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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The International Monetary Fund and the European Union approved aid packages to help Georgia recover from its conflict with Russia, which occurred in early August. The IMF approved a US$750 million loan which will allow Georgia to rebuild its currency reserves. The European Union also approved an aid package of €500 million in aid by 2010, which is expected to help internally displaced people (IDPs) and economic recovery in the form of new infrastructure. Only €100 million of the EU aid will be given to Georgia this year.

These loans are aimed to restore confidence in Georgia’s economy and send a signal to international investors that Georgia’s economy is sound. According to the IMF, international investors have been “critical to Georgia’s economic growth in recent years.”

Takatoshi Kato, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chairman of the IMF executive committee, said the loan will “make significant resources available to replenish international reserves and bolster investor confidence, with the aim of sustaining private capital inflows that have been critical to Georgia’s economic growth in recent years.”

Georgia has requested $2 billion in international aid to help it recover from the conflict. So far, the United States has pledged $1 billion in aid. Further assistance and loans to Georgia are expected from other organizations. Kato noted that “…Georgia is expected to receive financial assistance from multilateral and bilateral donors and creditors in support of the reconstruction effort.” It is expected that an international donors’ conference will take place next month to solicit more aid for the country.

Georgia’s government expects that economic growth will be more than cut in half as a result of the conflict. Last year, Georgia’s GDP increased 12.4% and it is predicted by the IMF that growth will be less than 4 percent in the coming year.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in a coma after 10 days.

Medical experts on the outside say that Sharon’s failure to regain consciousness does not look well for his recovery.

On Wednesday, doctors began reducing the level of sedatives with the intent of drawing Sharon out of an induced coma. Hospital officials say that Sharon remains “lightly sedated”, but are not sure when he will wake up once they stop giving him the sedatives.

New reports say an EEG has shown that Sharon has activity on both sides of his brain and doctors say that’s the most “promising” signs they have had since they started to bring him out of the coma. Doctors also say that activity in both lobes doesn’t indicate anything about the extent of the brain damage. “It is another piece of information that on its own means nothing,” said Dr. Gal Ifergan, a neurologist at Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, who is not treating Sharon.

Although he has activity on both sides of his brain, Sharon could still have extensive brain damage, Ifergan said. He also said that it’s “very worrisome that he hasn’t woken from his coma”, yet.

There are 2 major types of stroke, and Sharon has had both. The first was a mild stroke Dec. 18 caused by a blood clot that lodged in an artery in the brain, cutting off blood flow and causing minor damage. The second occurred just one day before he was scheduled to undergo surgery to repair a hole in his heart. This one was a severe cerebral hemorrhage

“After nine days he has had very slow progress and that indicates more permanent injury to a level where his quality of life is affected,” Dr. Demetrius Lopes, a Rush University Medical Center neurosurgeon said. “And then decisions will have to be made,” he added.

Sharon’s condition is still critical but stable.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

The Virginia legislature’s House General Laws committee, a subcommittee of the House of Delegates, tabled a Senate-passed bill banning public smoking by not voting on it Thursday last week. By tabling the bill, the proposed legislation banning smoking in restaurants, bars and public establishments cannot move to the lower house of the General Assembly for a vote.

The move by the 6-member subcommittee leaves the House of Delegates two-weeks in the current legislative session to work out a compromise between the tabled SB 1161 Senate bill, and compromise proposals, that could form new indoor smoking laws in the state.

The dichotomy that exists between Virginia’s rural areas and its northern sections plays a part in the legislative proposal by delgate H. Morgan Griffith that would require public places that allow smoking to post signs at the entrance that say something as simple as, “Smoking allowed here”.

Smaller mom-and-pop businesses could be affected negatively by a state-wide ban sponsored by public health groups that advocate for a smoke free environment. “Think about your small bars, your local bars — places where everyone has been going for 20 years and everybody in the place smokes,” said co-owner of Henrico County’s Sharky’s Bar & Billiards in January.

“The subcommittee’s intent was to give SB 1161’s sponsor, Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, time to work out a compromise with Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, who sponsored a different smoking bill approved by the subcommittee last month,” according to Mason Adams of Roanoke.com.

The Virginia Senate voted 23-16 on Monday last week to pass the smoking ban legislation, garnering two additional votes in favor of the measure than in the previous year.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Standard & Poor’s downgraded Egypt’s currency rating for the second time in four months based on the country’s shorfall in foreign reserves and shaky political transition. It’s the latest development for a nation facing mounting economic diffuclties.

Egypt’s foreign reserves fell by over 50 percent last year to about US$16 billion. Egypt has requested US$3.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund to bolster its reserves and prevent a devalation but that could take months.

Experts say that Egypt’s problem of attracting foreign investment and tourists, which are two sources that would increase reserves, has already caused the Egyptian pound to lose 1 percent of its value and if the country doesn’t solve the shortfall in foriegn currency, it could even lead to a further currency devaluation within the next two to three months.

The long-term solution is to restore tourism and foreign investments but both are suffering because of the continuing unrest.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

On the morning of January 4, 2008, while at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, 19-year-old goalie Steve Mason received a phone call from Canada informing him that he was traded by the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights to the Kitchener Rangers.

In a press release Friday, Kitchener Rangers Head coach and General Manager Peter DeBoer announced the trade to the Knights. In return for obtaining Mason, the Rangers have sent the Knights, Centre Phil Varone, Defenceman Steve Tarasuk along with 2nd, 3rd and 4th round draft picks in 2011 and a 2nd round pick in 2012.

Mason said that he had an enjoyable time playing for the London Knights, but nonetheless, he believes that he has a bright future playing for the Kitchener Rangers. He also notes that he doesn’t want the trade to distract him from playing in the Gold Medal Game, against Team Sweden.

Team Canada won the game in overtime 3-2.

Friday, January 1, 2021

After an active year of original content published on the English-language Wikinews, we take a look back at some of the two dozen-plus original reports from our contributors during 2020.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Striking New York City transit workers will return to their jobs in 12-24 hours under an agreement reached today. While no final contract agreement has been reached, transit work will resume as negotiations continue. At 2:40 pm EST, the TWU board voted to end the strike. By 3:00 pm, the TWU Local 100 website had posted a notice to workers to return to work.

Mediator Richard Curreri announced the union is “taking steps” to immediately restore transportation to the city. “We have requested the leadership of the TWU to take the actions necessary to direct its membership to immediately return to work and they have agreed to take such actions,” Mr. Curreri told reporters.

Thirty-four thousand Transport Workers Union Local 100 members walked off the job December 20 after working months without a contract when negotiations broke down over disagreements concerning pensions, health benefits, and pay. Agreement had nearly been reached, but just a few hours before a strike deadline, the Metropolitan Transport Authority’s chairman, Peter S. Kalikow, made an unexpected demand, requiring that all new transit workers increase the contribution to pensions from the present 2 percent of their wages to 6 percent, which upset the union members. Roger Toussaint, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, stated “Were it not for the pension piece we would not be on strike.” and summed up the whole conflict as “a fight over dignity and respect on the job, a concept that is very alien to the MTA. Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected.”

The strike has affected an estimated 7 million commuters in the city over three days, which is about 21 million person-days in total. New York’s 34,000 bus and subway workers are affected by the difficulty of their everyday working conditions and health standards for a total of about 10 million person-days per year.