text:
Wikinews interviews former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith on his latest run for office

June 21, 2009 Earlier this month, former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith announced his candidacy for Florida's open Senate seat in the 2010 midterm election. Smith, who was one of New Hampshire's senators for two terms — which amounts to twelve years — said he is running for office in his recently adopted home state due to his disapproval of the direction in which America is headed. He is very optimistic about the conservative change he can potentially bring to Congress which is currently controlled by liberal-minded members of the Democratic Party.

Smith has, however, some major hurdles to overcome in the Republican primary. He is facing two well known politicians who have been elected to statewide office numerous times. The chief of these is current Governor Charlie Crist, a moderate-to-liberal who is currently leading in the polls. The second is former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio, a center-right 38-year-old who has been criticizing Crist for months on the support he has shown for President Barack Obama's controversial economic stimulus package.

Despite trailing both in recent polls, Smith believes that the polls themselves are irrelevant as the primary is over one year away. He is devoting the remainder of this summer to building up grassroots and financial support for his campaign.

Wikinews reporter Joseph Ford had the opportunity to speak with him about his run this past weekend.

"We must deliver a message that appeals to all members of the Republican Party, and that will appeal to Floridians in the general election," Smith proclaimed. "I am in this race because I want to make my experience as a U.S. Senator available to my fellow Floridians."

Interview
'''Why are you running for the U.S. Senate? What motivated you to do this?'''

 * Like many other Floridians, I have been watching with dismay as the cascade of economic crises
 * has unfolded over the last couple of years. The bursting real estate bubble, the credit crunch, the transformation of Wall Street and the failure of American industry have shaken America to its core.  We as a nation are still struggling
 * to understand the causes of these events and judge whether the hasty actions that our government has undertaken in response to these events will do more harm than good.

 * In addition, we now face a nuclear threat from North Korea and, soon, Iran. The Taliban is threatening both Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Terrorism continues to plague the free world.

 * As our country confronts this period of economic and international turmoil, the Republican Party seems to have lost its way. Many Republicans feel disenfranchised by the spending orgy and big government approach of the Bush administration.  Republicans are uneasy with the current administration’s approach to these economic and international issues, yet appear to lack the leadership to provide solutions.

 * We are in the midst of a violent storm. I can help lead Florida and the nation through this tempest.

'''For many years, you lived in New Hampshire and represented it in the Senate. Seeing as you moved to Florida relatively recently, many are wondering if you know the state well enough to run for office in it. Do you feel that you are familiar enough with the issues many Floridians are facing such as skyrocketing unemployment, rising taxes and the foreclosure crisis?'''

 * I am no stranger to Florida. My family and I have been enjoying Florida’s beautiful beaches and natural treasures for the last 40 years. My wife and I have lived in Sarasota for over six years.

 * Since we made Florida our home, I have worked in the real estate business and served as a founding director of a community bank. In addition, I spent three years as President of The Everglades Foundation, a non-profit organization headquartered in Miami, whose mission is restore and preserve the Everglades through community awareness and public-private partnerships.

 * I have enjoyed being a leader on issues affecting Floridians during much of my career. When I was the Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I worked with Governor Jeb Bush to restore the Everglades.  I sponsored legislation funding Everglades restoration and guided the bill to passage by the Senate and the House.  In addition, I am a proven advocate for issues about which Floridians feel strongly, including:
 * fiscal prudence,
 * protecting veterans and strengthening the military,
 * recognizing the importance of the space industry to the future and security of the country,
 * healthcare reform, and
 * protecting our state’s and our nation’s borders.
 * I have faced the issues of unemployment, taxes and foreclosures in Congress throughout my career in Congress. When I was elected to the House of Representatives in 1984, the country was just starting to recover from the recession of the early 1980’s.  I participated in the response to the Savings and Loan crisis, which was similar to the current crisis in cause, if not in scope.  When I became a U.S. Senator in 1990, it was not long before the country was in the midst of another recession and housing crunch.  Though it proved to be the prelude to a much worse crisis, I also was involved with the actions taken by Congress to respond to the bursting of the technology stock bubble earlier this decade.

 * It is hard for me to sit on the sidelines during these troubling times. Republican Floridians need a seat at the table while the President and Congress are making decisions that will affect the future of our nation.  As a senior senator, I can provide that seat at the table.

'''Your opponents in the Republican primary are current Governor Charlie Crist and former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio. Why do feel that you are a better candidate than either of them?'''

 * I have great respect both for Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio. They have served the state well.  My entrance into this race is a unique opportunity for Florida to elect a non-incumbent that has the knowledge and experience provided by two terms in the Senate.

 * I started my career in the U.S. Congress in 1984. I fought alongside President Reagan on cutting taxes and strengthening the military.  My service on the Armed Services Committee for 12 years, where I was the Chairman of the Strategic Forces and Acquisition and Technology Subcommittees, provided me with critical knowledge in the areas of missile defense, intelligence and other national security issues.

 * With all due respect, Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio do not have the experience to provide leadership on the national and international issues that Florida and America face.

'''Both Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio are currently raising funds and building up grassroots support for their respective campaigns. They also hold commanding leads over you in recent polls. Are you going to begin campaigning aggressively this summer? Do you believe that you will be able to substantially increase your standing in the polls anytime in the foreseeable future?'''

 * I formally announced my candidacy in the first week of June, and I have just begun to actively campaign and raise funds throughout the state. I admit that I will have to work hard to achieve name recognition among Floridians equivalent to Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio. The election is over a year away, and polls this far out are not relevant.

If you are able to win the primary, do you feel that you will be able to defeat U.S. Representative Kendrick Meek, the presumptive Democrat nominee, in the general election?

 * As a preliminary matter, it is up to the Democratic Party to select their nominee. I can defeat whomever the Democratic Party nominates.  I believe I can unite the Republican Party in Florida, and united we will prevail.

If elected to the Senate, what will be your top priorities upon taking office?

 * In 2010, we must deliver a message that appeals to all members of the Republican Party, and that will appeal to Floridians in the general election. I believe this message encompasses:
 * fiscal prudence – not just tax breaks, but controlling the growth of government,
 * ensuring that our veterans are protected and that our military has the resources it needs to protect our country,
 * reestablishing the integrity of the financial system,
 * expediting the disposal of government ownership interests in American business,
 * working with healthcare providers and other experts to achieve the goal of affordable health insurance, while ensuring that the government is not in the business of providing healthcare and that patient choice comes first,
 * fixing Social Security so that it is self-funded, as it was originally intended, and
 * revising our immigration policies so that they actually work.
 * These are tough issues to face, and Florida needs judgment and understanding to accomplish these goals.

'''Florida, a state whose legislature and executive offices are dominated by Republicans, went for Democrat Barack Obama by a slight margin in the 2008 presidential election. Do you believe that your staunchly conservative views, which contrast the moderate-to-liberal ones of Governor Crist and the center-right ones of Speaker Rubio, will appeal to Florida's largely centrist voting base?'''

 * Too often political pundits use labels ranging from “staunchly conservative” to “liberal” to inflame tensions within the party, cause division and divert our focus from the pressing issues that face the country. We need to put aside the political scales and come together to solve the tough problems facing the nation.

 * That being said, I proudly identify myself as a conservative. I have two decades of votes in the House and Senate to demonstrate my conservative leadership on economic, national security and social issues.  In addition, I also have been a leader on many environmental issues, such as Everglades restoration, for which I have been nationally recognized.

Have you received any notable endorsements so far in your campaign?

 * I have not sought nor received any endorsements. I stand on my record, rather than on recommendations of others.

If your standing in the polls is no more favorable than it is now by the end of this year, will you consider running for another office instead of U.S. senator, such as State senator or representative?

 * No. I am in this race because I want to make my experience as a U.S. Senator available to my fellow Floridians.  If they decide I should stay retired from the Senate, then I will stay retired from public life entirely.

Is there anything else you would like to say about you or your campaign to the thousands reading this right now?

 * I know many of you do not know me, and have not yet had a chance to meet me. I invite you to visit my website to read more about my campaign.


text:
Talk:Wikinews interviews former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith on his latest run for office

Below is an email transcript of the interview:

Subject: Re: Wikinews Email Interview From: Bob Smith 	(Add as Preferred Sender) Date:	Wed, Jun 17, 2009 9:10 am To:	joseph.ford@wikinewsie.org

Joseph, Thank you for your interest. Attached please find the answers to your questions. Please feel free to contact me if you would like any additional information. Best regards. Bob Smith

Why are you running for the U.S. Senate? What motivated you to do this?

Like many other Floridians, I have been watching with dismay as the cascade of economic crises has unfolded over the last couple of years. The bursting real estate bubble, the credit crunch, the transformation of Wall Street and the failure of American industry have shaken America to its core. We as a nation are still struggling to understand the causes of these events and judge whether the hasty actions that our government has undertaken in response to these events will do more harm than good.

In addition, we now face a nuclear threat from North Korea and, soon, Iran. The Taliban is threatening both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Terrorism continues to plague the free world.

As our country confronts this period of economic and international turmoil, the Republican Party seems to have lost its way. Many Republicans feel disenfranchised by the spending orgy and big government approach of the Bush administration. Republicans are uneasy with the current administration’s approach to these economic and international issues, yet appear to lack the leadership to provide solutions.

We are in the midst of a violent storm. I can help lead Florida and the nation through this tempest.

For many years, you lived in New Hampshire and represented it in the Senate. Seeing as you moved to Florida relatively recently, many are wondering if you know the state well enough to run for office in it. Do you feel that you are familiar enough with the issues many Floridians are facing such as skyrocketing unemployment, rising taxes and the foreclosure crisis?

I am no stranger to Florida. My family and I have been enjoying Florida’s beautiful beaches and natural treasures for the last 40 years. My wife and I have lived in Sarasota for over six years. Since we made Florida our home, I have worked in the real estate business and served as a founding director of a community bank. In addition, I spent three years as President of The Everglades Foundation, a non-profit organization headquartered in Miami, whose mission is restore and preserve the Everglades through community awareness and public-private partnerships. I have enjoyed being a leader on issues affecting Floridians during much of my career. When I was the Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I worked with Governor Jeb Bush to restore the Everglades. I sponsored legislation funding Everglades restoration and guided the bill to passage by the Senate and the House. In addition, I am a proven advocate for issues about which Floridians feel strongly, including: fiscal prudence, protecting veterans and strengthening the military, recognizing the importance of the space industry to the future and security of the country, healthcare reform, and protecting our state’s and our nation’s borders. I have faced the issues of unemployment, taxes and foreclosures in Congress throughout my career in Congress. When I was elected to the House of Representatives in 1984, the country was just starting to recover from the recession of the early 1980’s. I participated in the response to the Savings and Loan crisis, which was similar to the current crisis in cause, if not in scope. When I became a U.S. Senator in 1990, it was not long before the country was in the midst of another recession and housing crunch. Though it proved to be the prelude to a much worse crisis, I also was involved with the actions taken by Congress to respond to the bursting of the technology stock bubble earlier this decade.

It is hard for me to sit on the sidelines during these troubling times. Republican Floridians need a seat at the table while the President and Congress are making decisions that will affect the future of our nation. As a senior senator, I can provide that seat at the table.

Your opponents in the Republican primary are current Governor Charlie Crist and former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio. Why do feel that you are a better candidate than either of them?

I have great respect both for Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio. They have served the state well. My entrance into this race is a unique opportunity for Florida to elect a non-incumbent that has the knowledge and experience provided by two terms in the Senate.

I started my career in the U.S. Congress in 1984. I fought alongside President Reagan on cutting taxes and strengthening the military. My service on the Armed Services Committee for 12 years, where I was the Chairman of the Strategic Forces and Acquisition and Technology Subcommittees, provided me with critical knowledge in the areas of missile defense, intelligence and other national security issues.

With all due respect, Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio do not have the experience to provide leadership on the national and international issues that Florida and America face.

Both Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio are currently raising funds and building up grassroots support for their respective campaigns. They also hold commanding leads over you in recent polls. Are you going to begin campaigning aggressively this summer? Do you believe that you will be able to substantially increase your standing in the polls anytime in the foreseeable future?

I formally announced my candidacy in the first week of June, and I have just begun to actively campaign and raise funds throughout the state. I admit that I will have to work hard to achieve name recognition among Floridians equivalent to Governor Crist and Speaker Rubio. The election is over a year away, and polls this far out are not relevant.

If you are able to win the primary, do you feel that you will be able to defeat U.S. Representative Kendrick Meek, the presumptive Democrat nominee, in the general election?

As a preliminary matter, it is up to the Democratic Party to select their nominee. I can defeat whomever the Democratic Party nominates. I believe I can unite the Republican Party in Florida, and united we will prevail.

If elected to the Senate, what will be your top priorities upon taking office?

In 2010, we must deliver a message that appeals to all members of the Republican Party, and that will appeal to Floridians in the general election. I believe this message encompasses:

fiscal prudence – not just tax breaks, but controlling the growth of government, ensuring that our veterans are protected and that our military has the resources it needs to protect our country, reestablishing the integrity of the financial system, expediting the disposal of government ownership interests in American business, working with healthcare providers and other experts to achieve the goal of affordable health insurance, while ensuring that the government is not in the business of providing healthcare and that patient choice comes first, fixing Social Security so that it is self-funded, as it was originally intended, and revising our immigration policies so that they actually work. These are tough issues to face, and Florida needs judgment and understanding to accomplish these goals.

Florida, a state whose legislature and executive offices are dominated by Republicans, went for Democrat Barack Obama by a slight margin in the 2008 presidential election. Do you believe that your staunchly conservative views, which contrast the moderate-to-liberal ones of Governor Crist and the center-right ones of Speaker Rubio, will appeal to Florida's largely centrist voting base?

Too often political pundits use labels ranging from “staunchly conservative” to “liberal” to inflame tensions within the party, cause division and divert our focus from the pressing issues that face the country. We need to put aside the political scales and come together to solve the tough problems facing the nation.

That being said, I proudly identify myself as a conservative. I have two decades of votes in the House and Senate to demonstrate my conservative leadership on economic, national security and social issues. In addition, I also have been a leader on many environmental issues, such as Everglades restoration, for which I have been nationally recognized.

Have you received any notable endorsements so far in your campaign?

I have not sought nor received any endorsements. I stand on my record, rather than on recommendations of others.

If your standing in the polls is no more favorable than it is now by the end of this year, will you consider running for another office instead of U.S. senator, such as State senator or representative?

No. I am in this race because I want to make my experience as a U.S. Senator available to my fellow Floridians. If they decide I should stay retired from the Senate, then I will stay retired from public life entirely.

Is there anything else you would like to say about you or your campaign to the thousands reading this right now?

I know many of you do not know me, and have not yet had a chance to meet me. I invite you to visit my website to read more about my campaign.

PAGE 1 --WNewsReporter (talk) 06:27, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Interview
Why exactly are you referring to yourself and not Wikinews? Seems to be a bit more confusing that way...? SirMoo (talk) 15:52, 21 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Wikinews is referred to in the first question. Normally I use my initials in the interviews I hold. This is just to specify, if ever I need to refrence the article later on, that I was the interviewer. --WNewsReporter (talk) 15:58, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Template talk:Recent interviews

Invalid template argument in call of Extension:DynamicPageList
The call of the extension DynamicPageList contains: mainspace=main Unfortunately the current revision of DynamicPageList does not complain about misspelt parameters but silently ignores them.

I think what was meant is  namespace= as leaving the namespace empty means: "use the main namespace".

Algorithmix (talk) 06:12, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Recent interviews


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Template talk:United Kingdom

Invalid arguments in call of Extension:DynamicPageList
The call of extension DynamicPageList contains: orcer=addcategory Unfortunately the current revision of DynamicPageList does not complain about misspelt parameters but silently ignores them.

The correct spelling is: ordermethod=categoryadd

(which is the default anyway). The same error was on the US template and it may occur also on other similar templates as they probably were copied some time ago. Could someone please check this?

There is a new release of Extension:DynamicPageList (DPL) available (which does proper parameter checking). As soon as Wikinews is upgraded all current parameter errors will show up and bother people. They would see long error messages created by DPL and they would associate the problem with the new version (instead of the old ;-)

-- Algorithmix (talk) 06:25, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

title: Template talk:United Kingdom


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User talk:Jeremyarnold

It's generally considered bad form to welcome yourself. Someone would have done so once you'd made an edit or two. --Brian McNeil / talk 10:16, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Jeremyarnold


text:
Talk:Greenland assumes self rule Sunday

The date in the title is today, should be replaced with such and not encyclopedic style. --Brian McNeil / talk 10:17, 21 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I put the date, as it is a repeating national holiday on the date of June 21.

But will re-title. SriMesh | talk  18:41, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Tasks completed
Attended to tasks: when it says things like "celebrates" and "historic occasion" it's a bit rah-rah and creates the appearance of bias. SriMesh | talk  18:41, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Greenland assumes self rule Sunday


text:
Wikinews:Briefs/June 20, 2009

June 20, 2009

About
The Audio Wikinews - News Brief is a two to five minute audio newscast summary of each day's top stories on Wikinews.

Also available as a RSS feed to subscribe to. News brief RSS

Intro
From Wikinews, the free news source, this is the Audio Wikinews Brief for Saturday, June 20, 2009. I'm James Pain, and here are today's current stories.

Two British hostages feared dead after bodies found in Iraq
The British government has said it fears that two bodies handed back by the Iraqi authorities are those of two Britons captured in 2007. The foreign secretary, David Miliband said that forensic tests were currently being conducted to determine whether they were them. In May 2007, four security guards and an IT consultant, Peter Moore, were kidnapped at the Ministry of Finance by armed militants from the Islamic Shiite Resistance. Foreign office sources have suggested that the bodies have been dead for several months.

Tropical depression dissipates, impacts Mexico
Tropical Depression One-E, the first tropical system of the 2009 Eastern Pacific hurricane season, was declared dissipated by the National Hurricane Center at 5 pm PDT yesterday, but its remnants continue to impact Mexico. Ahead of the storm, advisories were posted for coastal areas. Shelters were prepared, but because the storm never broke tropical depression status, they were not opened. TD 1-E marked the earliest date in the year that a tropical cyclone had impacted the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Usually, such storms don't strike the area until August.

EPA declares 'emergency' asbestos cleanup in Montana town
For the past ten years, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been overseeing the asbestos clean-up in the small town of Libby, Montana, which has been on the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List since 2002. On Wednesday, the Obama administration declared Libby and the immediate area a "public health emergency". "Today is the day that after years of work we were able to succeed in getting this [emergency declaration] done," Senator from Montana Max Baucus said, speaking at the EPA press conference. "We will continue to push until Libby has a clean bill of health."

Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon Championships
Rafael Nadal, the 2008 Men's Singles winner at the Wimbledon Championships, announced today his withdrawal from the 2009 Championships because of a knee injury caused by his tendinitis. The formal announcement came after he had played the second of his warm-up matches.

Outro
This has been a News Brief from Wikinews.org, the free news source, and has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license. Until next time, thank you for listening and good day.

title: Wikinews:Briefs/June 20, 2009


text:
Wikinews:Audio/Briefs/Archive/2009

=Audio Wikinews Briefs for 2009=

title: Wikinews:Audio/Briefs/Archive/2009


text: Talk:Violence in Iran increases

title: Talk:Violence in Iran increases


text:
Wikinews:Dynamic quiz/quiz/2009/26

Welcome to the Wikinews World News Quiz, giving you a chance to test your knowledge on this week's news.

Last Updated: June 21, 2009

title: Wikinews:Dynamic quiz/quiz/2009/26


text:
Sebastian Vettel wins 2009 British Grand Prix

June 21, 2009

Red Bull Racing driver, Sebastian Vettel won the FIA Formula One 2009 Santander British Grand Prix from pole at the Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, England. His teammate, Mark Webber, came second.

As the current leader of this season Jenson Button started sixth on the grid of his home Grand Prix, his Brawn-Mercedes teammate Rubens Barrichello took third joining Red Bull's drivers on the podium.

Felipe Massa came fourth for Ferrari) despite starting eleventh. Jenson Button came very close to Massa and and Nico Rosberg from Williams but was unable to pass them and came only sixth gaining three points for the Brawn team.

Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) closed the top eight.

Trulli's teammate, Timo Glock came ninth with Giancarlo Fisichella on his back - a good result for the Force India team.

Jenson Button still leads the drivers' standings with 64 points so far, 23 points ahead of his teammate and 25 ahead of Vettel. The constructor's championship is topped by Brawn GP with more than a hundred points, Red Bull follows 30.5 points behind.

This year the British Grand Prix was expected to be the last held at Silverstone as Donington Park continues reconstruction to meet Formula One next year.


text:
User talk:78.39.225.18

Thanks for experimenting with Wikinews. Your test worked, and has now been reverted or removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do, since testing in articles may disrupt the site's working and will be reverted quickly. Thank you. Tempodivalse [talk]  16:00, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:78.39.225.18


text:
User talk:Zeropps

Welcome
Tempodivalse [talk]  16:00, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Zeropps


text:
Tensions continue to rise between North Korea and United States

June 23, 2009 Tensions have started to rise again between the United States and North Korea. North Korea claims that the United States have planned to start an atomic war against them due to President Barack Obama recently reaffirming the nuclear protection of South Korea.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry official on Saturday stated that Seoul has proposed five-way talks with the U.S., China, Russia and Japan to find a way to deal with the threats given by North Korea. The United States and Japan agreed to attend the 5-way talks but China and Russia have yet to respond.

Singapore has stated that if the Korean flagship the Kang Nam is carrying a weapon that is in violation of the United Nations sanctions it would take immediate action. According to a senior member of the United States military, the USS John McCain is ready to intercept the Kang Nam.


text:
Wikinews:Audio Wikinews/Cheat Sheet

=Spoken Wikinews=

Script
This is a spoken Wikinews article from wikinews.org, the free news source. Recorded by Real Name.

Title of article. Day and Date of article (e.g. Monday July 20th 2009).

Text of article, read verbatim and in its entirety.

This recording was made on Current Date at Current time in UTC UTC and has been released under the.

Uploading
Commons Upload form

Click basic upload form

Publishing
Remove Spoken Wikinews in progress. You many also use Audio box if for any reason Audio box 2 doesn't work in an article for formatting reasons.

Archiving
Add Entry

!2009-06-20 !James Pain !Article Name !

title: Wikinews:Audio Wikinews/Cheat Sheet


text:
Template talk:Quiz

This does not permit images in the quiz! --Brian McNeil / talk 17:35, 21 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes it does, just put the image in the same part as the text of the question. See for example: Dynamic_quiz/quiz/2008/52 and Dynamic_quiz/instruct. Bawolff ☺☻ 07:27, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Pipe character
Almost at the end of the code, I think one pipe character is useless. I mean  seems more accurate than the current code. I can't understand why there are 3 pipe characters after the second #if, while the usual and maximum is 2. According to here the usual way of applying this function is  Americophile (talk) 21:11, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

 * The extra pipe shouldn't do any harm, but I agree, it shouldn't serve any useful purpose either. Looks like a typo.  --Pi zero (talk) 18:30, 20 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I wrote this such a long time ago I don't really remember, but I agree with Pi Zero's analysis that it was probably a typo. Bawolff ☺☻ 19:05, 20 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I removed it. A MERICOPHILE  20:35, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Quiz


text:
Talk:Sebastian Vettel wins 2009 British Grand Prix

Review
--Brian McNeil / talk 17:49, 21 June 2009 (UTC)


text:
Comments:Violence in Iran increases

Fox news was reporting yesterday that why where dropping water mixed with chemicals from helicopters.--66.229.17.49 (talk) 19:55, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

That is the stupidest shit i have ever heard no wonder it came from fox news.

title: Comments:Violence in Iran increases


text:
Comments:Aside from Semicon Taiwan 2007 - An attraction of "exiderdome" by Siemens

Ken Cheng is not Director of Automation and Drives Department, Siemens Limited, but of a subdivision. He is a liar and asshole!


text:
User:Cyclonebiskit

Please see my wikihome userpage for any info regarding my works here on Wikipedia. Thanks :)

title: User:Cyclonebiskit


text:
Wikinews:Briefs/June 21, 2009

June 21, 2009

About
The Audio Wikinews - News Brief is a two to five minute audio newscast summary of each day's top stories on Wikinews.

Also available as a RSS feed to subscribe to. News brief RSS

Intro
From Wikinews, the free news source, this is the Audio Wikinews Brief for Saturday, June 21, 2009. I'm James Pain, and here are today's current stories.

Violence in Iran increases
In the past day the violence has increased in Iran. It started this morning with a suicide bombing attack on a shrine of Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The bombing was most likely planned at the shrine to anger Iranians because they revere Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as the founder of the Islamic Republic. The attacker and another person were killed in the blast, which succeeded in wounding eight pilgrims. There have also been reports that an innocent elderly man and younger female were both shot and killed. These are two of over 150 deaths, according to unconfirmed reports, over the last seven days.

Wikinews interviews former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith on his latest run for office
Earlier this month, former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith announced his candidacy for Florida's open Senate seat in the 2010 midterm election. Smith, who was one of New Hampshire's senators for two terms — which amounts to twelve years — said he is running for office in his recently adopted home state due to his disapproval of the direction in which America is headed. He is very optimistic about the conservative change he can potentially bring to Congress which is currently controlled by liberal-minded members of the Democratic Party. Wikinews reporter Joseph Ford had the opportunity to speak with him about his run this past weekend. To read this exclusive wikinews interview, goto wikinews [dot] org.

Sebastian Vettel wins 2009 British Grand Prix
Red Bull Racing driver, Sebastian Vettel won the FIA Formula One 2009 Santander British Grand Prix from pole at the Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, England. His teammate, Mark Webber, came second. As the current leader of this season Jenson Button started sixth on the grid of his home Grand Prix, his Brawn-Mercedes teammate Rubens Barrichello took third joining Red Bull's drivers on the podium. Felipe Massa came fourth for Ferrari) despite starting eleventh. Jenson Button came very close to Massa and and Nico Rosberg from Williams but was unable to pass them and came only sixth gaining three points for the Brawn team.This year the British Grand Prix was expected to be the last held at Silverstone as Donington Park continues reconstruction to meet Formula One next year.

Outro
This has been a News Brief from Wikinews.org, the free news source, and has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license. Until next time, thank you for listening and good day.

title: Wikinews:Briefs/June 21, 2009


text:
Tropical Storm Andres is designated

June 22, 2009

Shortly after being classified, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) have upgraded Tropical Depression Two-E to Tropical Storm Andres, the first named storm of the 2009 Pacific hurricane season. The storm is currently located off the coast of Mexico.

The cyclone originated in a large low pressure system that gradually organized and strengthened throughout the day on Sunday.

Peak winds associated with Andres are estimated at 60 mph, with gusts to 75 mph. The cyclone is tracking towards the west-northwest at 5 mph. Barometric pressure at the storm's center has fallen to 995 mbar.

Forecasters say the system might affect the southwestern Mexican coast during the next few days. Accordingly, tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches have been posted by the government of Mexico. The possibility exists for the storm to attain hurricane status within the next day or two.

Interests in the region are advised to monitor the storm's progress over coming days.

title: Tropical Storm Andres is designated


text:
Wikinews talk:Briefs/June 20, 2009

Review
--Brian McNeil / talk 09:21, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Please add CAT:Wimbledon Championships and link it at the first instance
editprotected acagastya 05:03, 14 July 2017 (UTC)
 * We don't categorize briefs by topic. As for linking... well, I see no reason not too, but since this evidently doesn't already link keywords in the body, that'll be a significant operation.  --Pi zero (talk) 11:29, 14 July 2017 (UTC)
 * There are many like this one. Wikinews_Shorts:_April_2,_2007. acagastya 13:43, 14 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Briefs are different from shorts. Shorts are news items, like ordinary articles but shorter.  Briefs are summaries of other articles that we've published.  As I understand it, briefs are not categorized by topic because if one wanted to know what we have about a topic, one would want to see our article, rather than a summary of our article.  --Pi zero (talk)

❌ --SVTCobra 22:30, 7 January 2018 (UTC)

title: Wikinews talk:Briefs/June 20, 2009


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UK MPs elect John Bercow as new Speaker of the House of Commons

June 22, 2009

Following the resignation of Speaker Michael Martin, which took effect yesterday, members of the House of Commons, the lower house of the British Houses of Parliament, today elected John Bercow as the new Speaker of the House.

Voting
The three rounds of voting were held as a secret ballot of all Members of the Commons. Each round eliminated from subsequent rounds any candidates with less than 5% support, with the winner to be the candidate who, in any round, achieved a simple majority of the vote. This was a new system for electing the Speaker, and the first time that the Speaker has been elected by secret ballot.

In the first round of voting, there were 10 candidates: Margaret Beckett, Sir George Young, Ann Widdecombe, Sir Alan Beith, John Bercow, Richard Shepherd, Sir Michael Lord, Sir Patrick Cormack, Sir Alan Haselhurst, and Parmjit Dhanda. All candidates made brief speeches in the chamber at 13:30 UTC (14:30 BST) immediately before the vote.

Four candidates were eliminated by this round — Cormack, Dhanda, Lord, and Shepherd — leaving six candidates to go forward to the second round of voting.

In the second round, Widdecombe was eliminated, leaving five candidates to go forward to the third. All candidates apart from Bercow and Young lost ground. Young gained more votes than Bercow, but Bercow remained in the lead.

In the third round, all remaining candidates except two, Bercow and Young, withdrew from the contest, after an appeal to do so from the Father of the House, Alan Williams. This appeal was motivated by the length of each round of voting, which required 600 ballot papers to be printed, marked, and counted.

In both the first and second rounds of voting, one ballot was spoiled. Although the ballot was secret and the identity of the person whose ballot it was could thus not be confirmed, John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, claimed it was him. "None of them have got a strong reforming agenda," said Mann. "Some of the speeches were shocking, after what we have been through recently."

Election
After confirmation by a unanimous acclamation, with no "noes" voiced, John Bercow became the Speaker-elect for the 157th Speaker of the House of Commons. In accordance with tradition, he was physically dragged to the chair. At 19:31 UTC (20:31 BST) he delivered a 5 minute speech, paying tribute to the other candidates, before sitting in the chair itself. In that speech he paid tribute to his mother, pointing out that she had taken a keen interest in proceedings.

He also said: "I want just to say this about the responsibility of the office. The Speaker has the responsibility to immediately and permanently cast aside all his or her previous political views. I said it —". Here he was interrupted by members anticipating the end of his sentence, and calls to "come and join the Labour Party". He resumed "I said it and I meant it. My promise to this house is to be completely impartial, that is what it's about. I will do my best faithfully, honourably and respectfully to do my best in the months ahead."

His first three acts as Speaker-elect were to call upon the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Leader of the Opposition David Cameron, and the leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg to speak. Brown and Cameron both commented upon Bercow's hobby of playing tennis, with Brown observing that Bercow had now permanently taken the position of umpire. The Prime Minister said that on the matter of Bercow's casting aside of his past political views, "some of us thought you had done that some time ago". Cameron also pointed out that Bercow was the first Jewish Speaker to be elected by the House in its history.

Cameron and Clegg both reminded Bercow of the comments made by Parmjit Dhanda, who had said in his candidacy speech earlier that afternoon: "All of the 10 (candidates) is capable of doing the job but … do we all really get it? Do we understand the level of crisis out there. Do we understand the level of public’s anger."

Royal Approbation
Bercow's election as Speaker elect remained subject to Royal Approbation. This was not given in person by the Queen.

At 20:51 UTC (21:51 BST), the Lords Commissioners assembled on the Woolsack in the House of Lords, and summoned the House of Commons via Black Rod, who in turn summoned the Commons at 20:54 UTC (21:54 BST). The clerk of the House of Lords read the Royal Commission, authorizing the Lords Commissioners to speak in the name of the Queen. At 21:01 UTC (22:01 BST) the Lord Chancellor Jack Straw, spoke for the Lords Commissioners and declared Bercow to be the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Bercow's first act as Speaker, after returning to the Commons and formally notifying it of events in the Lords, at 21:06 UTC (22:06 BST) was to call upon the Leader of the House, Harriet Harman. She proposed a motion, carried by acclamation without dissent, for the Commons to call upon the Queen to elevate the previous Speaker, Michael Martin, to the House of Lords. Bercow's second act was again to call upon Harman, who proposed a motion to adjourn, again carried by acclamation without dissent.


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Talk:Tropical Storm Andres is designated

Please replace Hurricane with Hurricane 2009 Infobox. Thanks! – Juliancolton  | Talk 21:40, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅ --Jcart1534 (talk) 23:50, 6 July 2009 (UTC)


text: Wikinews talk:Briefs/June 21, 2009

title: Wikinews talk:Briefs/June 21, 2009


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Talk:UK MPs elect John Bercow as new Speaker of the House of Commons

Original reporting
Some of this, such as the lengths of the speeches, the interruptions to Bercow's speech, and the comments from the party leaders, was from my direct observation of the live television feed from the House. Uncle G (talk) 20:37, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Hansard
The Hansard links are correct as of right now, but since they link to daily reports will require update on the 23rd of June. Uncle G (talk) 21:52, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Hansard was not a source, here, by the way. It's not verbatim.  It also has a 3 hour time lag.  My time lag as can be seen, was quite a lot shorter. Uncle G (talk) 23:01, 22 June 2009 (UTC)


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Comments:Wikinews interviews former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith on his latest run for office

Bob Smith has been very active on a number of Florida issues-from protecting the Everglades to leading the fight to keep Elian Gonzalez here in the US. I don't know of V.O. Key's old statement is true that Florida politics is every man for himself. I do know that many Floridians have no idea who any of the candidates are besides Gov. Crist. Smith is an underdog to be sure but every now and then weird things happen in Florida politics (Steve Pajic getting the Dem nomination for governor back in 86, Claude Kirk becoming governor back in 66). I think Smith will be able to get enough of a grassroots operation going, especially when conservatives realize that Marco Rubio is not with them as much as they think he is (for example on immigration). It will be a major task for Smith to raise money. He could barely do it in a small state when he held an important committee chairmanship. It will be even tougher now.


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Wikinews:Briefs/June 22, 2009

June 22, 2009

About
The Audio Wikinews - News Brief is a two to five minute audio newscast summary of each day's top stories on Wikinews.

Also available as a RSS feed to subscribe to. News brief RSS

Intro
From wikinews, the free news source, this is the audio wikinews brief for Monday, June 22 2009. I'm James Pain. As of 22:17 UTC of this day there are no new or updated news stories.

Wikinews Promo
But What is special about Wikinews? Anyone can contribute, and articles are written collaboratively for a global audience. We strive at all times to meet the policy of using neutral point of view, ensuring our reporting is as fair as possible.

Furthermore, everything we write is cited, to maintain the highest standards of reliability.

Our policy is to omit opinion and commentary in our articles — if you want to tell the world what you think, try blogging.

Wikinews, like its big sister Wikipedia, is run and funded by volunteers donating their time and money, and has no advertising. Decisions are made collectively, and we like to negotiate. Discussion is encouraged, and there are plenty of people around to learn from.

Everything that's done on the wiki can be undone, so it's very friendly to new users. The interface is designed to be easy to use and easy to learn.

Like most publications, Wikinews has its own style guide, which helps its contributors make their efforts blend in harmony to produce a finished look. The style guide also contains a lot of tips and grammar guides. But you can pick up 99% of what you need to know just by looking at existing articles.

Not only does wikinews contain extensive up-to-date news stories, we conduct our own exclusive interviews. Wikinews' lastest interview is of former Republican U.S. Senator Bob Smith who announced his candidacy for Florida's open Senate seat in the 2010 midterm election earlier this month. Read this exclusive interview, conducted by wikinews reporter Joseph Ford, at wikinews dot org.

Wikinews also incorpriates Spoken Wikinews articles, audio recordings of selected wikinews articles that are free to download and listen to.

Also don't forget our world new quiz, updated every week with topical question from the news the previous week. Think you remember which Russian city has a historical building collapse in? Or which plane model did China Eastern Airlines sign a contract to buy twenty of. Click the 'World News Quiz' link on the left hand side of wikinews to have a go.

Outro
This has been a News Brief from Wikinews.org, appologies for the lack of news. This recording has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license. Until next time, thank you for listening and a very good day.

title: Wikinews:Briefs/June 22, 2009


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Washington Metro collision kills nine, injures many

June 23, 2009

At least nine people have been reported killed in a serious collision incident between two metro trains in Washington, D.C., United States.

The collision which occurred on the Red Line between Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations of the city's Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority during the early evening (1700 local time) is also reported to have injured a number of other passengers. The fatalities include the operator of one of the trains. At 7:58 pm local time, two more fatalities were confirmed, resulting in a total of six deaths. In a statement to media, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty was quoted as saying "With the four confirmed fatalities, it is my preliminary understanding that this would be then the deadliest accident in the history of our Metro train transit system," at a news conference following the incident.

The Metro's general Manager John Catoe was also quoted as saying "We are extremely saddened that there are fatalities as a result of this accident, which has touched our Metro family. We hope to have more details about the casualties later today. Our safety officials are investigating, and will continue to investigate until we determine why this happened and what must be done to ensure it never happens again,"

The cause of the collision incident is still unclear, although it has been suggested by some sources that a derailment or head on collision may have led to the incident.


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Talk:Washington Metro collision kills nine, injures many

Anyone in Washington Metro area ?

http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2619 gives Lisa Farbstein at 202-***-****. as a media contact, I'm assuming it's a D.C. Number? Sfan00 IMG (talk) 23:51, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Do NOT post people's phone numbers here - media contact or otherwise. Fine to highlight that a report lists a media contact, but not to stick the phone number so obviously on this page. People should read a report before getting in touch with the contact person. --Brian McNeil / talk 13:37, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Update
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8114003.stm says now 9 killed - as of placing this message 62.56.114.176 (talk) 09:10, 23 June 2009 (UTC) http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/23/washington.metro.crash/index.html CNN also confirms Irunongames   play  10:13, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * This should have been a new article development, not an update to this one. This article now has sources dated after publication - that's not supposed to happen. --Brian McNeil / talk 13:35, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Patrick forgot to bump this when he published. Look at the time stamp of the peer review. This should have been a June 23 article all along. --SVTCobra 15:14, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

 * I'm pretty sure the fat mess knows all about this. 86.40.204.218 (talk) 17:47, 23 June 2009 (UTC)


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User talk:Frederiktuemand

I am sorry but we can't help you shut down Facebook. --SVTCobra 00:50, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

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User talk:ZStoler

--SVTCobra 00:59, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

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Sarkozy says burqa is "not welcome" in France

June 23, 2009 The President of France Nicolas Sarkozy Monday, in a speech to a joint session of both houses of the Parliament of France, stated that the burqa "will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic". Sarkozy's address was the first such address by a President of France to the Parliament since 1873. Both houses met as the Congress of France in the Château de Versailles. It was permitted by a revision to the Constitution of France that was enacted in 2008. (Previously, rules based upon the doctrine of the separation of powers had prevented Presidents from addressing the Congress directly except in order to propose revisions to the Constitution.)

In the speech, which was boycotted by the Green and Communist parties, Sarkozy said that "We cannot accept, in our country, women imprisoned behind a mesh, cut off from society, deprived of all identity. That is not the French Republic's idea of women's dignity." He stated that the burqa "is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience."

Sarkozy's remarks come in the wake of his government proposing last week a Parliamentary commission to draft legislation barring the wearing of burqas by Muslim women outside of the home, and of calls by French parliamentarians, including GDR member André Gerin, and government ministers, such as Fadela Amara, for an inquiry into Muslim dress codes.

Sarkozy himself stated that he was calling for a public debate. "A debate has to take place and all views must be expressed.", he said. "What better place than Parliament for this?" Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, stated that some Muslims themselves also believed the burqa to be a symbol of submission, and stated that Sarkozy's remarks were "in keeping with the republican spirit of secularism". He views the reported increase in the use of the burqa by Muslim women in France as a move towards radicalization of Islam in the country, and calls instead for an "open and convivial Islam that allows people to live side by side".

Sarkozy's remarks continue an on-going controversy about Islamic dress in France. Feelings run strong in France over what is called "laïcité" a concept, enshrined in the Constitution, that embodies components of secularism, separation of churches from the state, division of the private and public spheres, preventing the government endorsement of any single religion, and (according to its critics) anti-clericalism, religious intolerance, and the endorsement by default of erstwhile official religions at the expense of the religions of immigrant communities.

Sarkozy called for the public debate to focus on these issues, and not to become a debate over Islam itself. "We must not fight the wrong battle," he said. "In the Republic, the Muslim faith must be respected as much as other religions."

France is home to Western Europe's largest Islamic community, with some five million Muslims living there.


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Talk:Sarkozy says burqa is "not welcome" in France

Review revision 838407
This is one of the cases where I wish Category:Culture and entertainment were separate categories. --SVTCobra 02:11, 23 June 2009 (UTC)


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User talk:Vicenarian

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Authorities arrest 7 state officials over Mexico childcare centre fire

June 23, 2009 Authorities in the Mexican state of Sonora arrested 7 state officials, from the state finance department, yesterday; and charged them with negligent homicide for the deaths of 47 children in a fire at a daycare centre that occurred earlier this month.

In 2005, the Hermosillo, Mexico daycare was advised to carry out repairs in a safety inspection went unheeded. It is felt that negligence contributed to the massive fire Friday afternoon, June 5, taking the lives of 47 toddlers and infants and injuring the majority of the 142 children being cared for by six staff who were also hospitalized. The ABC Daycare Centre installed a brightly coloured tarpaulin as a ceiling below the high roof. In 2005 the owners were advised to remove the tarp, and equip emergency exits and the main exit with larger and wider regulation sized doors. The daycare owners did not make the recommended changes, and continued to receive contracts to operate and also passed subsequent safety inspections including one a couple of weeks before the fire.

Officials have determined that the fire began in the neighboring warehouse which was used by the northern Sonora state Finance Department and contained license plates, tires, and paperwork. Nobody was working Friday and this warehouse was locked with the air conditioner left running. The air conditioner overheated, short circuited and melted its aluminum housing which began flames in the paperwork below. This neighboring warehouse had no fire alarms, fire extinguishers nor water sprinklers installed.

"The fire was caused by the overheating of an air conditioner due to continuous and prolonged use," said Eduardo Medina Mora, the Attorney-General.

The fire and smoke rose above the wall connecting the daycare and Finance Department warehouse, and was trapped in the daycare between the tarp and the warehouse ceiling. The daycare fire alarms were installed below the tarp, and did not alert the staff to the fire trapped above the tarp until the tarp itself caught fire which instantly dispersed smoke and flames onto sleeping infants below. One of the emergency fire exits was padlocked shut and could not be used the day of the fire by rescue teams.

Seven finance department officials have been arrested on negligence and charges of negligence are to be laid also against seven others. "They are employees and officials with the Finance Department who have a direct responsibility for the warehouse where the fire started," said Abel Murrieta, the state Attorney General.

The fire chief of Hermosillo has been removed from his position.

The wives of two high ranking state officials operated the privately run daycare under contract from the Social Security Institute. These two state officials have resigned. The owners will be charged with negligence by the state's Finance Department. The Social Security Institute will also begin a civil lawsuit against the owners. The head of the Social Security Institute has stepped down and others have been suspended.


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Comments:Sarkozy says burqa is "not welcome" in France

Your women would be wearing 'signs of submission' too if mainstream christians actually practiced anything anymore. Honestly, the worst part is that their clothes have to be dark. Those things are hot!

Whatever happened to usury being forbidden, anyway? —Sleepless in Seattle

This is crazy to fight the burqa on this basis. Is not the production and distribution of pronographic materials far more de-humanizing to women? What man who sits drooling over a picture of a naked women respects her as a person??? Yet pornographic materials are not banned because of the abuse that arises from their use. The abuse of the burqa by some can no more be considered an excuse to ban it.

Do not compare it to pornography, first of all, the women in 95% of porn voluntarily agree to it, they are not going to face any consequences if they do not. As well I do not think you should be comparing the rights of a human being to sex, 2 completely different things, pornography exists as of human nature, burqas exist as a result of overly jealous/misogynistic men. -John T.

 * Its closer to 99.999% of women in porn agreeing to it, and if they change their mind they are free to complain.

I'm no fan of sarkozy, but whatever his true motivations for this are, his given reason is pretty good. While I'm all for people wearing religious ornaments (makes it easier to avoid them), the burqa is more about control than religion.

I completely agree that the burqa is a symbol of the Sharia repression of women. What I do not agree with is making an item of clothing illegal in the name of liberty. That's just hypocritical. --84.13.181.121 (talk) 23:22, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Exactly. The government may be able to impose certain restrictions on dress (public nudity isn't legal in the entirety of the "free" world), but to say that any such restrictions are in the name of liberty is nonsense.68.228.80.106 (talk) 10:02, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Finally
I'm happy for this, and hope many other countries (including Islamic ones) to follow the example. It's one thing religious freedom, and another to oppress women under the pretext of religious freedom. It's not voluntary when women are coerced to wear the burqa by subtle means, and if only it was like that, but in many cases they are forced against their wishes under dire penalties.

I don't think so...
Wearing the burqa/niqab in (most non-islamic) countries that follow Sunni Shariah is not forced. It is a choice because the burqa/niqab is not fard. Many blogs by women of the faith of Islam state this point. Whatever happened to religious freedom? Who is the French council to decide that wearing something is a sign of opression? To be quite honest, advertising weight loss pills, skanky dress models, and the guilt tripping advertising media is a sign of oppression in my opinion. Spousal abuse    in the form of being controlled mentally and physically is not religion. It exists in all forms. Jealousy, control-freaks...etc is not only what you see as the media painted picture of Islam. If anyone wants to call ANYONE a control freak, it should be Sarkozy. For one, he is creating a threat that women (if they do not remove their burqa's) they will be treated differently...forcing them to appeal. Who is he to tell someone what they can and cannot wear? Has he ever ASKED a niqab/burqa wearing woman about wether they were oppressed? What about the reverts/converts to Islam who wear burqa and aren't married? Are they forced into "oppression" too? What about male-dominated fashion corporations and fashion magazines? Do they tell women what to wear? What they should look like? Should the fashion industry be not "welcome" either? 69.118.145.80 (talk) 09:37, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Burqas help liberate women!
The Burqa is not a sign of subservience, but a separation. The point of the Burqa is to allow women to travel in public without the eyes of strange men falling upon them. Culturally the separation of Genders plays a large roll in Islam and also includes a dizzying array of limitations on men as well. If the Burqa is banned then women who adhere to this belief will not be able to leave the home, as being seen by strange men would cause great shame.
 * That's a fucked-up view of the world. If you feel ashamed that a member of the opposite sex looks at you then you need to see a shrink. I'd just go the whole hog and drop religious beliefs as an exemption on the DSM-IV; then we could see the Pope and Jimmy Swaggart locked up in the same nuthouse. --Brian McNeil / talk 12:06, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

That's not what the Burqa is for...to hide. It's to limit the amount that men can see, not to be ashamed. If a woman wearing the burqa is ashamed to be seen by men, then why are so many of them married? 69.118.145.80 (talk) 02:05, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
 * It's about STRANGE men seeing you, not men in general. It was a lot easier before human beings developed urban environments, where communities were much smaller and running into a man with whom you were not close with was a lot less likely.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.61.23.242 (talk) 15:49, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
 * And next we'll be going back to having eunuchs to guard their honour. Right? --Brian McNeil / talk 16:34, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Nothing about this makes sense!
--98.116.101.225 (talk) 22:06, 4 July 2009 (UTC)
 * 1) Is a man coming to the rescue of women really what feminism is supposed to be about?
 * 2) This is extreme and unnecessary. Does he realize that the flipside of this would be making it mandatory for women to HAVE to wear a burqa? Both ideas are equally stupid.
 * 3) Does he realize this could be construed as an effort to marginalize a religious movement? ...And force them to assimilate?
 * 4) Does he realize he might be forcing his own feminist ideals on women that might not want them?

Good! About ime SOMEONE looked after women's rights, and finally did not accept the facade of abuse that they exused with religion —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.107.112.127 (talk) 06:36, 26 July 2009 (UTC)


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Former Scientology executives say leader David Miscavige abused staff

June 23, 2009

The Florida newspaper St. Petersburg Times published a series of investigative articles on Scientology on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, including exclusive interviews with former high-ranking executives within the organization. Four former Scientology executives stated that they witnessed the Church of Scientology's leader David Miscavige physically strike staff members numerous times.

The former executives speaking out include Mike Rinder, who served as head of the organization's legal and public relations division the Office of Special Affairs, Mark Rathbun, former Inspector General of the organization's Religious Technology Center, Tom De Vocht, former manager of the organization's operations in Clearwater, Florida, and Amy Scobee, a former Scientology staff member in California who assisted in construction of Scientology's Celebrity Centres. Rathbun supervised the Church of Scientology's response to the Lisa McPherson case, after she died under Scientology care in 1995.

Rinder said the impact was more one of humiliation than physical pain: "The issue wasn't the physical pain of it (being assaulted by Miscavige). The issue was the humiliation and the domination. ... It's the fact that the domination you're getting — hit in the face, kicked — and you can't do anything about it." Rathbun asserted Miscavige would assault executives during conferences. "Regularly David Miscavige would in the middle of a conference physically assault, punch, slap or grab by the neck a number of executives," said Rathbun.

De Vocht said that Miscavige would "lose it" if he did not hear a satisfactory answer from his executives: "If it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear, he'd lose it. If it was contrary to how he thought, he'd lose it. If he found it to be smart aleck, or it was a better answer than he had, he would lose it." Scobee was critical of Miscavige's actions while calling himself a "religious leader". "You cannot call yourself a religious leader as you beat people, as you confine people, as you rip apart families. If I was trying to destroy Scientology, I would leave David Miscavige right where he is because he's doing a fantastic job of it," she said.

In its preparation for the investigation, The St. Petersburg Times staff met with attorneys and representatives for the Church of Scientology for 25 hours. According to the paper Miscavige was sought out by reporters for an interview from May 13, but they were informed he would not be available prior to July. Miscavige e-mailed the paper on Saturday, complaining that he was not interviewed. "I am at a loss to comprehend how the St. Petersburg Times can publish a story about me and the religion I lead without accepting the offer to speak with me," wrote Miscavige.

Church of Scientology representatives denied the statements made by their former executives, and claimed the individuals left the organization after being demoted. They claimed the former executives were motivated by feelings of revenge and only speaking to the press for financial gain.

Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis acknowledged violence occurred within the ranks of Scientology management, but claimed that it was Rathbun and not Miscavige who carried out the assaults. In comments to the Associated Press, Davis referred to the statements made by former executives about Miscavige as "absolutely, unquestionably false". Scientology representative Lyman Spurlock stated "What they want to do is extort money from the church. ... and right now the St. Pete Times is their extortion vehicle... you're just their lackeys. They're using you."

The St. Petersburg Times reported Monday on the attention received by the investigative articles in other media. The Associated Press carried the story, and it was included in over 177 television and news websites including MSNBC, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as blogs and media sites for The Huffington Post, Gawker, L.A. Weekly, and The Village Voice. By Monday the first article in the series had received over 3,600 "diggs" at the social news website Digg and generated over 420 comments at the site. A post at the "On Deadline" blog of USA Today called the investigation "a fascinating three-part series". "Juicy stuff from a mainstream newspaper coming out and hitting Scientology hard," said biologist and University of Minnesota, Morris associate professor PZ Myers in a post to his blog Pharyngula. "I'm sure there are meetings going on in Clearwater right now where they're plotting revenge," wrote Myers.


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Comments:Former Scientology executives say leader David Miscavige abused staff

=What do you think of the statements made by the former Scientology executives?=

04:08, 24 June 2009 (UTC)04:08, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Why is it that we continue to pay any attention to these people? Cults are everywhere. One of my greatest embarrassments in being a human being is our "need" to find "meaning" in life. How far we'll go in concocting "meaning" out of nothing is summed up in cults like Scientology. All religions are evil. All self-less acts of kindness are good. All religion-like organizations which encourage or require cash or kind contributions should be closed down, their leaders arrested and convicted of fraud. As punishment, they should be made to strip naked in the town square then forced to repay society by requisitioning all their assets for the benefit of those social agencies which actually do make a difference in the lives of the needy. When they finally break down and repent of their ego and narcissism, they can be thanked and released.

I´ve been part of the Church myself, I´ve heard my own seniors opinions about private meetings with Mr. Miscavige and being terrified when called for meeting with him. They wouldn´t say specifics, afraid of being called "dissafected" with the Church leader, but I know that those comments, half words and "you don´t want to know" were enough to me to know he was harsh with them. I also know their reactions with lower rank staff, after a meeting with DM. Directions and orders issued to lower staff were off the rails, and sometimes impossible to comply with.

We have been days without sleep, not allowed to go home until certain quotas met. I have been once, 3 days without going home to sleep, except to take a shower, and called back on my cell phone when I was 1 hour off. Woken up during the night every 2 or 3 hours, wihtout allowing me to have a full night sleep. I went almost crazy, and only wanted to run away to be able to sleep. If I would disconnect my phone, then a security guard would come to my room to get me on the phone. NUTS!

I am sure scientology beliefs and technology is good and works, however, the way DM is ruling this organization and the way he makes his liutenants rule their "troops" is crazy. I can asure you that the lower staff are the most dedicated and goodhearted people I ever met in my life and many are still there, because they believe in Scientology. I did endure a long time, because I believed in the tech and helped me a lot. But one day I couldn´t take it any more and said: THAT´S ENOUGH.

I can sadly say, Scientology works but the organization leader and the ways the staff is treated, will make this fantastic tech dissapear. I hope something changes, and fast.

An ex-staff, who is afraid of publishing his name.


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User:Sjorskingma

nl: Hoi, ik ben Sjorskingma. Ik ben gebruiker op de Nederlandse Wikipedia. Ik ben het beste te bereiken voor overleg op mijn Nederlandse overlegpagina. en: Hi, I´m Sjorskingma. I´m user at the Dutch Wikipedia. du: Hallo, Ich bin Sjorskingma. Ich bin Benutzer auf dem niederländischen Wikipedia.

title: User:Sjorskingma


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U.S., Mexico and U.K. top medalists at RoboGames 2009

June 24, 2009

The 6th annual RoboGames, a robot competition that takes place in the United States, was held this month with 403 robots from 18 different parts of the globe competing in the categories of combat, sumo, robo-one/androids, open, hockey, art bots and junior league.

This year's medals went to the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Brazil, India, Canada, Indonesia, South Korea and Russia (see table below). Other participants were Australia, Austria, Colombia, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, Peru and Taiwan.

Although the host country carried off most of the medals, visiting countries stood out at some events, like Mexico at 1 lb autonomous combat, 500 g autonomous sumo, 100 g autonomous sumo and autonomous line follower, Brazil at 3kg sumo (both autonomous and radio-controlled), and the United Kingdom in the "best of show" and "walker challenge" modalities.

"Taking part gave us the opportunity to test our knowledge against students from other nations, and proved that we are at the same level or better than other students from famous schools", said Mexico's National Polytechnic Institute student Erick Rodríguez who, along with his fellow team member Rogelio Baeza, took gold in the autonomous line follower event.

RoboGames, previously ROBOlympics, holds the Guinness Record for “world’s largest robot competition”. It was founded in 2004 by David Calkins to help robot builders exchange ideas and learn from each other.


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User talk:86.85.221.195

please log in before creating user pages --SVTCobra 12:19, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:86.85.221.195


text: User talk:Goatra

title: User talk:Goatra


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Comments:Washington Metro collision kills nine, injures many

Three additional dead
They have found three additional dead bodies late Monday night.

| Nine Dead in Red Line Crash; No Answers Yet on Cause

Someone, somewhere, was texting on their cellphone.24.99.209.126 (talk) 16:40, 23 June 2009 (UTC)


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User talk:Dillard421

Welcome
--Brian McNeil / talk 14:28, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Dillard421 (talk) 16:24, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Dillard421


text: Talk:Tensions continue to rise between North Korea and United States


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Iran and Britain expel diplomats after Iranian presidential election

June 24, 2009

Iran has expelled two British diplomats. In response, the United Kingdom announced yesterday that in a tit-for-tat move it will be expelling two Iranian diplomats.

The expulsions come in the wake of the recent Iranian presidential election, and subsequent hostility directed at the United Kingdom by Iranian leaders and official news services, including statements made by Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei calling the British government the "most evil" of foreign governments.

Commenting upon the expulsion as it was announced, the Leader of the Opposition in the British House of Commons, David Cameron, urged people to remember that this was not a conflict between Iran and the United Kingdom, but was an internal Iranian conflict involving only the people of that country.

Leaders in Iran have long-standing criticisms of what they view as interference by the United Kingdom in internal Iranian affairs. The Iranian government accuses BBC Persian Television, which is funded by the British Foreign Office, of being a propaganda service for the British Government. These criticisms have been repeated by official Iranian news services in the past few days. The Iranian government already expelled one BBC journalist on Sunday, Jon Leyne. The BBC has reported efforts to jam transmissions of BBC Persian Television by the Iranian government.

The United Kingdom is not the only country who called in its Iranian ambassador yesterday. Germany summoned its Iranian ambassador for what spokesmen have described as "clarification" after similar accusations of foreign interference were leveled by Iran at Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel over remarks she made last weekend.

Iran has also charged the United Nations with interfering in the country, with Iranian foreign minister Hassan Ghashghavi accusing Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon of "meddling in Iran's internal affairs" when Ban called upon Iran to respect the "will of its people". Hassan accused Ban of "ignorantly following some domineering powers which have a long record of uncalled-for interference in other countries' internal affairs and colonisation".

News articles in Jamejam today include calls by Hossein Hashemian, minority leader in the Majlis of Iran, to reduce relations between Iran and the United Kingdom, and reports that the Iranian Public Relations Office has issued permits allowing student demonstrations, protesting interference in internal Iranian affairs, in front of the British embassy in Tehran.


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Comments:Tensions continue to rise between North Korea and United States

Okay, let them see this
Okay, Let's conduct our own missile test and fly about 5,000 (unarmed) ICBM's 10,000 feet over North Korea.

 * D

I hate governments like this who always blast out the most ridiculous claims, North Korea, Iran, and the occasional time with China. They cannot honestly believe the rest of the educated world is taking them seriously. North Korea should just get it over with and get their ass kicked, they don't have enough supplies to support their military. As soon as this crap is over the sooner the people of their country can start getting the food and opportunities everybody has a right to. 154.20.39.17 (talk) 16:37, 23 June 2009 (UTC)


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UK broadcaster Setanta enters administration

June 23, 2009

The UK operations of Setanta Sports have been placed into administration. Financial firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu confirmed the division would be liquidated.

The sports broadcaster, which employs 420 people in Ireland and the UK, entered administration after plans to raise fresh capital through the Russian-American businessman Leonard Blavatnik failed.

With effect from today, the company is to cease accepting payments from television customers who had subscribed to its broadcasting services, and 200 employees in the United Kingdom are to be made redundant. Administrators will attempt to find a buyer for the Irish and international arms of the company.

The administrators at Deloitte are Neville Kahn, Lee Manning, and Nick Edwards. The specific companies in administration are Setanta Sport Ltd and Setanta Transmissions (UK) Ltd. Setanta Ireland is not under administration.

Setanta's UK sports channels, Setanta Sports 1 & 2, have ceased transmission in the UK, but are continuing transmission in Ireland. Other UK channels that have gone off-air include Setanta Golf and Setanta Sports News.

Racing UK, which was bundled by satellite and cable television operators with Setanta channels, is not owned by Setanta and will continue transmission. Customers who subscribed to the channel via Setanta will be offered the option of subscribing to the channel directly.

64 of the people facing redundancy work for ITN, which had contracted with Setanta to produce Setanta Sports News.

The rights that Setanta had to broadcast football matches to subscribers are to revert to their rights holders. The rights to broadcast 46 Premier League football matches for the next football season, and 23 matches for the three following seasons, have already reverted, and were sold to United States broadcaster ESPN for £260 million yesterday.

Because of UK and European Union monopoly and competition laws, broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting is not permitted to bid for the broadcasting rights that Setanta had.


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Talk:UK broadcaster Setanta enters administration

U.K. vs. UK
Unlike the U.S. which has periods, the UK does not in AP style. I believe the same applies to the EU, but I am not sure and will try to check. Can't fix the article now though. Calebrw (talk) 17:16, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I have seen you cite AP style as authoritative before, but why? Imho, I'd prefer if we dropped the periods for all three; indeed we could drop them for almost any abbreviation. Lots of newspapers have done so. Our style guide doesn't have a lot on this but you can see acronyms instead of full names for what we do have.--SVTCobra 18:33, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Hart's agrees with your preference. Personally, I do not favour a rule that differentiates between "U.S." and "EU".  It's arbitrary and difficult to remember.  The idea that "us" is a word whereas "eu" is not, upon which this arbitrariness is supposedly based, doesn't really wash all that well with an international readership.  ☺ Uncle G (talk) 18:50, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * To my knowledge AP style is used throughout the world when writing in a journalistic style. That being said, writing in the AP style is more heavily favored in the U.S. than it is in other parts of the world (and frequently, many publications have their own MoS that they use). However, AP style provides a great resource that breeds continuity, which at least in journalism is essential to proper understanding. Differentiating between "Bombay" and "New Dehli" (for example). I'm not purposing that Wikinews adapt AP style formally, but I do think it should be used to fall back on. I would also welcome further discussion of this as I may be to just America-centered in my views on this. We could move this to the Water Cooler. Calebrw (talk) 20:03, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * The Associated Press' style book should not be a fallback without good reason. What suits Wikinews and takes account of project limitations should be. I would choose U.S., U.K., and E.U. - not to conform to any country or region's mores or preferences, not to follow some other organisation's style guide, but because when these abbreviations are used as the starting 'word' in an article title they should be grouped together in the relevant category.
 * I would be happy to see this discussion copied to the water cooler with a brief intro, others may have better reasons for choosing a particular scheme. --Brian McNeil / talk 20:26, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Whoa! I do apologise, I took the initiative of renaming the page without noticing this discussion. You all seem to agree, so I hope nobody minds. --AdamM (talk) 06:43, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Setanta
Setanta is NOT a UK broadcaster, it's based in Dublin, Ireland. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.44.99.250 (talk) 16:43, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

 * It refers to the UK operations which are the ones that entered administration. Cheers, --SVTCobra 21:55, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

 * See this sentence in the article:

"The specific companies in administration are Setanta Sport Ltd and Setanta Transmissions (UK) Ltd. Setanta Ireland is not under administration." --SVTCobra 21:57, 9 July 2009 (UTC)


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User talk:Launchballer

Welcoming self
It is generally better to wait to be welcomed than do it yourself.

Oh, and none of the projects - including Wikia - that you list on your user page have anything to do with the Wikimedia Foundation. --Brian McNeil / talk 19:58, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Really? I always thought that they were, as they use the same formatting as we do...

 * Oh, and by the way, a quick Google search for Launchballer will show that on other Wikis I am absolutely notorious for this kind of crap...--Launchballer (talk) 05:47, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Lol, Well welcome i guess. Both Wikia and the wikimedia foundation use mediawiki software (which was originally developed specificly for wikipedia, but now is used in a great variaty of places), however are not related other than that. There are several key people involved with both (in particular jimbo i think, the two entities were much closer in their earlier history than they are now.), but they are seperate projects with different goals. In paticular Wikia tends to focus on very topic specific wikis, and tends to try to make money off them, where Wikimedia wikis are all non-profit, and have broader educational scopes. Bawolff ☺☻ 06:14, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, but Wikipedia and her cronies ask you to make a donation.--Launchballer (talk) 17:05, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Launchballer


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User:Launchballer

I am Launchballer on all public Wikimedia projects, including Wikia and many non-associated projects, such as strategywiki.org, mariowiki.org and all that malarkey.

title: User:Launchballer


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Six-year-olds trigger emergency response with toy nuclear reactor in Germany

June 23, 2009 Two six-year-old children caused emergency services to be called out in Oelde, Germany, yesterday. They had taken an old computer case, with a radioactivity symbol and warning notice that they had printed, affixed to the side, to create a "nuclear reactor".

The boys abandoned their plaything in the street to take a break at home. It was encountered by a passer-by, who called out the emergency services. The children later returned to their play to find the street cordoned off by police and fire services, who were warning surrounding residents to stay in their homes via local radio.

It was not until later, when the children's parents read news reports on the Internet of the incident, that it was realized that the children's play "nuclear reactor" had been the cause of the incident.


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UN: World hunger at all-time high due to economic slowdown

June 23, 2009

The number of hungry people in the world is projected to reach an all-time high of 1.02 billion this year, according to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The report blames this latest spike in world hunger chiefly on the, which has increased unemployment and reduced incomes among the poor, leading to greater food insecurity.

The report, published on Friday, estimates that over 1 billion people will go hungry each day in 2009, a first in human history. This is a significant increase over last year's estimate of 915 million hungry people. According to the FAO, this increase of around 100 million people is not a result of poor harvests, as in the past, but rather a poor economy.

"A dangerous mix of the global economic slowdown combined with stubbornly high food prices in many countries has pushed some 100 million more people than last year into chronic hunger and poverty," said, Director-General of the FAO. "The silent hunger crisis — affecting one sixth of all of humanity — poses a serious risk for world peace and security."

Although food prices have declined from their record high levels in mid-2008, the report states that global food prices are still high compared to previous years, and that domestic prices remain prohibitively high in. In Mauritania, for example, a {{w|staple food|| such as wheat still costs over 600 USD per tonne, whereas in the United States the price has fallen below 300 USD. {{QuoteLeft|The silent hunger crisis — affecting one sixth of all of humanity — poses a serious risk for world peace and security.|20px|20px|Jacques Diouf, FAO Director-General}} The current economic situation has intensified the problem created by high food prices. Many sources of income for developing countries, including remittances, foreign direct investment, foreign aid, and international trade, are expected to undergo severe declines. In addition, because of the global nature of the economic crisis, previously-used mechanisms such as currency depreciation and borrowing from international credit markets are more limited in their scope, according to the FAO.

In developing countries, the report says, the urban poor are likely to be most affected by the economic slowdown, as their ability to find work is most dependent on factors like foreign investment and export demand. However, rural areas could also be affected, as an urban back-migration to the farms would put more pressure on an already strained rural job market. Budget constraints would lead families to purchase more grain products, which are cheaper than meat, dairy products, and other foods rich in protein. The result of such diet changes is often malnutrition.

Investment in agriculture, according to Director-General Diouf, is the key to overcoming poverty and hunger in poorer countries. These countries "must be given the development, economic and policy tools required to boost their agricultural production and productivity", he said.

Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the {{w|International Fund for Agricultural Development}}, says that investment in agriculture is not only essential for overcoming hunger, but also for promoting economic growth in developing countries. "To unleash this potential and reduce the number of hungry people in the world," he said, the international community must ensure that farmers "have access not only to seeds and fertilisers but to tailored technologies, infrastructure, rural finance, and markets."

However, the economic slowdown has forced the UN’s World Food Programme to shut down some of its operations, as it receives less financial aid from donor countries. Out of a required yearly budget of 6.4 billion USD, the agency currently has less than one-fourth of that amount.

{{haveyoursay}}


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Wikinews:Briefs/June 23, 2009

June 23, 2009

About
The Audio Wikinews - News Brief is a two to five minute audio newscast summary of each day's top stories on Wikinews.

Also available as a RSS feed to subscribe to. News brief RSS

Intro
From Wikinews, the free news source, this is the Audio Wikinews Brief for Tuesday, June 23, 2009. I'm James Pain, and here are today's current stories.

Sarkozy says burqa is "not welcome" in France
The President of France Nicolas Sarkozy Monday, in a speech to a joint session of both houses of the Parliament of France, stated that the burqa "will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic". In the speech, Sarkozy said that "We cannot accept, in our country, women imprisoned behind a mesh, cut off from society, deprived of all identity. That is not the French Republic's idea of women's dignity." He stated that the burqa "is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience." France is home to Western Europe's largest Islamic community, with some five million Muslims living there.

Tensions continue to rise between North Korea and United States
Tensions have started to rise again between the United States and North Korea. North Korea claims that the United States have planned to start an atomic war against them due to Obama recently reaffirming the nuclear protection of South Korea. Singapore has stated that if the Korean flagship the Kang Nam is carrying a weapon that is in violation of the United Nations sanctions it would take immediate action. According to a senior member of the United States military, the USS John McCain is ready to intercept the Kang Nam but have no plans to do so.

Washington Metro collision kills nine, injures many
At least nine people have been reported killed in a serious collision incident between two metro trains in Washington, D.C., United States. The collision which occurred on the Red Line between Fort Totten and Takoma Park stations of the city's Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority during the early evening (1700 local time) is also reported to have injured a number of other passengers. The cause of the collision incident is still unclear, although it has been suggested by some sources that a derailment or head on collision may have led to the incident.

U.K. MPs elect John Bercow as new Speaker of the House of Commons
Following the resignation of Speaker Michael Martin, which took effect on Monday, members of the House of Commons, the lower house of the British houses of parliament, yesterday elected John Bercow as the new Speaker of the House. After confirmation by a unanimous acclamation, with no "noes" voiced, John Bercow became the Speaker-elect for the 157th Speaker of the House of Commons.

Former Scientology executives say leader David Miscavige abused staff
The Florida newspaper St. Petersburg Times published investigative articles on Scientology on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, including exclusive interviews with former high-ranking executives within the organization. Four former Scientology executives stated that they witnessed the Church of Scientology's leader David Miscavige physically strike staff members numerous times. The St. Petersburg Times reported Monday on the attention received by the investigative articles in other media. By Monday the first article in the series had received over 3,600 "diggs" at the social news website Digg and generated over 420 comments at the site.

Outro
This has been a News Brief from Wikinews.org, the free news source, and has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license. Until next time, thank you for listening and good day.

title: Wikinews:Briefs/June 23, 2009


text: Talk:Six-year-olds trigger emergency response with toy nuclear reactor in Germany


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Comments:Six-year-olds trigger emergency response with toy nuclear reactor in Germany

Those kids are epic. I want to shake their hands. 99.231.211.103 (talk) 22:47, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Hilarious stuff. --84.13.181.121 (talk) 23:11, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Where would we be without the innocence of children? — Jacroe 00:52, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Wow. LMAO. I'm just sitting here wondering what kind [teenage or adult] moron would think the "reactor" was real. 71.96.128.236 (talk) 01:23, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

To be fair this was in Germany, and most former Soviet territories have problems with old technology floating around. For example, Radioactive Thermoelectric Generators (basically the little brothers of "proper" nuclear reactors) being stolen from automated lighthouses and broken down for scrap metal in spite of their radioactive nature.
 * This city would have been part of West Germany (the non-soviet 3/4)

The children should be pattled.
Pattled


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Talk:Iran and Britain expel diplomats after Iranian presidential election

Verifiability
There are some details that I cannot verify through the provided sources (admittedly I can't read Farsi). For instance the David Cameron paragraph, I don't find that at all. The only thing I see is BBC saying: He [DC] said: "The expulsion of diplomats by Iran is clearly not acceptable and the British government was absolutely right to respond." The final paragraph seems to be what is from the Farsi (Persian) sources, which I cannot confirm at all. --SVTCobra 23:04, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * David Cameron was original reporting on my part. I watched his speech.  The Hansard report of it can be found here.  The phraseology as a question is a standard British Commons rhetorical device, note. Uncle G (talk) 12:09, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * News services and web companies increase Farsi services in light of Iranian political situation will make helpful reading if you want to double-check the Farsi sources, by the way. ☺ Uncle G (talk) 12:17, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, but please mention it on the collaboration page if anything is original or otherwise not sourced in the listed sources. It makes the reviewer's job a lot easier. Cheers, --SVTCobra 22:25, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * As you've no doubt noticed from the little "Original reporting" sections on several talk pages recently, I usually do. ☺ Uncle G (talk) 22:37, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Names
I had high hopes, when I wrote this, that given Talk:Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks about Iranian presidential election protests at prayers I wouldn't have to explain about Arabic names and Korean names again so soon. It, sad to say, seems that I was wrong. Uncle G (talk) 23:35, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * That is surprising. Brian is usually well aware of this and Ban is a high profile person. --SVTCobra 23:37, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * It wasn't him. It was User:The ed17 (edit).  But, yes, the Wikipedia article on Ban does explicitly make this point in a headnote, and the BBC source cited here does call him "Mr Ban". Uncle G (talk) 23:43, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * My apologies to Brian. I just looked at the diff you listed and assumed it was the previous editor. Thanks for correcting me. --SVTCobra 23:52, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for spotting it wasn't me, I am used to Thai names on this issue but did not spot that error. I believe most asian names are shortened to the first, the one I am most used to writing is Thaksin - as in that on-the-run-former-Thai-Prime-Minister. --Brian McNeil / talk 23:54, 24 June 2009 (UTC)


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User talk:Halljasonc

Public service announcement
Spamming is worse than passing on a case of amoebic dysentry. --Brian McNeil / talk 23:26, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
 * The above is sarcasm, following deletion of you posting spam or promotional material. Do not email me again on this issue. --Brian McNeil / talk 14:04, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Please don't take my lack of Wikipedia experience as spam or promotional material. There is documented historical significance related to Mobile Entree and the parent company.  I have already stated that I will rewrite any(all) of my articles in order to satisfy Wikipedia guidelines. --Jason / talk 14:27, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Halljasonc


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Talk:UN: World hunger at all-time high due to economic slowdown

Timeliness
I guess the time aspect of What Wikinews is is being overlooked in this case? --SVTCobra 23:55, 23 June 2009 (UTC)