Tuesday, August 23, 2005

A man missing from a camping ground in southern Utah in the Western US since July 30 was found in Australia. His automobile was found in a campground of Dixie National Forest with a note that he would be back in a few hours. An extensive search and rescue operation was conducted to try to locate this hiker by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Utah.

Investigators in the Sheriff’s Office were able to track him down to Cairns, Queensland. Apparently before he was “missing”, he bought a one-way ticket to Australia. Bryan Butas, the missing hiker, apparently had been under a great deal of stress and “got sick of it all”, according to a telephone interview by the Associated Press.

Butas has been charged with insurance fraud, a second-degree felony, by Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap. This was because Butas plotted to obtain a $250,000 life insurance policy before faking his own disappearance. He has also been given a bill for $20,000 by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for their search and rescue operations on his behalf.

His wife and children have since his disappearance moved to the wife’s parent’s home in Ohio. Butas’s parents came to Southern Utah to help in the search and were “embarrassed and shocked” to learn their son had merely run away from marital and financial difficulties, Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said.

Washington County Sheriff Sgt. Jake Adams said his investigation included tracing an application Butas made for a passport, his purchase of a one-way airline ticket to Australia, and the life insurance policy that names his wife and children as beneficiaries. On August 18, Adams said Butas’s mother called him to say her son had called home the evening of August 11, several days after the search was officially called off for the missing man. Butas asked his mother for money and an airline ticket home, which she sent.

Butas has since been checked into the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Brecksville, Ohio, according to Adams, but will shortly return to Utah.

Friday, June 13, 2008

British drivers have been urged not to panic buy fuel because of the 4-day walkout by delivery drivers working for companies delivering to Shell petrol stations. The 600 workers have walked out over pay disagreements, wanting an increase to their current pay of £36,500, however their union Unite turned down a last-minute offer of £41,500.

Hoyer UK, which employs tanker drivers for Shell, said, “We extended our offer to the very limits that our business could sustain.” However Unite said in a press release that, “this dispute could have been resolved if Shell had advanced a fraction of the billions of pounds in profit they make every month”, continuing to say, “one of the world’s richest companies is prepared to play Pontius Pilate and see the British public inconvenienced rather than settle this dispute for a sum smaller than the chairman’s pay increase last year”

Shell admitted that the walkout could leave some of its 1,000 forecourts without fuel, but the UK Petrol Industry Association, which represent oil refiners, said that forecourts would have around 4 days of supply, maintaining usual stocking levels. Shell also commented that the strike impact would be “significant”, as the company runs around 1 in 10 of all petrol stations in the UK.

British Business Secretary, John Hutton, said that “the strike, which will have a disproportionate effect on people in Britain, cannot be justified,” and urged both sides to resume negotiations in order to settle the dispute. “We have been working closely with industry to put in place detailed contingency plans to reduce as far as possible the disruption for the driving public,” he added. Unite’s press release also confirms that “provision has been made for fire, police and the emergency services.”

Tanker drivers on strike have set up picket lines at many of Shell’s UK refineries, including those in Stanlow, Avonmouth, Plymouth, Pembroke, Cardiff, Kingsbury, Basildon, Grangemouth, Aberdeen, Inverness, Jarrow and Luton Airport.

Friday, July 15, 2011

On Tuesday, the Euro fell to a new record low in relation to the Swiss Franc, and to multi-month lows against the U.S. Dollar and Japanese yen; all considered by investors to be safe currencies during times of economic turmoil.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that recent comments from the newly installed head of the International Monetary Fund, France’s Christine Lagarde, resulted in a sell-off of the Euro. At a roundtable discussion in Washington, Lagarde noted that the IMF had not yet reached discussion of terms and conditions of a second Greek bailout plan. In fact, a representative from the IMF is currently meeting with Eurozone policymakers to draft such a new proposal. The yield differential between Italian bonds and German bonds has spread to more than 300 basis points, something not seen in over a decade and evidence of investors’ concern.

Adding to the Euro’s woes is the upcoming release of the bank stress tests on Friday. The European Bankers Association said that they expect the data release to shed new light on the Eurozone’s banking situation. Representatives of several of the Eurozone’s governments, including Germany, have requested that the association consider releasing fewer specific details for fear that investor panic will ensue. The inadequacy of the capitalization rates has been an issue with the European Central Bank, whose president recently called upon Eurozone banks to make every effort to put their balance sheets in order.

For the time being at least, an unsubstantiated rumor reported by the Wall Street Journal states that the Eurozone’s central banks’ purchase of periphery debt has helped to quell the downward momentum of the Euro.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

This weekend saw the opening of two new exhibitions at Edinburgh’s National Gallery of Modern Art. Wikinews attended Thursday’s press preview for the event where a full contingent of the capital’s press turned out to see the striking collection of paintings, photographs, and other works. Presented below are a selection of images captured at the preview.

REFLECTIONS: A Series of Changing Displays of Contemporary Art, billed as a showcase of a “diverse range of internationally-renowned contemporary and modern artists” is to display major works from the Gallery’s permanent collection, alongside important loans. Alongside this broad range of works, a three-room display of pieces on-loan from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation — with a dramatic painted steel relief, ‘borrowed’ from the Tate in London — runs from March 14 through to January 10 next year.

Admission to both exhibitions is free; being located in Dean, to the north-west of Edinburgh’s city centre, a free Gallery bus service is available.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Officials with the US Marine Corps have announced their investigation into the fatal crash of a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey transport plane on April 11 has found pilot error was to blame. The probe found two marines died after the pilots lost control in a tailwind in Morocco.

The accident has triggered attention from Japanese media ahead of a planned deployment there, and officials at a press conference Friday were keen to stress no mechanical or structural defects were found. The pilots had opted for an unplanned 180-degree turn to avoid flying low over obstructions including people and vehicles. This move placed them into a strong tailwind.

This wind tilted the plane forward, but the pilots did not realise and began rolling the engines forward. The Osprey had been flying in helicopter mode, with the rotors pointed skywards; by pointing them forwards, it can be operated as a standard aircraft. Normal flight rules call for the aircraft being level, not tilted, when this switch is made.

These actions moved the center of gravity forward, which pitched the nose further down. Pulling on the flight column was insufficient to correct the problem, and the aircraft flew down into the ground. Two Marines in the back were killed, and both pilots were seriously injured. The investigation suggested leaving the aircraft in helicopter mode could have prevented the accident.

The wounded pilots are still recovering, and Marine Corps Aviation’s deputy commandant Lt. Gen. Robert Schmidle said that when they are well enough they will go before a panel to determine if they are fit to fly. He says their actions will be scrutinised then. Schmidle also said the model’s flight manual will be updated and training given to pilots in light of the crash.

“It’s an extraordinarily complex set of circumstances that caused this to happen”, he told reporters Friday. He called the plane a “solid, safe” model.

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.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s Health Minister, introduced emergency legislation in the lower house of the Irish parliament yesterday evening, to negate the legal loophole created by a decision from Dublin’s Court of Appeal that morning. Various hard drugs — including ketamine, ecstasy, and magic mushrooms — were rendered legal, following the law governing their prohibition being found to be unconstitutional.

The drug possession case of Stanislav Bederev led to the legal loophole; his lawyers arguing the 2010 addition of several drugs to the country’s controlled substances list, governed by the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977, was unlawful. They contended it was unconstitutional to add these substances to the list without consulting the Oireachtas — i.e., parliament.

The Irish government is stressing the urgency of parliamentary legislation to rectify the situation. “It is now important from both a public health and criminal justice perspective that the legislation be enacted as soon as possible”, said a government spokesperson. The Health Minister expressed concern both for the welfare of individuals taking advantage of the temporary legality of the substances involved, and for drug-related convictions handed down since the now-unconstitutional changes came into effect.

“The emergency legislation I am introducing today will re-instate the status quo ante and re-control all drugs that were controlled prior to this judgment”, said Mr Varadkar.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

One thousand residents of the Defense Department-managed Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. filed a class-action lawsuit on May 24, asserting that the cut-backs in medical and dental services imposed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are illegal. The operating budget for the home was reduced from $63 million in 2004 to $58 million for 2005. The residents cite cuts in on-site X-ray, electrocardiogram, physical and dental services, and the closing of the home’s main clinic and an on-site pharmacy.

Chief Financial Officer Steve McManus responded that the changes not only save money but also achieved improved efficiencies. “We’re really trying to improve the benefits to our residents,” he said.

Most of the home’s costs are paid for by a trust fund and monthly fees paid by residents. By law, the Armed Forces Retirement Homes are required to fund, “on-site primary care, medical care and a continuum of long-term care services.”

Sunday, June 18, 2017

On Friday, US director John G. Avildsen, best known for directing the 1976 film Rocky for which he won an Academy Award for the Best Director and the 1980s The Karate Kid trilogy, died at the age of 81. His son, Anthony, told the Los Angeles Times that Avildsen died due to pancreatic cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Actors Sylvester Stallone, Ralph Macchio, Carl Weathers, Joe Manganiello, Thaao Penghlis; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CEO Gary Barber and Directors Guild of America President Paris Barclay paid tribute to Avildsen.

Raised in Oak Park, Illinois, Avildsen began his cinematography career with advertising agencies. He later served as an assistant director for filmmakers like Arthur Penn and Otto Preminger.

Avildsen directed his first film Turn on to Love, which was released in 1969. A year later, he directed Joe and in 1973, he directed Save the Tiger starring Jack Lemmon. Lemmon won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1973 movie.

Avildsen directed Rocky in 1976, starring Stallone, which won three Academy Awards, including the Best Picture and the Best Director. Fourteen years later he directed Rocky V. He directed the first three films of The Karate Kid, all starring Macchio and Pat Morita in the 1980s.

Avildsen also directed W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings in 1975, Neighbors in 1981, 1989 film Lean on Me, and the 1994 film 8 Seconds. 1999’s Inferno was his last movie.

Avildsen’s accomplishments were documented in this year’s documentary film John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs, which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Saturday, September 3, 2022

Price hikes set by Ireland’s Bord Gáis Energy yesterday mean residential customers will pay an average €48.25 extra on electricity and €43.80 on gas each month. This came after similar announcements by competitors Electric Ireland, SSE Airtricity and Prepay Power.

The energy supplier will lift the rate for electricity by an average of 34% and gas by 39% effective October 2, citing an increase in wholesale energy costs that “leaves us with no choice.” Standing charges will be unaffected. This means the average customer will pay an extra €579 and €526 per year in electricity and gas, based on an average consumption of 4,200 kilowatt hours (kWh) and 11,000 kWh for electricity and gas, respectively.

On the same day, Russian energy giant Gazprom said it would halt supplies of natural gas to Europe indefinitely through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline until a leak is repaired.

In March, Bord Gáis raised costs on its 513,000 commercial and residential customers nationwide by 27% on electricity and 39% on gas, while last year it three times hiked rates for electricity and twice for gas. Daragh Cassidy of comparison site Bonkers.ie estimates from this time last year, bills have gone up an extra €1,300 for electricity and €1,000 for gas in total.

Cassidy told RTÉ News “[the] average gas and electricity bill is now around €4,000. That’s close to the UK price cap of £3,549”, from where over 70% of Ireland’s gas is supplied.

In a statement, managing director for Bord Gáis Energy Dave Kirwan said the company “deeply regret[s] having to raise our prices but the scale of increases in wholesale energy costs leaves us with no choice.” Promising to “continue to do everything we can to reduce the impact on our customers and keep our rates as competitive as possible”, Kirwan pledged one tenth of operating profits toward an energy support fund in partnership with organisations for those unable to afford the increase.

A financial report from July 28 for parent company Centrica, based in the United Kingdom, revealed Bord Gáis’ operating profits increased 74% from last year in the first half of 2022 to £33 million (€38 million). This was in part due to the resumption of activity from Whitegate power station near Cork.

Mounting utility costs put pressure on the government, strengthened by a €6.3 billion surplus collected in the eight months to August, to increase support for families struggling with the cost of living. Speaking after Electric Ireland Thursday lifted residential rates on electricity and gas by 26.7% and 37.5%, respectively effective October 1, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the European Commission will “bring forward emergency provisions to try and deal with the market”.

Martin attributed the latest to the “broader exponential rise in energy prices”, and promised a “demand reduction approach” to lowering consumers’ overall energy use. Concerning financial supports Martin promised “we will use the Budget and also, in tandem with the Budget, the cost of living package to alleviate pressures on households.”

Yesterday’s record accrual for the Exchequer was bolstered by an unexpectedly high corporate tax intake for August, and double-digit increases on last year for income tax and VAT. Speaking on the figures, finance minister Paschal Donohoe said government “must strike a balance between protecting the most vulnerable households and firms from a once-in-a-generation energy price shock, while at the same time ensuring that policy doesn’t worsen the inflationary cycle”.

He contrasted the stronger economy after the end of Covid-19 restrictions with “inflationary pressures, resulting from the surge in energy prices from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war” with Ukraine that “are eroding real incomes and undermining growth prospects both domestically and in our main trading partners”.

But Labour leader Ivana Bacik urged “an unprecedented, urgent and short term response by government” in response to what “is unsustainable for people, families and small businesses”. It includes instating a windfall tax on excess profits by energy companies, which Donohoe said the state is considering, and immediate price caps and expanding eligibility for fuel allowance.

European Union ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels next week, which Martin said would include immediate action to temper the price of gas and “a more structured reform of the market over the next twelve months”.

The G7 countries, which include EU members France, Germany and Italy yesterday agreed to introduce a price ceiling on Russian oil, likely effective December. Since its invasion of Ukraine began, the Russian government has cut energy supplies to Europe, forcing prices higher and threatening continental blackouts. At the time of Nord Stream 1’s suspension of operations the pipeline was supplying one-fifth its daily capacity, according to senior associate Jacob Mandel for energy consultancy firm Aurora.