Author: Admin

Monday, December 2, 2013

Police in the West Midlands in England today said nearly 200 kilograms worth of drugs with value possibly as great as £30 million (about US$49 million or €36 million) has been seized from a unit in the town of Brownhills. In what an officer described as “one of the largest [seizures] in the force’s 39 year history”, West Midlands Police reported recovering six big cellophane-wrapped cardboard boxes containing cannabis, cocaine, and MDMA (“ecstasy”) in a police raid operation on the Maybrook Industrial Estate in the town on Wednesday.

The seized boxes, which had been loaded onto five freight pallets, contained 120 one-kilogram bags of cannabis, 50 one-kilogram bags of MDMA, and five one-kilogram bricks of cocaine. In a press release, West Midlands Police described what happened after officers found the drugs as they were being unloaded in the operation. “When officers opened the boxes they discovered a deep layer of protective foam chips beneath which the drugs were carefully layered”, the force said. “All the drugs were wrapped in thick plastic bags taped closed with the cannabis vacuum packed to prevent its distinctive pungent aroma from drawing unwanted attention.” Police moved the drugs via forklift truck to a flatbed lorry to remove them.

Detective Sergeant Carl Russell of West Midlands Police’s Force CID said the seizure was the largest he had ever made in the 24 years he has been in West Midlands Police and one of the biggest seizures the force has made since its formation in 1974. “The impact this seizure will have on drug dealing in the region and the UK as a whole cannot be underestimated”, he said. “The drugs had almost certainly been packed to order ready for shipping within Britain but possibly even further afield. Our operation will have a national effect and we are working closely with a range of law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in this crime at whatever level.”

Expert testing on the drugs is ongoing. Estimates described as “conservative” suggest the value of the drugs amounts to £10 million (about US$16.4 million or €12 million), although they could be worth as much as £30 million, subject to purity tests, police said.

Police arrested three men at the unit on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug. The men, a 50-year-old from Brownhills, a 51-year-old from the Norton area of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and one aged 53 from Brownhills, have been released on bail as police investigations to “hunt those responsible” continue. West Midlands Police told Wikinews no person has yet been charged in connection with the seizure. Supplying a controlled drug is an imprisonable offence in England, although length of jail sentences vary according to the class and quantity of drugs and the significance of offenders’ roles in committing the crime.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

During the 2007 WiMAX Forum Taipei Showcase and Conference, WiMAX Forum announced the highlights from WiMAX Forum PlugFest in Grand Hyatt Taipei last week and announced that WiMAX Forum will endorse the M-Taiwan WiMAX Application Lab (MTWAL) in Hsinchu Science Park at the Press Conference yesterday and the General Assembly of the WiMAX Forum Taipei Member Conference today. With this laboratory located in Hsinchu, the WiMAX infrastructure in Taiwan will be enhanced more with the cooperation between academics (especially National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan), governmental organization, and companies in networking industry.

This laboratory provided an open environment where world-wide innovators can experiment and test WiMAX-related products and the stability of application solutions at Hsinchu Science Park. Currently, equipment and application developers will have the 1st priority in testing for the quality evaluation and knowing the sanctification of consumers before bringing them to market.

“Members of WiMAX shows the latest innovations at this showcase (WiMAX Forum Taipei Showcase), I believed that MTWAL will provide a complete product testing environment and applications in the WiMAX access area with the support from governmental and industrial organizations in Taiwan.”

“WiMAX is a brand new wireless network different from other similar industries, this service must be dominated with lots of different operators to maintain the basic infrastructure of WiMAX.” Ron Resnick (Chairman of WiMAX Forum) remarked at the Press Conference.

“WiMAX Forum chose Hsinchu Science Park as the development basis of WiMAX with a unique characteristic in networking industry in Taiwan. We held a PlugFest last week for brand new WiMAX products with 200 engineers participating this test to evaluate the performance and test the quality. With this PlugFest, participants experienced rich services and good quality of new products. The PlugFest also had numbers of milestones including testing the leading advanced antenna technologies delivering the fastest speeds and broadest coverage.”

“MIMO setups aren’t achieved until mid-week historically, but in this PlugFest, lots of vendors completed this high-risk testing and demonstrated the data flow ability between different matrices, as well as several beam-forming IOP set ups.” Ed Agis (Chairman of the WiMAX Forum Certification Working Group) said.

According to WiMAX Forum, lots of vendors also participated the exhibition of 2007 WiMAX Forum Taipei Showcase and demonstrated WiMAX technology solutions. Ron Resnick also remarked this information at the 2nd day Keynote of 2007 WiMAX Forum Taipei Conference. Mei-yueh Ho (Chairman of Council for Economic Planning and Development, Executive Yuan, R.O.C. Taiwan) also looked this MTWAL set up as a bright idea, and Steve Ruey-long Chen (Minister of Economic Affairs, R.O.C. Taiwan) praised this set up as a boost of WiMAX infrastructure in Taiwan.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

On April 22, President Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia, a micronation located in Nevada, announced that his country hosted its first ever official state visit the day before.

Grand Duke Paul of the Grand Duchy of Greifenberg, another micronation, arrived in Molossia at 9:39 AM MST (Molossian Standard Time) on Monday. He spent much of the day with President Baugh discussing the current state of the intermicronational community, as well as the League of Small Nations, a near dormant organization dedicated to the prosperity of all land-claiming micronations.

Besides the meeting itself, President Baugh took Grand Duke Paul to nearby Virginia City, Nevada for lunch. Following this, both returned to Molossia where the meeting continued. The visit officially ended late in the afternoon. Some time later, Grand Duke Paul returned to Molossia for an informal dinner. He returned to his country the next day.

The Republic of Molossia and Grand Duchy of Greifenberg are not recognized by any major countries or international organizations. However, both are by other micronations.

In March, Wikinews held an interview with President Baugh.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

US interrogators have claimed that they are under pressure to find incriminating evidence against Iran when they interview Iraqi insurgents, The Observer reported on Sunday.

Micah Brose, a privately contracted interrogator working for the US military in Iraq, told the British newspaper that information about Iran is “gold”.

“They push a lot for us to establish a link with Iran (when interrogating prisoners)”, he claimed in the interview, adding that “it feels a lot like, if you get something and Iran’s not involved, it’s a let down.” He further claimed that people have said to him that “they’re really pushing the Iran thing”. Brose denied being asked to manufacture evidence, but stated that “if a detainee wants to tell me what I want to hear so he can get out of jail … you know what I’m saying.”

The US government accuses Iran of arming insurgents in neighbouring Iraq, and refuses to rule out military action against Iran for its alleged attempts to build nuclear weapons. In the past the US has been accused of using exaggerated and fabricated evidence to build its case against Iraq prior to the war.

The Observer article, which has not been picked up by any other mainstream news agency (but reported in Iran), also quoted a military intelligence officer as saying that “The message is, ‘Got to find a link with Iran, got to find a link with Iran.’ It’s sickening.”

Friday, January 25, 2008

B2B Trade Area of Taipei Game Show, criticized by trade buyers last year, but accompanied with 2008 Taiwan Digital Content Forum, moved to the second floor at Taipei World Trade Center for world-wide participants with a better exchange atmosphere this year.

Not only local OBMs (Softstar Entertainment, Soft-World International Corp., International Games System Corp., …, etc.) but also companies from New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea showcased different specialists with multiple styles. Especially on South Korea, participated members from G? Trade Show (Game Show & Trade, All-Round, aka Gstar) showcased gaming industry of South Korea and the G? upcoming at this November with brochures.

In the 2-days Digital Content Forum, world-class experts not only shared industry experiences, members from Taiwan Gaming Industry Association also discussed and forecasted marketing models for gaming industry. With participations from governmental, industrial, and academical executives world-wide, this forum helps them gained precious experiences of digital content industry from several countries.

According to the Taipei Computer Association, the show and forum organizer, the digital content industry in Taiwan was apparently grown up recent years as Minister of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China Steve Ruey-long Chen said at Opening Ceremony yesterday. Without R&Ds from cyber-gaming, and basic conceptions from policies and copyright issues, this (digital content) industry will be fallen down in Taiwan. If this industry wanted to be grown up in sustainability, gaming OBMs in Taiwan should independently produce different and unique games and change market style to market brands and games to the world.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Police in the West Midlands in England today said nearly 200 kilograms worth of drugs with value possibly as great as £30 million (about US$49 million or €36 million) has been seized from a unit in the town of Brownhills. In what an officer described as “one of the largest [seizures] in the force’s 39 year history”, West Midlands Police reported recovering six big cellophane-wrapped cardboard boxes containing cannabis, cocaine, and MDMA (“ecstasy”) in a police raid operation on the Maybrook Industrial Estate in the town on Wednesday.

The seized boxes, which had been loaded onto five freight pallets, contained 120 one-kilogram bags of cannabis, 50 one-kilogram bags of MDMA, and five one-kilogram bricks of cocaine. In a press release, West Midlands Police described what happened after officers found the drugs as they were being unloaded in the operation. “When officers opened the boxes they discovered a deep layer of protective foam chips beneath which the drugs were carefully layered”, the force said. “All the drugs were wrapped in thick plastic bags taped closed with the cannabis vacuum packed to prevent its distinctive pungent aroma from drawing unwanted attention.” Police moved the drugs via forklift truck to a flatbed lorry to remove them.

Detective Sergeant Carl Russell of West Midlands Police’s Force CID said the seizure was the largest he had ever made in the 24 years he has been in West Midlands Police and one of the biggest seizures the force has made since its formation in 1974. “The impact this seizure will have on drug dealing in the region and the UK as a whole cannot be underestimated”, he said. “The drugs had almost certainly been packed to order ready for shipping within Britain but possibly even further afield. Our operation will have a national effect and we are working closely with a range of law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in this crime at whatever level.”

Expert testing on the drugs is ongoing. Estimates described as “conservative” suggest the value of the drugs amounts to £10 million (about US$16.4 million or €12 million), although they could be worth as much as £30 million, subject to purity tests, police said.

Police arrested three men at the unit on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug. The men, a 50-year-old from Brownhills, a 51-year-old from the Norton area of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and one aged 53 from Brownhills, have been released on bail as police investigations to “hunt those responsible” continue. West Midlands Police told Wikinews no person has yet been charged in connection with the seizure. Supplying a controlled drug is an imprisonable offence in England, although length of jail sentences vary according to the class and quantity of drugs and the significance of offenders’ roles in committing the crime.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Over 2,000 cattle died throughout eight counties in Nebraska last week as a result of an unexpected heat wave. Officials estimate that number could grow as other counties report in.

According to Tim Reimer of the United States Farm Service Agency, cattle nearing slaughter are difficult to keep cool due to their large size, and thus more vulnerable to heat. The animals are provided large quantities of water, but they sometimes stop drinking under the effects of the high temperatures.

The deaths worsened the situation for farmers, who were already struggling with high feed costs. “There were some that took some pretty substantial hits financially”, Reimer said.

Temperatures in eastern portions of the state soared into the mid 90s. The heat wave was preceded by an unusually cool spring, so the animals didn’t have a chance to acclimatise. Terry Mader, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, reported that “Cattle, as well as other animals and humans, usually need two to four weeks to adapt to the changes in environmental conditions we observed last week. Sunny days with temperatures above the mid-80s can be stressful, particularly if there is no wind and humidity is above 50%.”

Similar heat waves occurred during the 1990s, when thousands of cattle were lost. Mader noted, “There’s no opportunity for them to get prepared […] Normally, you’ll have one to two days in a heat wave to get prepared.”

Mature cattle are generally worth US$1,000 apiece.