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Friday, July 21, 2017

A group of Afghan teenagers was awarded a silver medal for “courageous achievement” on Tuesday in the FIRST Global Challenge Robot Olympics in the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. The six-member Afghan team, which consists entirely of girls, had been denied visas to enter the United States until last week, drawing notice from critics of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies regarding Muslims traveling to the U.S. The President later personally took action to allow the team into the country.

According to Afghan Ambassador to the United States Hamdullah Mohib, the participation of this team in this science competition shows progress in Afghanistan’s response to nearly two decades of military conflict.

The FIRST Global competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technlogy) was founded by Dean Kamen to encourage interest in applied science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in young people. This year’s theme was water security. For the contest, the robots were required to recognize, pick up, carry, and deposit balls colored blue and orange to represent water and pollution, respectively. Teams from different countries were arranged in groups of three, and groups faced off in pairs. The group whose three robots collectively earned the most points won that match. According to the Afghan team’s coach, Alireza Mehraban, in their first matchup, the Afghan team’s robot, named “Better Idea of Afghan Girls,” scored one or two points for the three-nation alliance with the Gabonese and Estonian teams. This year, the European team won the competition overall, with the silver medal going to Poland and the bronze to Armenia.

“We are so interested because we find a big chance to show the talent and ability of Afghans,” team member Rodaba Noori told the press, “to show that Afghan women can make robots too and we can improve in this section — [the] robotics section. We were so interested because we hadn’t long or enough time to get ready for competition but we came to United States and now we are here because of Trump intervention.”

The team arrived in Washington D.C. after many difficulties. They were twice denied visas to enter the United States. Even applying for a visa required the entire team to travel about 500 miles (800 km) from Herat, their home, to the capital in Kabul, through territory controlled by the Taliban. They made the trip twice and were turned down both times. President Donald Trump personally asked the United States National Security Council to help the girls enter the country. After some interplay between the State and Homeland Security Departments, the girls were granted “parole” status on the grounds that their entry would be a “significant public benefit.” The President has drawn both praise for helping the girls enter the U.S. and criticism for his travel ban, which does not cover Afghanistan, and for the atmosphere of hostility toward Muslims that critics blame for denying them entry in the first place.

Citing privacy rules, U.S. officials have not said why the team was initially denied visas, but Afghan Ambassador Hamdullah Mohib says there were concerns they would attempt to remain in the United States or in Canada after the contest. Afghanistan is not one of the nations covered by President Trump’s travel ban, but teams from Sudan, Iran, Libya, and Yemen, which are covered, are among the 163 teams in the competition. There were also two Syrian teams scheduled to compete, one national and one made up of refugees. Syria and all refugees are covered by the ban. The Syrian refugee team listed their country as “Hope” on the backs of their shirts and named their robot “Robogee.” Teams from Morocco and Iran both had difficulties getting themselves or their robots across the U.S. border. Team Estonia had to rebuild their robot entirely after the original disappeared in transit.

“Seventeen years ago, this would not have been possible at all,” said Ambassador Mohib. “They represent our aspirations and resilience despite having been brought up in a perpetual conflict. These girls will be proving to the world and the nation that nothing will prevent us from being an equal and active member of the international community.”

Every team in the contest was sent a collection of robot parts roughly four months in advance of the competition. The Afghan team’s supplies were delayed, leaving them only two weeks left to assemble their robot and only one day to test it before packing it up to mail to the competition site.

The competition ended on Tuesday. This is the first FIRST Global competition, and the organization plans to hold the contest in a different country every year. Next year’s competition is scheduled to take place in Mexico City.

Friday, September 2, 2005

An explosion today in Makhachkala, Russia in the Russian region of Dagestan killed one and wounded five others, police say. The bomb detonated in a pile of garbage, where servicemen and a truck had been sent to search for explosives on a street near a military base. When the engineers got out of the truck to search, the bomb went off.

The Dagestani Ministry, reported by the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass, originally stated that the blast killed two servicemen and wounded three others. They later revised this to six servicemen wounded (as well as one civilian), but no fatalities. A police officer told ITAR-Tass news that a brigade had been on patrol when the explosion occurred.

According to RIA-Novosti and Interfax news, medics reported one death and six injuries. RIA-Novosti also reports that the bomb exploded near a trolley bus.

Police and ambulances were immediately brought to the area of the explosion, which was quickly sealed off by police.

The alleged planters of the bomb were followed by police, but escaped after firing at the officers.

This explosion is not surprising, as racial tensions in the Muslim majority region of Dagestan often lead to attacks on officials and police.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

The sale of the BBC subsidiary BBC Resources Ltd., has hit a hurdle after it emerged that the BBC could be left with a loss of up to £15 million on the deal. The cost of transferring the pensions of BBC Resources staff from the BBC pension scheme to its new owners could be up to £50 million according to a Guardian Newspaper report.

Managers from the division will meet with union representatives from BECTU on Monday to discuss this and related sale issues. BECTU general secretary, Gerry Morrissey is quoted as saying: “If the BBC gets less than £50 million for BBC Resources then how can it fulfil [sic] its duty of care to licence fee payers?”

It is believed that the BBC had hoped that a surplus in its pension fund could be used to bridge the possible £50 million gap — but the trustees of the fund have said “no”. A BBC source said: “This is being discussed at the highest level”.

Since April 2004 members of the BBC pension scheme have seen their contributions into it increase regularly, the BBC — like many other employers — having reduced its contribution (to 4.5% of payroll) over a ten year period when the stock market was booming in the 1990s.

The Guardian is seen as a reliable source on BBC matters, having reported the proposed sale of BBC Television Centre back in January 2007, with the formal announcement finally being made by BBC Director General Mark Thompson on October 18, 2007.

The Resources business-to-business unit was formed in 1998 and operates television studios, post-production and outside broadcast facilities for it’s parent share-holding company, the BBC. It does not own any studios or premises, its assets being staff and equipment.

Advertised for sale on 16th August in the Financial Times, The Times and Broadcast and last year making profits of £5.2 million with a revenue of £126 million, the disposal — led by Ernst & Young — invited expressions of interest for the whole division or for each of its three operations separately. The BBC has yet to release the names of the short-listed companies.

BBC Resources was the first of the BBC’s commercial business-to-business divisions to be set up as a limited company and will be the last to be sold, the BBC having previously divested itself of BBC Technology and BBC Broadcast — BBC Worldwide, formerly BBC Enterprises, will remain in-house as it earns revenue from the archive, media and licensing of products — in the year to 31 March 2007 Worldwide had a turnover of £810.4 million, generating profits of £111 million.

The BBC wants to use any money raised to be put into international commercial expansion and content, most probably through Worldwide.

It had been intended to float Resources back in 2005, but this was postponed for two years following strike action and ACAS talks in June 2005 — the BBC giving an undertaking that there would be no preparations made to sell the company until January 2007, and no sale allowed before July of this year. The current time-scale would see its disposal by the end of the current financial year in March 2008.

Monday, April 11, 2005A group of 13 students from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire, USA, were detained by security officers as they photographed an ExxonMobil chemical plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The students were accompanied by two professors and an officer from the Louisiana Attorney General’s office. The officer, Willie Fontenot, was subsequently asked to resign from his position at the Attorney General’s office.

Mr. Fontenot has issued a response, provided to Wikinews reporter Pingswept by Steve Case, a professor present at the incident. Fontenot writes,

“Last week, I was asked by Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr. to either retire or run the risk of being fired. No specifics were given to me explaining this decision by the AG. I have always understood that, as an unclassified civil servant, I served at the pleasure of the AG and that I could be dismissed at any time and for no reason. Because of my age, health issues, and investment of twenty-seven years in the state system, I decided early retirement was the best option for me.”

The full text of Fontenot’s statement is reproduced here.

According to a press release from Antioch, the group was initially detained by two off-duty police officers who were under the employ of ExxonMobil but dressed in their police uniforms. The officers were shortly joined by two other security officers who were employed by ExxonMobil. When asked what reports the officers intended to file, “the off-duty sheriff’s department officer refused to answer, and instead responded aggressively that he was going to call in ‘homeland security’ people who would detain the group into the night,” said the press release. In the end, the group was detained for “more than an hour.”

One of the professors, Abigail Abrash Walton told the Keene Sentinel that one of the officers, “aggressively told us that he’d be calling in the Homeland Security people, whatever that meant, and to expect to be with them all night.”

The Keene Sentinel reports that the students were visiting the area because, “Exxon was said to be buying up houses and paying to relocate their owners for various reasons, including that people were allegedly getting sick because of pollution.” The other course instructor, Steve Chase, was quoted in the Sentinel as saying that, “Our objection was not that police officers or even corporate security guards would stop and ask us what we were doing. That seemed totally fair. But lies were told, threats were made and the idea was to intimidate.”

The Sentinel noted that an ExxonMobil spokesperson, Stephanie Cargile, stated that, “We believe our ExxonMobil Security personnel and the off-duty East Baton Rouge Sheriff police officers acted professionally and cordially to Mr. Fontenot and the Antioch students.” The venue in which the statement was made was not mentioned by the Sentinel; thus far, the report has not been corroborated by Wikinews.

Saturday, July 2, 2005

A city Circuit Court judge in Baltimore, Maryland, John M. Glynn, ordered state corrections officials on Friday to produce in 30 days a written report that will outline plans to reduce over crowding and slow processing times at the city’s Central Booking and Intake Center. The state-run facility is a centralized jail designed to process arrests made by all city police precincts and is the gateway into the criminal justice system of suspects taken into custody in the city of 640,000 people.

In the last 3 months, over 80 arrestees were released from the Central Booking facility without being formally charged. In April this year, a temporary restaining order was issued by Judge Glynn against the facility to enforce the release of those held more than 24 hours after their intake who did not receive a hearing by a court commissioner. The commissioner sets bail, if granted, and formalizes the charges filed by the arresting officer. The charges are then entered into the state’s computer system where the case is tracked. The hearing also marks the date for the suspect’s right to a speedy trial.

The Friday hearing was called after the city mayor’s office of Martin O’Malley filed a motion to join a lawsuit that was brought by public defenders on behalf of those criminally detained at the facility. In Maryland, a hearing with a court commissioner within 24 hours of being arrested is state law. Judge Glynn presided over that lawsuit which led to the temporary restraining order. The order is to remain in effect until November.

Aides to O’Malley are seeking help from his court to implement and then monitor procedural changes at Central Booking, and made sharp criticisms of state public safety officials. One mayor’s aide said, ”We continue to offer management solutions, and they are accepted. But you know what? I don’t have time to run [Central Booking], nor does the police department.”

Judge Glynn expressed concern during the hearing that a purely judicial remedy may not be the answer, and said, “If I find that it is a hopeless disaster… what can I do about that?” He peppered parties to the suit with questions and suggested there is the possibility that political action, not court intervention, may be needed to solve what city and police officials call inefficient management practices by the state.

Glynn also requested parties to the suit to report back on what happened to the 80+ arrestees who were released so far as a result of the restraining order. The suspect could be re-arrested if officers knew the circumstances of the release, but police say that would take time and money to work out. An arrestee released without seeing a court commissioner has as the only record of the offense the hand written charging document by the officer.

The Maryland attorney general’s office representing the corrections officers said at the hearing that city police are part of the problem by not filing charging documents at Central Booking when the arrestee is delivered and processing begins. The state must accept the prisoners, but cannot move forward without the necessary documents. They also say city police sometimes flood the facility, which can create temporary backlogs.

Central Booking was designed to process 60,000 suspects a year, but currently handles nearly 100,000. It was built to accommodate 900 people at any one time, but normally crowds in 1,200. Arrestees describe conditions in holding cells with no room to sit on the floor, and being crammed in with people who suffer with health problems or drug addicts who vomit from withdrawal.

Friday, April 1, 2005File:Map of USA highlighting Texas.png

Witnesses say a truck was idling near the scene of an explosion at a Texas refinery which killed 15 and injured over 100 others on March 23, according to U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Manager Bill Hoyle.

“Witnesses saw vapor in the area of the truck and observed the engine begin to rev up and race,” Hoyle’s statement said. “This behavior by a diesel engine indicates the presence of a flammable atmosphere entering the air intake. A driver reported trying to shut off the engine but was unable to do so.” Hoyle’s statement continued, “There are multiple possible sources of ignition in an operating refinery unit and we have made no determination about the ignition source at this time.”

The investigation has been delayed by BP and Occupational Safety & Health Administration officials, who are trying to preserve evidence at the site for their investigation. They are also concerned about further injuries from hazards left over from the explosion, such as falling debris and unstable structures. The Environment Protection Agency also detected benzene in the atmosphere over the plant, which was treated with a layer of foam.

BP has retained control of the plant since the March 23 accident. Police arrived quickly the day of the explosion, but left after the initial emergency was over.

“Our officers could respond over there, but they don’t have a clue,” Texas City police Sgt. Curtis Pope told the Houston Chronicle. “The fact is they have chemical and equipment hazards. We don’t know the chemicals.”

Friday, October 19, 2007

The 7th Taipei International Hardware & DIY Show, organized by Kaigo Taiwan (The representative of Koelnmesse in Taiwan) and Koelnmesse GmbH, started on October 18-20 at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 3. This show has 183 participants using 300 booths to exhibit accessories and tools on esoteric fabricating, home-living applications, and security.

With people in Taiwan valuing on the quality of home-living, the organizer set a pre-show pavilion of “2008 Taipei Home & Lifestyle Fair” and invited B&Q & HomeBox holding DIY workshops for visitors.

This exhibition is conjuncted with industry and applications, and pursuing with three main topics of “Quality, Innovation and Competitiveness”. International factories such as Hitachi, Rexon, Ryobi participated this show for the export opportunity in the hardware industry.

After the “Product Certificates and Testing” pavilion in TAITRONICS Autumn, Bureau of Standards, Metrology & Inspection, M.O.E.A., R.O.C. (Taiwan) and DIY in Europe magazine were invited for speeches focused on certifications on hardware & DIY products and environment issues in EU.

• Spoty Enterprise Co., Ltd.

• Double Dynasty Co., Ltd.