Saturday, October 6, 2007

Brett McKenzie is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the London North Centre riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

As the Hong Kong legislative election approaches, six candidates considered to be in the pan-democracy camp suspended their campaigns on Friday. They were performing poorly in public opinion polls, and encouraged supporters to vote for other pan-democracy candidates instead.

The candidates suspending their campaigns were Sumly Chan from the Civic Party, Kalvin Ho Kai-ming from the Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood, Suzanne Wu from the Labour Party, and independents Andy Chui, Paul Zimmerman, and Clarice Cheung.

Sumly Chan from the Civic Party and Kalvin Ho Kai-ming from the Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood were running for the District Council (Second) functional constituency, commonly referred as “Super District Council” seats. Both of them suggested their supporters vote for pan-democratic candidates with a higher likelihood of winning, to continue the pan-democrats’ majority in the “Super District Council” seats. Kalvin Ho Kai-ming asked voters to choose a candidate with similar stance and ideology to his own party’s.

The four other candidates were all running for geographical constituencies. Both Andy Chui and Paul Zimmerman were running for the Hong Kong Island constituency, Labour Party chairwoman Suzanne Wu was running for the Kowloon East constituency, and independent Clarice Cheung was running for the New Territories West constituency. Zimmerman recommended supporters vote for Demosisto’s Nathan Law instead.

All of these candidates performed poorly in the public opinion polls. The 2016 Hong Kong legislative election is to be held on Sunday. It elects 70 legislators to the Legislative Council.

Friday, March 23, 2007

In a press release earlier today, New York State Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker, along with Dean of Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine Donald F. Smith, confirmed that scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified Aminopterin as a toxin present in cat food samples from Menu Foods.

Menu Foods is the manufacturer of several brands of cat and dog food subject to a March 16, 2007 recall.

Aminopterin is a drug used in chemotherapy for its immunosuppressive properties and, in some areas outside the US, as a rat poison. Earlier reports stated that wheat gluten was a factor being investigated, and officials now state that the toxin would have come from Chinese wheat used in the pet food, where it is used for pest control. Investigators will not say that this is the only contaminant found in the recalled food, but knowing the identity of the toxin should assist veterinarians treating affected animals.

The Food Laboratory tested samples of cat food received from a toxicologist at the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University. The samples were found to contain the rodenticide at levels of at least 40 parts per million.

Commissioner Hooker stated, “We are pleased that the expertise of our New York State Food Laboratory was able to contribute to identifying the agent that caused numerous illnesses and deaths in dogs and cats across the nation.”

The press release suggests Aminopterin, a derivative of folic acid, can cause cancer and birth defects in humans and can cause kidney damage in dogs and cats. Aminopterin is not permitted for use in the United States.

The New York State Food Laboratory is part of the Federal Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) and as such, is capable of running a number of unique poison/toxin tests on food, including the test that identified Aminopterin.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that computer systems involved with the processing of tax returns for individuals are back online.

Tax processing had been halted on March 6, 2007, due to a computer glitch. The source of the problem had been traced back to software maintenance performed on March 4.

In an update on the CRA website, dated March 14, Michel Dorais, Commissioner of the Agency, stated that all of the databases had been restored and CRA employees are processing the backlog of returns and payments.

Tax processing for businesses had not been affected by the computer shutdown.

In his statement, Dorais thanked taxpayers “for their patience and understanding” during the service outage. He also stated that “the integrity and safety of personal data was never at risk”.

The CRA suggests that it would work quickly to process the resulting backlog of tax returns.

Monday, September 4, 2006

2,000 charges had been laid province-wide in Ontario for highway traffic act offences over the Labour Day weekend. More than 100 charges for people not wearing seatbelts. 17 drivers have been charged with impaired driving, 17 others received 12-hour suspensions.

Remnants of tropical storm Ernesto in southern Ontario could have caused accidents. OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley said on Sunday that about 130 crashes could be attributed to “people going too fast in the rain and hydroplaning.”

Students heading to college residences posed another problem. Improperly secured desks, futon frames and even a refrigerator were found on provincial highways.

“About 200 unsafe vehicles taken off the road this weekend, some with no brakes, bald tires, wheels ready to separate, that sort of thing,” said OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley. “And also drunk drivers continue to be arrested, continue to be in crashes and Labour Day has traditionally been deadly and that’s what we found this weekend.”

Friday, April 12, 2013

Yesterday morning in the Australian Capital Territory, two unconscious men were discovered outside the University of Canberra’s New Ressies.

Police said both men were in critical condition after being transported to nearby Calvary Hospital. According to the University of Canberra and Campus Living Services, who operate the university’s residence halls, neither man attended the university. Detective Sergeant John Giles from ACT Policing’s Criminal Investigations said the police believe both men overdosed on a synthetic ketamine product, which they likely consumed believing it was ecstasy. According to Giles, ecstasy is commonly used at nightclubs in Canberra.

Emergency services were first called to the scene at 11:00am Canberra time; officials were on site for at least another hour and a half. ACT Policing secured the area while AFP Forensics investigated. At this stage, the Australian Federal Police do not believe there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident.

The incident follows a fire alarm going off at 3:20am Canberra time, and going off again around 7:20am. Fire alarm testing has been scheduled for today.

Monday, March 12, 2007

24 of 26 Swiss Cantons rejected the proposal for a single health insurance system, in which premiums would be based on income and wealth. The vote on Sunday was the latest in a series of attempts to cut rising costs and ease the financial burden on citizens.

Around 71% of voters rejected the reform. Turnout was at about 46%, slightly above the Swiss average.

As expected, voters in the main German-speaking part of the country turned down the planned reform, which was supported by the centre-left but opposed by the centre-right as well as the business community, parliament and the government.

Opposition in the French and Italian speaking regions was less pronounced. The cantons Jura and Neuchâtel in the French speaking regions voted in favor of the proposed reforms.

Health insurance premiums are higher in southern and western Swiss cantons than in German-speaking areas.

The Swiss Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin said an important part of the Swiss Population appeared to be opposed to “a revolution” in health insurance but he said that he wanted current reforms currently under discussion in the Swiss Parliament to go ahead. He called on all sides, especially health insurers and the cantonal authorities, to make efforts to reduce spending on health insurance and aim for a greater cost efficiency. Currently Switzerland has 87 private insurers providing mandatory basic health care coverage for Swiss residents under a 1996 law. But costs have sky-rocketed. Over 100,000 people are not covered by health insurance due to non payment.

Opponents to the initiative argued that a single insurance system would lead to complacency and create a two-tier system, in which the wealthy would be the only ones available to afford to have additional private insurance coverage.

Supporters of the initiative said a single health insurer would increase the system’s efficiency and allow for annual savings of at least 300 million Swiss Francs (about $245 million) in administrative costs. Currently, the funding system is unbalanced, since many clients on low incomes use state subsidies to pay their premiums, according to the Green Party and the Social Democrats.

The initiative to unite all the insurance companies and introduce premiums based on wealth and income was the most recent in a series of attempts over the past ten years to reduce the public spending on health care. A proposal, similar to this recent proposal, to modify the funding system of the health insurance companies was rejected by 73% of voters in 2003.

Switzerland has the most expensive health system in Europe. Switzerland’s expenditure on health care was 11.6% in 2005, in front of Germany and France but behind the United States.