November 20th, 2018

Explosives pass security checks in Slovakia, arrive in Ireland in failed test

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Explosives pass security checks in Slovakia, arrive in Ireland in failed test

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

A failed test of security at Slovakia’s Poprad airport resulted in a 49 year-old man unknowingly carrying plastic explosives from Slovakia to Dublin, Ireland. The explosives were concealed so well that the man did not find them when he unpacked his bag at his apartment.

On Saturday, Slovak authorities planted contraband in passengers’ luggage at Poprad’s Poprad-Tatry Airport without the knowledge of passengers. Seven of the eight items were recovered, while an eighth made its way to an apartment in Dublin. Slovak authorities realised on Tuesday that one package of explosives were missing and notified Irish authorities who searched the man’s apartment.

During the search, parts of Dublin’s inner-suburbs were sealed off and evacuated causing disruption to residents and businesses. At the apartment authorities found the package and arrested the man under anti-terrorism laws; he was later released without charge after it was established he was innocent.

The man, a Slovakian electrician had been living in Ireland for some time. He was holidaying in Slovakia over Christmas.

Ireland’s Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform issued a statement saying, “Following contact earlier today from the Slovakian authorities with the Airport Police at Dublin Airport, members of the Garda Síochána have recovered a small quantity of explosive material from the luggage of a passenger who had flown into Dublin from that country on Saturday last.”

The package contained 90 grams (3 ounces) of the plastic explosive RDX, also known as cyclonite or hexogen. According to Commandant Gavin Young, a spokesperson for the Irish Defense Forces, “On their own, this type of explosive does need to be combined with other elements to make it into a bomb, but obviously this type of high-grade explosive is potentially extremely dangerous.”

Slovakia’s Minister for the Interior Robert Kalinak has apologized to Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern over the incident and expressed his “profound regret”. Irish authorities are now investigating the incident and the government has ordered for a full report to be delivered.

The Irish Opposition has expressed concern about the incident. Labour Party spokesman Joe Costello said “This incident led to the closure of roads in the area, the evacuation of businesses and the lives and safety of residents could have been put at risk. We also need to know what protest the government is going to make about this breach of our security.”

November 20th, 2018

Natural Hypertension Remedy 8 Tips To Naturally Lower High Blood Pressure

By Joe Barton

Why should you be concerned about your hypertension (also called high blood pressure) problem? Read these alarming facts about the ‘silent killer’ of hypertension?

About 73 million people in the U.S. have high blood pressure. That means about one and three adults have this deadly disease. And 1 in 4 are not aware of it.

High Blood Pressure was listed as a primary or contributing cause of death in about 300,000 deaths in the U.S. last year alone.

If this disease runs in your family or you have been diagnosed with this disease, you have done the right thing to educate yourself on how you can cure this disease naturally. Unfortunately, we live in a ‘McDonald’s’ era where we want it now and we want it fast. Therefore, we have medications that can slow our heart to ease pressure or widen our arteries to alleviate the pressure on our heart. But all these medications do is show us a better score with NEVER curing the problem of hypertension.

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Learn about a natural hypertension remedy that works to completely cure this deadly disease with simple health tips. And be part of the millions who are prioritizing their health, shedding pounds and curing hypertension naturally with NO medications.

8 Tips to Naturally Lower High Blood Pressure

1.B.M.I. Body Mass Index is a great place to start. I always tell my customers to start with finding out your B.M.I. This neat tool (Google B.M.I.) will help you realize how much you should weigh for your body type. I get e-mails everyday telling me how our natural hypertension remedy has helped people shed up to 80 pounds and helped them get to their healthy ‘normal’ weight. And most importantly, cure hypertension.

2.Cardio Exercise- Do you know what you should be doing when you exercise. Most people don’t have a clue. Our company’s natural health doctor would recommend starting with cardio exercises to get your heart stronger and speed up your metabolism (weight shedder). Some simple cardio exercises you should try our walking, stair stepping, biking, elliptical machines and swimming.

3.What about fats! Some fats are good and some are horrible for you. Do you know what fats you should be eating? Stay away form saturated fats and Trans fats (look at the labels). Polyunsaturated fats are healthy fats which are in fish, nuts and soybeans. Our report gives a detailed list of foods to eat and stay away from.

4.Smoking! I don’t want to tell you how to live but do this one for your family! Quit smoking! Smoking puts plaque on your artery walls which contributes to hypertension problems. Not to mention it causes cancer and eventually death.

5.Alcohol! You should moderate your alcohol consumption to one glass per day. And if you are wondering about wine, read the next one!

6.Wine! Drink 3-4 glasses of wine per week. Research from all around the world has shown that wine lowers high blood pressure. And besides, you might actually enjoy the taste after the second bottle.

7.Garlic! You can either buy a supplement or go to the grocery store and get the real thing. This herbal remedy has been proven to lower high blood pressure. If you take the supplement, I suggest to never exceed the recommended daily dose.

8.Vitamins! What vitamins should you be taking if you suffer from hypertension? Our natural health doctor recommends taking at least 5 key vitamins that are often neglected in most people’s diets. Or you can always go for the poor man’s vitamin- a simple multi-vitamin.

About the Author: Joe Barton has partnered with a medical doctor who specializes in natural health, bringing you a natural hypertension remedy that is guaranteed to work. Start your natural treatment today!

bloodpressurenormalized.com/hbp1/

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November 19th, 2018

Sharapova knocked out of Wimbledon 2005 in semi-final

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Sharapova knocked out of Wimbledon 2005 in semi-final

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Scorecard
Williams Sharapova
First set
6 6
Tiebreaker
7 2
Second set
6 1

Defending Wimbledon Ladies Singles champion Maria Sharapova has been beaten by Venus Williams in the 2005 semi-final by two sets to love. In the final game, Williams came to match point twice, just as rain began to fall. Both that and the preceding game were hard fought, with a succession of deuces.

The other semi-final, between Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsey Davenport, will resume tomorrow after rain forced an early end to play today. The match will resume with Davenport a break up in the final set. The previous sets both went to tie-breaks after both players exchanged breaks of serve.

Both matches were played at the same time – Williams and Sharapova on Centre Court, with Davenport and Mauresmo on No.1 – after early rain meant players could not get onto the courts until late afternoon.

November 19th, 2018

News briefs:May 21, 2010

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News briefs:May 21, 2010
Wikinews Audio Briefs Credits
Produced By
Turtlestack
Recorded By
Turtlestack, Mikemoral
Written By
Turtlestack, Diego Grez
Listen To This Brief

Problems? See our media guide.

[edit]

November 18th, 2018

Wikimania 2008: MediaWiki use in the U.S. Department of State

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Wikimania 2008: MediaWiki use in the U.S. Department of State
This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The last day of the Wikimania 2008 conference saw Saturday morning sessions on a variety of topics. Wikinews attended a presentation by Eric M. Johnson from the United States Department of State. Eric, a former NCO in the U.S. Marines, is the lead for the Knowledge Management Action team in the department’s Office of eDiplomacy, and involved in department’s use of Web 2.0 technologies for knowledge management. This includes blogs, and the key focus of his talk, Wiki culture in the U.S. Department of State.

Eric opened his presentation with an introduction to the U.S. State Department, one of the oldest agencies of the American government, which today has around 57,000 employees worldwide. When formed in the 18th century their offices and diplomatic staff operated largely autonomously due to lack of ability to communicate rapidly. By the mid-20th century this had changed with the advent of telegraph lines, and changed again with the Cold War and security concerns bringing to the fore the well-known term, “need to know”.

Now, in the 21st century, the volume of internal communication generated by the department is a staggering 1,800,000 cables a year, 1.5 billion emails, production of around 500,000 print volumes, and maintenance of approximately one thousand websites. Both internal and externally facing.

A pilot project was set up, Diplopedia, a MediaWiki wiki running on the department’s internal network, which outside of the department of defence is one of the largest private networks operated by the U.S. government.

A grassroots effort, this project to promote knowledge sharing differs from the well-known Wikipedia in that it does not allow anonymous edits. There are around 1,000 registered users who have contributed over 4,400 pages. Integration with the Department of State’s internal search engine prioritises results from the wiki, increasing the popularity of the site such that it has received over 650,000 page views. Like Wikipedia, users are required to provide sources for entered information at the foot of the article, and users are warned that it is a starting point and not an authoritative source of information. Data on visa requirements and information from other static department sites has been incorporated into the wiki.

Eric described the project as just reaching critical mass and attracting increasing interest from other departments. Among the ingredients leading to the success of the project were the cultural change with increasing awareness of the technology from Wikipedia, the formation by the community of a welcoming committee, and the taking on of roles to carry out tasks such as drafting. A number of staff act as “gardeners” tending to the wiki content, keeping it fresh, and well cross-referenced. The continual updating is a novel concept to many of their employees.

Unlike Wikipedia, and many other projects using MediaWiki, none of the Diplopedia pages are locked or protected. This even includes their main page. To date there have been none of the content disputes that have been an issue on Wikipedia, and the use of the wiki to replace traditional websites which are far more time consuming to maintain is seen as a logical extension of the project.

Carried out with no outside help, and by learning from others’ mistakes, the department has adopted mechanisms for assuming that contributions are well-intentioned, and has a body for oversight in the event of a dispute.

With the success of the project, eDiplomacy plans to introduce a separate, classified wiki. They will also expand the effort to compile biographies of foreign leaders, which was pioneered by the U.S. missions in Italy and Germany. This effort has proven valuable when combined with a version of the site available on portable devices such as the Blackberry.

The future holds moves to seek more support from management and integration with their primary authentication system. Among the features on the main page to keep the project interesting to staff is a “Diploquiz” which poses a weekly trivia question which can be answered from somewhere within the wiki.

November 18th, 2018

Short Sale Questions

By Julie Jalone

The main stream media continues to be rich with stories about the struggling real estate market, here in the Sacramento area as well as across the country. They generally revolve around the increasing number of foreclosures, the mortgage crisis and now some of the government programs that may or may not be any help. What I am not seeing is any mention of short sales. In June 2007 I published, “Short Sale: Road to Riches?” to answer some questions I was receiving at the time on my website, www.jalone.com.

Today, the number of short sales in the Sacramento real estate market has increased exponentially and I continue to get calls and emails asking what they are, can we do one, and are they a good way to buy a house?

What is a short sale?

A short sale is when the lender on the property will accept less than the full amount due on their loan when the property is sold. Lenders will accept a lower dollar amount to avoid the expense and time of a foreclosure. Generally a short sale occurs when the loans on a property are greater than what the property can be sold for. The short sale is an alternative for a home owner who no longer can afford to keep their mortgage payments current and desires to avoid foreclosure or even bankruptcy.

Is a short sale a way for me to sell my home?

The easy answer to this question is it depends on your individual situation? Here are the three primary criteria that would constitute eligibility to seek a short sale to avoid foreclosure.

1. The value of your home is less than what you owe. This means if you sold the house you could not get a price high enough to pay off the combined mortgages.

2. You cannot make the mortgage payments and are in default. Generally lenders will not accept a short sale offer if the payments are current.

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3. You must be experiencing a financial hardship and be able to provide the lender with documentation that support your inability to make payments or cover the short fall if the property was sold. This means you cant have assets that could be converted to cash to pay the lender. Some examples of events that lead to financial hardship are loss of a job, divorce, medical situations and death. It cant be that you have decided to stop making payments because the house is no longer worth what you paid for it.

If your situation matches the above criteria a short sale may be a good option for you to avoid foreclosure and/or bankruptcy but there are other considerations.

Before contacting a realtor to set up a short sale make sure you understand what it may cost you, how it will affect your credit rating and the tax consequences.

Lenders who are willing to accept a short sale offer will insist that the seller, their borrower, not get any proceeds from the sale. A title company will prepare a draft closing statement as part of the short sale presentation to the lender that shows all available proceeds from the sale going to the lender and no cash for the borrower. What this means is that there are likely going to be some selling expenses that will need to be paid for. These may include pest inspections and repair, and other maintenance repairs that need to be completed to satisfy the buyer. Often these can be avoided but now always.

A short sale will negatively impact your credit report. Although there are some industry professionals that say having a short sale on your record is not as bad as a foreclosure they do agree that some creditors looking at your report will not differentiate between the two. Clearly it will leave a large blemish. The good news here is that as more and more borrowers go through foreclosure and short sales the more common it will be on credit reports and the impact less sever.

There may or may not be tax consequences as some lenders will issue you a IRS form 1099 reporting the amount they forgave as income to you. The recently passed Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 may protect you from having to report forgiven mortgage debt as income but it is always best to consult a tax accountant or attorney.

Should we buy a home listed as a short sale?

Dont be scared off by a short sale property as they may turn out to be a great deal for you. But you should know a few things before deciding to make a short sale purchase.

In a conventional home sale, you generally only need the sellers acceptance of your offer to go forward with the transaction. With a short sale the lenders approval is also needed for the sale to close and this can take up to six to eight weeks. Yes, lenders are moving faster today with short sales but there is still a process and most lenders wont even discuss a short sale until there is an offer to review. What this means is it could be two months before you know if your offer is going to be accepted or worse not accepted.

Pending receipt of a complete short sale package the first thing a lender will do is have the property appraised. They are looking for market value and you cannot expect them to settle for a fire sale price. This is where the listing agent can be a big help for the buyers as it will be their analysis as why the offer is fair in light of current market dynamics that goes to the lender.

Lenders will not approve any requests for repair or provide closing costs to buyers. From their perspective it is an as is sale. Often in short sales the sellers, who have been unable to make mortgage payments, have not maintained the property and it may be in need of repair. This may mean a buyers request for repair will be declined by the seller because they do not have the financial resources to comply and are not going to receive any sale proceeds.

Bottom line, be prepared for short sales to take more time and know the purchase will more than likely be as is with you making needed repairs after the purchase is closed.

If you are going to make an offer on a short sale property there are some items that can protect and provide you with some sense of how the transaction is proceeding.

1. Make sure your Realtor (now required in California) outlines the short sale contingency terms and conditions. This essentially sets the time frame for approval by the lender which may or may not help.

2. Be sure to include a provision in the contract that allows you to withdraw at any time up until the lender approves the sale. This way you can get out of the contract without penalty if it looks like the transaction has little chance of closing.

3. Request from the seller confirmation of submission of the short sale package and confirmation that the lender has received the package.

4. Even though the sale is more than likely going to be as is it is essential for the buyer to conduct a home inspection. You want to know what you are buying and what repairs will need to be made.

5. Make sure there is a pest report and understand the seller may not be able to make Section 1 repairs resulting from wood destroying pests.

6. Be sure to discuss issues and questions with your Realtor before proceeding, preferably someone who has some experience with short sales. I recommend only making a short sale purchase with a experienced and knowledgeable agent. There is too much at risk for you and the listing agent represents the seller’s interests, not yours.

The answer to, is a buying a short sale property right for you depends on your situation. From a buyers perspective there have been some good deals done but they take time, require a level of cooperation not normally found between buyers and sellers, a good Realtor willing to work hard and a responsive lender.

A significant issue with short sales is you are dealing with a seller and a lender and often when the transaction fails you are weeks and even months into it before you end up walking away or the lender takes a position you cant live with. If you are interested in pursuing short sale acquisitions, talk it over with your Realtor and find out if your objectives can be met. If you think it is a way to get a deal, Id suggest there are much easier ways.

About the Author: Julie Jalone is an experienced professional Realtor serving buyers and sellers of residential real estate in the Greater Sacramento area including Placer and El Dorado counties. Some of the communities served by Julie include Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, Loomis and Granite Bay. To learn more about Julie, visit her website,

jalone.com

, where you will find additional articles, current listings, home search, news, resources for buyers and seller

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November 16th, 2018

Mumbai officials demolish 39K shanties; 200K homeless

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Mumbai officials demolish 39K shanties; 200K homeless

December 25, 2004

Officials in Mumbai, India, demolished over 6,000 shanties today in a push to eradicate the capital city’s slums. In total, 39,000 shanties have been flattened, displacing over 200,000 people, in the city’s biggest-ever demolition drive, which began in early December.

When complete, over 2 million people are expected to be displaced. After wiping out the least desirable shanties, next in line for demolition are the illegal ‘well-off’ shanties and neighborhoods, according to the legal and bureaucratic motions that have been executed toward cleaning up Mumbai’s appearance by lowering the dominance of shanties, which make up 62 percent of Mumbai’s housing.

“As far as eye can see, there are mounds of wood, tin and tarpaulin, the remains of 6,200 illegal homes, flattened by a heavy excavator running on tank-like tracks and giant motorised claws,” the Indian Express reported about today’s destruction. [1]

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that citizens would see a change within six months. “Every chief minister likes to be remembered, and I’m no exception,” said Deshmukh, who despite having an empty exchequer, also announced that Rs 31,000 crore will be spent on new roads, sea links and rail lines. [2]

November 16th, 2018

On the campaign trail in the USA, June 2016

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On the campaign trail in the USA, June 2016

Sunday, July 17, 2016

The following is the second edition of a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2016 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: the effect of the Brexit vote on the US presidential election is examined; a well known businessman and sports team owner pitches his candidacy for vice president; and Wikinews interviews the winner of the American Independent Party California primary.

Contents

  • 1 Summary
  • 2 Brexit’s impact on the US presidential election
  • 3 Cuban makes vice presidential pitch
  • 4 California American Independent Party primary winner speaks to Wikinews
  • 5 Related articles
  • 6 Sources

November 15th, 2018

Brookfield, Wisconsin man charged with stealing toilet and urinal parts

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Brookfield, Wisconsin man charged with stealing toilet and urinal parts

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Yesterday, the Milwaukee County district attorney charged Cory J. Feerick, a 33-year-old from Brookfield, Wisconsin, with five misdemeanor counts of stealing US$35,000 worth of flush valves from fast food restaurants and university toilets and urinals. If convicted, Feerick could spend to 9 to 45 months in jail, and pay between US$10,000 and US$50,000 in fines.

Initially arrested in late January following a local news television story on the thefts, he stands accused of stealing parts worth between US$300 and US$600 each from locations that included Milwaukee Area Technical College, Waukesha County Technical College, ITT Technical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, the Pick ‘n Save on Capitol Drive in Brookfield, and the Arby’s also located on Capitol Drive in Brookfield.

Feerick was dubbed the “Backpack Bathroom Bandit” by the media because video showed him committing the thefts while wearing a backpack. The thefts reportedly took place in September and October of last year, with several area police departments involved in investigating them.

November 15th, 2018

Rower Tuijn halfway across Pacific in record attempt

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Rower Tuijn halfway across Pacific in record attempt

Monday, July 9, 2007

Dutch adventurer Ralph Tuijn has reached the halfway point of his attempt to be the first person to row across the Pacific Ocean unaided.

The 16,000 kilometre journey from the coast of Peru to the seaside city of Brisbane, Australia, the widest section of the Pacific, has never been crossed absolutely unaided by a rower, and Tuijn says just nine people have rowed it even with assistance.

Tuijn reached the central point of his crossing, an insignificant point of water in the ocean, 111 days after setting off from Peru in March. He has been making good progress, and has since cut his estimated time of arrival in Brisbane by a month.

The Dutchman, who now expects to reach his destination on October 20, has kept in touch with those tracking his movements through daily internet postings from his laptop computer, including his wife Winnie. His boat, the Zeeman Challenger, is a seven-metre custom plywood vessel.

Tuijn has overcome a variety of obstacles to reach the halfway point. He is suffering from the constant attention of sharks, who often bump his boat and disrupt his attempts at sleep. One particular shark, dubbed ‘Gomulka’ by Tuijn, has been trailing the adventurer’s boat for extended periods.

He has also accidentally burnt himself when he spilled hot water on his foot whilst trying to make coffee, apparently also from a shark ‘bump’. He is also forced to manually pump water for cooking and drinking after his automatic water pump broke down not long into his journey.

“Physically everything feels great and I can’t help feeling that I could do this for 500 days, but mentally it’s still hard to be on your own for such a long time”

His vessel has no motors or sails, but relies on his physical rowing power to move. The boat does have a solar power system to provide energy for his laptop, a telephone and a global positioning system.

Tujin, who is raising money for a children’s home in Mumbai, India, is rowing at an average speed of 58 kilometres each day. His diet consists of freeze-dried foods and fish, which are keeping him physically well-conditioned despite tiring mentally.

Tuijn is a serial adventurer and experienced rower. He has rowed across the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, as well as cycled across Russia and the icy terrain of Greenland.

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