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Monday, June 23, 2008

2008 COMPUTEX Taipei, the largest trade fair since its inception in 1982, featured several seminars and forums, expansions on show spaces to TWTC Nangang, great transformations for theme pavilions, and WiMAX Taipei Expo, mainly promoted by Taipei Computer Association (TCA). Besides of ICT industry, “design” progressively became the critical factor for the future of the other industries. To promote innovative “Made In Taiwan” products, pavilions from “Best Choice of COMPUTEX”, “Taiwan Excellence Awards”, and newly-set “Design and Innovation (d & i) Award of COMPUTEX”, demonstrated the power of Taiwan’s designs in 2008 COMPUTEX Taipei.

Monday, February 21, 2011

38 people were reported dead Sunday, in a Taliban attack on a bank in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The incident, orchestrated by five suicide bombers disguised as policemen and soldiers, quickly escalated into a confrontation between security forces and the invaders armed with machine guns.

After a several-hour standoff, four of the five attackers detonated their bombs while the fifth was arrested by police. A representative for the Interior Ministry told the press that “Thirty eight people were martyred which includes 21 security forces personnel and 17 civilians.” Members of the police force were apparently receiving their paychecks when the attackers entered the bank and began indiscriminately firing at guards and civilians. 70 others were also wounded.

Although officials refused to itemize the casualties, they claimed that due to the random nature of the gunfire, both security personnel and civilian bankers were killed. Attacks targeting police have become common in the Nangarhar province; this incident was the third major attack this week.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

The Israeli government has declared the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity” due to the continued firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza. Gaza’s ruling Hamas party has stated that it considers the announcement a “declaration of war.”

The definition means that Israel could stop supplying Gaza with fuel, electricity and other commodities.

“Following extensive legal consultations, Israel has decided to declare Gaza as a hostile entity, with all the international implications. This move will prepare the groundwork for sanctions against Gaza, such as the interruption of gas, electricity and water supply, which will occur in a gradual process,” said an unnamed Israeli government official.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli Minister of Defense said the “objective is to weaken Hamas” , while Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum suggested “…they aim to starve our people and force them to accept humiliating formulas that could emerge from the so-called November peace conference,”

Barak also said that Israel is considering a military operation in the Gaza Strip saying that “every day that passes brings us closer to an operation in Gaza.”

The democratically-elected Hamas party, and its militant wing the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, have been labeled “foreign terrorist organization”s by a number of bodies including the European Union, Israel, the United States, Canada and others.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

The New Zealand Government has tabled the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill, despite unprecedented political opposition.

In 2003 the Hon Annette King signed a Treaty with Australia agreeing to hand control of the natural health products sector over to an Australian regulatory body, however she needs to pass enabling legislation in New Zealand. “This will be a world-class joint scheme designed to regulate the safety, quality, effectiveness and promotion of therapeutic products in both New Zealand and Australia. That includes the regulation of complementary and alternative medicines, over-the-counter and prescription medicines, medical devices, blood and blood products and tissues and cellular therapies,” Ms King said.

Twice the Bill has been thrown out by select committees, but the Government is determined to ram it through Parliament, according to the New Zealand Health Trust.

“Late tonight the Bill was finally tabled, with no announcement from the Minister,” said Amy Adams, spokesperson for the Trust, “Clearly the Minister is keen to sneak it into Parliament under cover of the silly season, in the hope that she can keep it under the public’s radar.”

“I welcome the support of a majority of the House who want to see the Bill go to Select Committee where New Zealanders can have their say,” Ms King said.

The NZ Health Trust conducted research earlier this year which showed 62% of New Zealanders used natural health products. “This Bill represents a massive and irreparable change to the way we make rules for New Zealand dietary supplements,” Mrs Adams said.

“Under the proposed regime, well over a million New Zealand consumers would find the choice of products adversely affected, and experience cost increases. So you can see why the Government is trying to sneak this into the House without any fuss – they don’t want the public to know.”

All the political parties except Labour have pledged their opposition the proposal, despite some intense lobbying by Australian and New Zealand officials.

“It is a very serious thing to hand sovereignty over your country over to another nation,” Mrs Adams said. “And all the other political parties see the sense in making sure the sector is regulated from New Zealand – not as a minor state of Australia.”

Ms King said: “The Bill… ensures that New Zealand will have an equal say in the setting up and running of the new Authority and joint scheme.” The new authority will be like a crown-owned entity and will have to provide an anuual report and a statement of intent to parliament each year.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The fourth annual Maker Faire took place this past weekend at the San Mateo Fairground in San Mateo, California located in the United States. The first Maker Faire, which took place in 2006, had approximately 20,000 people in attendance. This year, more than 80,000 people were expected to attend; quadruple the attendance of just four years prior. On Saturday night, it was reported that attendance was up considerably over last year’s event.

Maker Faire, the self-declared “World’s Largest DIY Festival”, offers a forum where hundreds of makers and crafters alike man booths where they display their work. In the main halls alone, there were hundreds of booths. Outside the expo halls, the surrounding area was also filled with many interesting projects, some of which were mobile. In addition to all of the projects on display, there were a number of on-stage presentations. The biggest presentation of the weekend was given by Adam Savage who spoke on the topic of his “Colossal Failures”. During his talk, the Fiesta Hall was filled to capacity.

The theme for this year’s fair was “Remake: America” after President Obama‘s call to “begin again the work of remaking America”. In addition, “going green”, alternative fuel vehicles, crafting, steampunk and sciences for the young, were common themes found throughout the fair.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

According to local police chief Craig Van Breugel there were no injuries or loss of life to animals or local residents in the recent fire in the rural Australian town of Toongabbie. “There was no injury to persons or animals. That is all I have for you,” Detective Acting Sergent Van Breugel said in response to queries from Wikinews.

The fire began about 2:20 pm local time (UTC+11) between Humphrey and Eagle Hawk roads, north of the township proper. The local Country Fire Authority brigade managed to contain the blaze to approximately three to five hectares.

Victoria Police have recently indicated that the area around where the fire was started is only accessible by four wheel drives (4WD) or off-road motorcycles; it is popular with dirt bike riders and 4WD enthusiasts.

The local Country Fire Authority brigade managed to contain the blaze to approximately three to five hectares between Humphrey and Eagle Hawk roads.

Det.Act.Sgt Van Breugel confrimed that there wer some off road motor cyclists in the are that day. “[Police] know there was a number of off road motorcyclists in the area on the day. Some of [them] have already been spoken to by the Police” Det.Act.Sgt Van Breugel said.

The fire is being treated as suspicious and people with infomation that may help the investigation are encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers or the local police.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Following detention stemming from corruption allegations, former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian is reportedly on hunger strike. His lawyer, Cheng Wen-lung, stated that Chen has not eaten since since his admission to Taipei’s Tucheng jail on Wednesday. He went on to tell reporters the hunger strike is to continue, “to protest the death of justice and the regression of democracy.”

Chen, from the Democratic Progressive Party, was President for two four-year terms, from March 2000 until March 2008. In 2006 Chen’s wife, Wu Shu-chen, was indicted on charges of embezzlement, forgery, and perjury over money sent to overseas bank accounts. Chen claimed these were surplus funds from election campaigns and he had no knowledge of his wife transferring the money to the Cayman Islands.

Chen was succeeded as President by Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, commonly referred to as the Chinese Nationalist Party.

The former President may face up to four months confinement, which prosecutors argue is necessary to prevent him from colluding with his alleged co-conspirators. Nine other people are being held in relation to the same corruption allegations.

As yet, no formal charges have actually been laid against Chen. DPP politicians and other observers have criticised his detention and stated that it was politically-motivated in order to smear the DPP, as was the decision to make him wear handcuffs in public. Recently other high-profile members of the DPP have been detained without charge, whilst Chinese Nationalist Party members also under investigation for alleged corruption have reportedly not been jailed or their cases have been put on hold.

Meanwhile, AIT Director Steve Young, the de-facto ambassador of the United States to Taiwan, asked for a “transparent, fair, and impartial” resolution to the case.

The matter was also raised in the Dutch parliament. MPs from ruling and opposition parties, asked the foreign minister, Maxime Verhagen, if he was aware that “Chen and a number of politicians of the DPP [had] been arrested on suspicion of abuse of power while in power.”

The MPs asked that Parliament be briefed on the situation and whether the foreign minister would press the Taiwanese government to apply basic principles of the rule of law in cases such as Chen’s.