM radio.

“With the acquisition of Standard Radio, Astral Media will not only be acquiring the best performing radio stations in the country, we will at the same time acquire a company with similar values and culture. said Ian Greenberg, President and CEO of Astral Media.

“Over the past four decades the Slaight family has built a remarkable collection of strong radio brands and has contributed meaningfully in shaping the Canadian radio industry as we know it today. We are delighted with the prospect of welcoming Standard Radio’s employees into our team.”

Gary Slaight, President and CEO of Standard Radio also commented on the deal.

“We are looking forward to becoming a part of the Astral Media family,” said Gary Slaight, President and CEO of Standard Radio. “We are pleased to see our legacy live on with a company such as Astral that has such a strong track record and commitment to its employees and to the Canadian radio and television industries.”

All of Astral’s radio stations are run in Quebec and Atlantic Canada and it also runs various television stations across Canada. Astral also has two french channels that broadcast on Sirius satellite radio Canada.

The company hopes to finalize the deal in or before April.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Evangelist Kent Hovind and his wife, Jo, are trying to convince a federal jury that their money from video and amusement park admission sales belong to God and cannot be taxed. The trial began at United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida on Tuesday October 18, 2006 after twelve jury members and two alternates were selected to decide on the 58 federal courts against Hovind and his wife. The trial was expected to take at least two weeks to complete with the prosecution hoping to rest its case Tuesday, but a defense attorney became ill and the Judge delayed the trial until October 30th.

Hovind is a Young Earth creationist who does many speaking engagements and debates. He also sells videos giving a pro-creationism perspective, which he receives income for. Hovind, who calls himself “Dr. Dino”, received a Ph.D in “Christian education” from the unaccredited correspondence school Patriot Bible University in 1991.

Prosecutor Michelle Heldmeyer said from 1999 to March 2004, the Hovinds took in more than $5 million. Heldmeyer charged Hovind on 12 counts for failing to pay about $470,000 in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes for his ministry employees between March 31, 2001, and Jan. 31, 2004. Counts 13 through 57 include Hovind’s wife for making 45 transactions in a little more than a year, sometimes taking out as much as $9,500 at a time. Banks are required to report cash withdrawals that exceed $10,000.

In count 58 against Kent includes filing a frivolous lawsuit against the IRS, demanding damages for criminal trespass, filing an injunction against an IRS agent, making threats against investigators and those cooperating with the investigation, and filing false complaints against the IRS for false arrest, excessive use of force and theft.

In July with his attorney, Public Defender Kafahni Nkrumah, Hovind stated that he did not recognize the government’s right to try him on tax-fraud charges.

This is not the first time Hovind has found himself in legal trouble. In 2002 he refused to get a $50.00 building permit for his Dinosaur Adventure Land, and after three years of legal battles the court ruled that he get a permit or the building would be razed. The park, which depicts dinosaurs as coexisting with humans in the last 6-4,000 years with the more recent “dinosaurs” being the Loch Ness monster, is reportedly open after Hovind paid for the permit and fines totaling $10,402.64.

More directly, M.C. Powe, an IRS officer who investigates people who have unpaid tax returns or unpaid tax liabilities, testified at Hovind’s current trial on October, 19, 2006 that she first attempted to collect taxes from the Hovinds in 1996. She noted Hovind tried several “bullying tactics” that included suing her at least three times. These resulted in each case being thrown out.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Beard handled Hovind’s bankruptcy in 1996 testified on Wednesday that in 1996 after Hovind’s vehicles were seized by the IRS, he filed under the Chapter 13 “wage-earner plan,” available only to those who have a regular source of income. However, Hovind wrote that he had no form of income, that he rejected his Social Security number and that his employer was God, Beard testified.

In a 2005 affidavit, the Hovinds argue that Social Security is essentially a “Ponzi scheme.” The Hovinds referred to the United States Government as “the ‘bankrupt’ corporate government” and said they were renouncing their United States citizenship and Social Security numbers to become “a natural citizen of ‘America’ and a natural sojourner.”

On Thursday an employee of AmSouth Bank explained that the Currency Transaction Reports requires the bank to report any time a cash amount of $10,000 or more is withdrawn or deposited. This employee noted that various records demonstreated Jo Hovind had made transactions up to $15,000 at a time.

Also on Thursday Hovind’s former neighbor testified regarding Hovind’s purchasing of her Palafox Street home. On the stand she said Hovind paid her $30,000 in cash as part of the $155,000 sale.

In this week’s trial two of Hovind’s workers testified in federal court that they didn’t consider where they worked to be a church. In court Hovind maintains he does not have to pay the taxes because his employees were “volunteers,” “missionaries” or “ministers” and his business was a ministry.

However, Brian Popp, Hovind’s employee for at least eight years, said he considered himself a minister at the time of his employment, but said Hovind’s ministry isn’t a church. Popp also testified that Hovind knew about the bank’s requirement to report transactions over $10,000 and said it was “not safe to carry large sums of cash.”

Further, Popp said Hovind told his workers not to accept mail addressed to “KENT HOVIND” because Hovind told the workers the government created a corporation in his “all-caps name” and if the mail was accepted, Hovind claimed, it would be accepting the responsibilities associated with that corporation.

Diane P. Cooksey, served as a sales representative for the ministry from January 2003 to June 2005, and said Hovind expected to pay her own taxes. Cooksey said, “He explained what his belief was, right up front in the interview, that I would pay my own taxes.” As told’s worker, she received $10 an hour in a weekly paycheck, punched a time clock, was given 10 paid vacation days a year, and considered herself an employee, not a missionary as a few others called themselves.

The IRS raided Hovind’s Dinosaur Adventure Land in April 2004, after which Hovind required his employees to sign nondisclosure agreements. “I was uncomfortable signing it, I guess, because of not having a full understanding,” Cooksey said.

Rebekah Horton, vice president of the unaccredited Pensacola Christian College, took the stand on the second day of the trial and testified that “We know the Scriptures do not promote (tax evasion)”. “It’s against Scripture teaching.”

Horton was given a videotape in the mid 1990s from a woman who worked for Hovind. The video contained “another evangelist advocating tax evasion,” Horton explained. The woman who gave the tape to Horton claimed Hovind’s philosophy as “You were giving a gift with your work, and they were giving a gift back to you.”

Pensacola Christian College decided to disallow its students from working with Hovind’s Creation Science Evangelism and reported Hovind’s scheme to the IRS.

On Friday, attorney David Charles Gibbs testified that Hovind claimed he had no obligation to pay employee income taxes and explained with “a great deal of bravado” how he had “beat the tax system.” Gibbs is an attorney with the Gibbs Law Firm, also is affiliated with the Christian Law Association, a nonprofit organization founded by his father that offers free legal help to churches nationwide in a suburb of St. Petersburg, Florida. Gibbs attended the Marcus Pointe Baptist Church when Hovind was a guest speaker at the church on October 17, 2004. Hovind invited Gibbs and others to Hovind’s home for pizza and soda.

Gibbs testified they talked for many hours, and Hovind “tried to stress to me that he was like the pope and this was like the Vatican.” Also Gibbs explained Hovind also told him he preferred to deal in cash because “dealing with cash there is no way to trace it, so it wasn’t taxable.”

Later on Friday, Special IRS Agent Scott Schneider took up the remainder of the day and is expected to resume Monday. Schneider told the jury his investigation revealed that Hovind “hadn’t filed tax returns ever, to my knowledge.”

Hovind tried suing the IRS and Schneider several times to avoid providing information required by the IRS. Each filing was thrown out by the judges.

Schneider’s discussed documents seized during the 2004 raid of Hovind’s property. These documents, Schneider explained, indicated Hovind ran his ministry as a business with “meticulous” payroll documents and a time clock employees had to punch in and out.

In the raid cash was found “all over the place.” Ultimately, $42,000 in cash was seized along with half-dozen guns (including a SKS semiautomatic) at the Hovinds’ home.

The Pensacola News Journal noted that “in one memo, Jo Hovind informed her daughter, who works at the park, that her pay would be docked $10 for talking too long on the telephone when she should have been working.”

Thursday, December 11, 2014

On its blog, Google, a U.S. headquartered multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products, announced it would be shutting down the Spanish version of Google News, effective from December 16 of this year. The shutdown came in direct response to amendments to the Spanish intellectual property law —Ley De Propiedad Intelectual— imposing a compulsory fee for the use of snippets of text to link to news articles, by online news aggregators that provide a search service.

The Spanish intellectual property law passed the Senate on October 15, passed Congress on October 30, and would take effect starting in January 2015. Spain made the right to payment inalienable, so that even the news organization quoted is not permitted to waive it. Google News did not run ads on its news service, so did not profit directly, and said continuing to run the service would not be sustainable.

A similar fee had been first introduced in German law in 2013, where it was described as an “ancillary copyright” — Leistungsschutzrecht. International copyright law preserves the right to make quotations without remuneration, the only such mandatory limitation to copyright. In Germany publishers willingly forfeited their right to payment from Google, given how much traffic they would lose from not being indexed on Google News.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) had expressed concerns that “these ancillary copyright laws form part of a broader trend of derogation from the right to link.” They continued, “This can be seen when you examine the other parts of the Spanish copyright amendments that take effect in January […] — notably placing criminal liability on website operators who refuse to remove mere links to copyright-infringing material.” EFF quoted the recent introduction of the so-called “right to be forgotten” legislation allowing removal of entries from Google web search results.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Police in the West Midlands in England today said nearly 200 kilograms worth of drugs with value possibly as great as £30 million (about US$49 million or €36 million) has been seized from a unit in the town of Brownhills. In what an officer described as “one of the largest [seizures] in the force’s 39 year history”, West Midlands Police reported recovering six big cellophane-wrapped cardboard boxes containing cannabis, cocaine, and MDMA (“ecstasy”) in a police raid operation on the Maybrook Industrial Estate in the town on Wednesday.

The seized boxes, which had been loaded onto five freight pallets, contained 120 one-kilogram bags of cannabis, 50 one-kilogram bags of MDMA, and five one-kilogram bricks of cocaine. In a press release, West Midlands Police described what happened after officers found the drugs as they were being unloaded in the operation. “When officers opened the boxes they discovered a deep layer of protective foam chips beneath which the drugs were carefully layered”, the force said. “All the drugs were wrapped in thick plastic bags taped closed with the cannabis vacuum packed to prevent its distinctive pungent aroma from drawing unwanted attention.” Police moved the drugs via forklift truck to a flatbed lorry to remove them.

Detective Sergeant Carl Russell of West Midlands Police’s Force CID said the seizure was the largest he had ever made in the 24 years he has been in West Midlands Police and one of the biggest seizures the force has made since its formation in 1974. “The impact this seizure will have on drug dealing in the region and the UK as a whole cannot be underestimated”, he said. “The drugs had almost certainly been packed to order ready for shipping within Britain but possibly even further afield. Our operation will have a national effect and we are working closely with a range of law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in this crime at whatever level.”

Expert testing on the drugs is ongoing. Estimates described as “conservative” suggest the value of the drugs amounts to £10 million (about US$16.4 million or €12 million), although they could be worth as much as £30 million, subject to purity tests, police said.

Police arrested three men at the unit on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug. The men, a 50-year-old from Brownhills, a 51-year-old from the Norton area of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and one aged 53 from Brownhills, have been released on bail as police investigations to “hunt those responsible” continue. West Midlands Police told Wikinews no person has yet been charged in connection with the seizure. Supplying a controlled drug is an imprisonable offence in England, although length of jail sentences vary according to the class and quantity of drugs and the significance of offenders’ roles in committing the crime.

Saturday, February 11, 2006File:Steve Fossett 04.jpg

Steve Fossett, 61, has broken the record for flying the longest nonstop flight in aviation history and has landed safely in England although, Steve Ridgeway chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, the company sponsoring Fossett’s record bid said, “he burst two tires on landing and the poor GlobalFlyer had to be dragged off the runway.”

Fossett had to land at Bournemouth Airport in Dorset instead of his planned destination of Manston Airport in Kent, because of generator problems.

After the flight, Fossett told the press, “I was really lucky to make it here today, there was a lot going on. The tension of the final part really took it out of me, but I will be fine in the morning.”

Fossett broke the previous record of 25,361 miles (40,210 km) (set by Dick Rutan flying the lightweight Voyager aircraft in 1986) when he passed over Shannon Ireland, even though he lost 750 pounds of fuel just after take-off from Kennedy Space Center Wednesday. His record has been recorded to have been broken at; 11:59am on February 11, 2006, (EST). His trip has taken about 80 hours (3 1/2 days) and covered 26,389.3 miles (42,469 km).

The plane Fossett was flying is a lightweight experimental aircraft. The GlobalFlyer is the only plane to make a non-stop circumnavigation of the earth on one tank of fuel.

Fossett has broken 110 world records.

Monday, April 23, 2018

On Friday afternoon, Swedish electronic dance music artist Tim Bergling, stage name Avicii, was found dead in Oman’s capital Muscat, stated his publicist Diana Baron. Baron did not specify the cause of Bergling’s death in the statement and added, “the family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time.” Bergling was 28 years old.

Born on September 8, 1989, in the Swedish capital Stockholm, Bergling released his first single in 2007. His single Levels, released in 2011, received a Grammy Award nomination. He released his debut album True in 2013; singles from True include Hey Brother and Wake Me Up. In October 2015, he released his second album Stories. Bergling has won American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and MTV Europe Music Awards. He received second Grammy nomination for Sunshine, which he collaborated with David Guetta.

In 2014, Bergling collaborated with Carlos Santana and Wyclef Jean to release We Will Find a Way, one of the anthems for that year’s FIFA Men’s football World Cup in Brazil. In March 2014, Bergling was hospitalised. He had surgery to remove his gall bladder and appendix that year, and had previously suffered from pancreatitis in 2012. He announced quitting touring in early 2016, after performing at the Ultra Music Festival.

Speaking to Billboard magazine, Bergling said he stopped touring for the health complications. He added, “The scene was not for me. It was not the shows and not the music. It was always the other stuff surrounding it that never came naturally to me […] I’m more of an introverted person in general. It was always very hard for me. I took on board too much negative energy, I think”.

In his twelve-year career, Bergling collaborated with Madonna, David Guetta, Jon Bon Jovi, Rita Ora, Coldplay, Aloe Blacc and Robbie Williams. Bergling had about eleven billion streams on music streaming platform Spotify. Bergling released his final EP called AV?CI (01) in 2017, which was nominated for a Billboard award recently.

In an interview with VEVO Lift, Bergling explained about his stage name saying, “the name Avici means the lowest level of Buddhist hell”. He said he added an extra ‘i’ since someone else was using that name on MySpace.

After Bergling’s death, pop singer Madonna tweeted, “So Sad……. So Tragic. Good Bye Dear Sweet Tim. ? Gone too Soon.”