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Chief of World Health Organization dies

May 22, 2006 The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctor Lee Jong-wook, 61, has died after doctors performed brain surgery on him to relieve a blood clot.

"I am sorry to tell you that Dr Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the WHO, died this morning. [This is a] very sad bit of news" and Lee "was an exceptional person and an exceptional director-general. Under his leadership, the WHO has been strengthened and has been able to give an effective response to world (health) problems," said Elena Salgado, Spain's Health Minister in a statement during the organization's 192-nation annual assembly held in Geneva. The panel observed two minutes of silence to honor Lee.

Lee was rushed to Cantonal Hospital in Geneva when he felt sick on Saturday. He became sick while he was at an official meeting. Doctors then determined that he had a blood clot in his brain and operated on Lee immediately.

"He had been in hospital since Saturday afternoon, where he underwent surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain (a subdural hematoma). He remained in intensive care. At 07:43 this morning, he was declared dead," said a statement by the WHO on its website.

"All of the staff of the World Health Organization extend their most sincere condolences to Dr Lee's family. The sudden loss of our leader, colleague and friend, is devastating," continued the statement.

"The world has lost a great man today. LEE Jong-wook was a man of conviction and passion. He was a strong voice for the right of every man, woman and child to health prevention and care, and advocated on behalf of the very poorest people," said Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General.

Lee became head of the WHO in 2003 and leaves behind his son, wife and two brothers.

title: Chief of World Health Organization dies


text:
Talk:Chief of World Health Organization dies

WHO
The link to the second WHO source in external links is to the fromnt page, becuase their statement has not yet moved to a linked page. Jason Safoutin 13:33, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

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


text: File:Jwleeofficial.jpg

title: File:Jwleeofficial.jpg


text:
Researchers say Ozone Hole "likely to contract, may disappear"

May 22, 2006 Researchers say the ozone hole over Antarctica is likely to contract and may disappear by 2050 - as a result of a global reduction of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting emissions.

The findings are based on a series of numerical simulations carried out by Eiji Akiyoshi of Tokyo's National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), using projected emissions of CFCs and other gases blamed for the ozone hole.

According to the Japanese report released last week, the Antarctic ozone hole is currently at its largest, but is likely to begin gradual contraction around 2020 and possibly disappear around 2050. It is believed lowered CFC emissions can cause the hole to gradually close, the NIES reported. The team's findings are in line with research by other scientists.

The scientists say CFC levels in the Earth's atmosphere have been in gradual decline since the mid-1990s, as a result of global efforts to reduce their emission.

But while Earth’s ozone layer is slowly being replenished following the international 1987 agreement banning CFCs, the Montreal Protocol, the recovery is occurring in a changing atmosphere and is unlikely to stabilize at pre-1980 levels, according to a recent University of Colorado study.

The co-author of a paper by the Danish Meteorological Institute in the May 2006 issue of Nature said: "We now have some confidence that the ozone layer is responding to the decreases in chlorine levels in the atmosphere due to the leveling off and decrease of CFCs, and most of the improvements are in agreement with what we had hoped for with the Montreal Protocol in place."

"But we are not out of the woods yet, and the ozone recovery process still faces a number of uncertainties."

Other scientists say that harmful emissions have not been lowered enough to influence the ozone hole's size. Some scientists suggest the hole won't heal until much later because old refrigerators and air-conditioners still emit CFCs.


text:
Former chaplain at Guantanamo tells about abuse and underage prisoners

May 30, 2006

James Yee, a Muslim chaplain formerly stationed at the Guantánamo detention camp, is now speaking out about his experience and the incidents he witnessed at Guantanamo. On May 22, Mr. Yee held a speech at Dartmouth College and told an audience of 100 he was accused of espionage and spying by the US in September 2003 and was kept in isolation for 76 days.

Mr Yee claimed in The Dartmouth, a Dartmouth College newspaper, the United States was "accepting torture" and that this "damages the reputation of the U.S." He continued: "We've lost that status of being the beacon of human rights because of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo".

On May 5 Mr Yee had spoken at the University of California, Davis, to the UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (CSHRA). They had hosted a forum about the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.

Mr Yee believes journalists and congressmen who visit Guantánamo prison do not get an unsanitized picture of conditions there, and spoke at length about his personal experience there, what prisoners and interpreters told him during his time as Guantánamo chaplain, and what happened when he was imprisoned.

In one incident a cell door had mistakenly been left unlocked by guards, and a prisoner left his cell and attempted to lock the three guards in the cell while they were conducting a search. The guards easily overpowered the would-be escapee. "But the incident didn't stop there," said Mr Yee who said this incident lead to a violent reaction from the guards.

"One of the guards continued to bludgeon that prisoner on the back of the head after already being shackled at the ankles and his wrists behind his back and, of course, it was a bloody affair. There was blood all over."

Yee also said that some prisoners were children "the ages of some of the prisoners down there, as young as 12 to 14 years old. Prisoners as young as 12 to 14 years old were being held down in Guantánamo when I was there."

James Yee was accused of espionage by the military on September 10, 2003, and arrested while heading home from Cuba on a leave of absence. After 76 days, James Yee was released and the criminal charges against him were eventually dropped. He said he was locked away in solitary confinement and abused in a manner similar to that of the other detainees at Guantanamo.

About the treatment he received when he was imprisoned, Mr Yee said he was first more worried about his family, "I was arrested in secret, held incommunicado. I never showed up at the airport in Seattle like I was supposed to have, where my wife and daughter were waiting. They didn't know what happened to me. My parents in New Jersey had no idea what had happened. I essentially disappeared from society, from the face of the earth."

Mr Yee then said he was dressed up as a prisoner and subject to "sensory deprivation". "And down on the way, on this trip to Charleston, the guard pulls out of this bag these goggles ... so now I can't see a thing. He takes out these heavy industrial type ear muffs ... puts them on my ears, and now I can't hear a thing. We call this tactic 'sensory deprivation.' Sensory deprivation, it's something that I recently read that the American Psychiatric Association has included in a draft of their definition of torture."

Taking an ironic look at his own capture Mr Yee said: "On another aspect of the treatment he experienced, Yee said, "One of the most ironic parts of this situation is that down in Guantanamo, as the Muslim chaplain, I was able to protect certain religious rights for the alleged, suspected, Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners down in Guantanamo. The point is, I was denied my religious rights as a U.S. citizen in military custody, the very same rights that I was able to uphold for prisoners down in Guantanamo."

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of the Guantánamo detention camp, is said to have made the decision to jail Mr Yee. Miller was then transferred to Iraq, where there was a prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. The extent of Miller's involvement in Mr Yee's treatment at Guatamano and Abu Ghraib is not known. The US administration has not elaborated on Mr Yee's claims.

In May 2004, when Mr Yee's case attracted the attention of the media, Gen. James Hill, chief of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversaw military operations at Guantanamo, called Yee's incarceration necessary, "given the circumstances at the time." Col. William Costello, a Southern Command spokesman, also said in May 2004, "There's really nothing more that we're going to share on the case. We've dropped the charges. ... I'm not at liberty to talk about what the investigation entailed."

US have denied abuse on Guantánamo detention camp. On June 1st, 2005 Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, said, "But little has been said about the great lengths that the military go to at Guantánamo Bay to accommodate the religious practices of detainees in their care. There are specific instructions as to how those involved in the custody of detainees should handle themselves with respect to religious matters.  Special meals are provided to meet cultural dietary requirements.  Schedules are respectful of prayer. Indications of the direction to pray are provided."


text:
Steel major Arcelor ready to reconsider Mittal's offer

May 22, 2006 Luxembourg's largest steel company Arcelor is ready to study Mittal Steel's improved takeover offer, the former said on Sunday, opening the door to possible talks with Indian steel magnate Laxminivas Mittal. Arcelor Chairman Joseph Kinsch told reporters after a meeting of Arcelor's board that the company's directors would be ready to examine the details of Mittal's latest offer once it has been approved by the CSSF (Luxembourg's financial regulatory body).

Until Sunday, Arcelor, the world's second-largest steel company, had firmly rejected world-leader Mittal's bid to take the former company over and form a global steel giant. The softening of Arcelor's stance comes after Mittal Steel raised its hostile cash-and-equity bid by a third on Friday and dropped a key demand for family control over the combined entity.

Media reports had suggested that Arcelor was trying to find another company to rescue it from being taken over by Mittal Steel. Possible candidates included Russian tycoon Vladimir Lisin and Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK). Mittal's move on Friday came after the value of its initial offer fell more than 10 percent behind the market worth of Arcelor, as the latter announced a buyback of its own shares at above-market prices to ward off Mittal Steel.

Laxminivas Mittal, who has hinted that the bitter takeover battle might have a hint of racism involved in it, told the French newspaper La Tribune that he was sure that the attractive nature of his revised offer would enable him to obtain over 50% of the Arcelor shares. He added that he was of the opinion that the involvement of a Russian third party would not be in the best interests of Arcelor's shareholders.


text:
User talk:24.180.19.26

Welcome
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Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome!
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Additionally, 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 will be reverted quickly. --Deprifry|+T+ 16:41, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:24.180.19.26


text:
Talk:Possible Anthrax scare in Norway

Title needs work, maybe changed to indicate that the powder was received in the mail. Anyone familiar with Norway would know that you can find lots of white powder there, in the form of snow. Rob T Firefly 16:42, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I have found no sources either. Jason Safoutin 17:15, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Can't find any working norweigan translation. Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 02:53, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Translated src
(Its machine trans, so a bit rough)

Police in Oslo continue Sunday hunt at whoever able have posted more household envelopes along with a stranger white powder. Envelopes along with white powder All consignee am treated against feasible miltbrannsmitte. Overall 11 household in Oslo obtain Saturday envelopes along with a stranger white powder in. At misgivings for that facts be able be a matter of anthrax - germs, am all as drill with the catch dwellings tested for disease. They have also have got to displace from home at the thing is was clarifying.

Above entire city Dwellings as am was affecting tied up her above entire city at Holmenkollen in the north at Nordstrand and Holmlia in south. Police has so far no matter greid to see a few fellestrekk between consignee and shall Sunday afternoon have a appear how they do be about chart how they do be about investigate issue. If this do be about prove to be a gallows humour is it in saw crash down særdeles bad. We pondering certainly at cases how facts became found miltbrannbakterier in wake at 11. september in USA, say vaktleder Jostein Ads at Kriminalvakta in Oslo politidistrikt at NTB. All envelopes as is found is sent at Folkehelseinstituttet for analysis, but answers won't advent a prior within a couple of days. Consignee has been posted at legevakten for helsesjekk. They are been hearing at police in a attempt on the to expose whatever able lie behind accidents. Neither at consignee do be about have had a few suspicion about what as able lie behind accidents.

(Hand-translated)

Sunday 21 May 2006 Police in Oslo continue the hunt for who can have sent envelopes containing an unknown white powder to several households. All of the recipients are being checked for possible anthrax contamination. In total, on Saturday 20 May, 11 households in Oslo received envelopes which contained this unknown powder.

For fear of possible anthrax contamination, all inhabitants are being checked for any related illness. Furthermore they have been moved out of their homes until the anthrax scare has been cleared up.

The affected houses and apartments are spread over the whole city, from Holmenkollen in the North to Nordstrand and Holmlia in the South. The police have so far found no connection or pattern to the recipients and, on Sunday, will conduct a meeting as to decide how to further continue the investigation.

“Dersom dette skulle vise seg å være en spøk er den i så fall særdeles dårlig. Vi tenker jo på tilfellene hvor det ble funnet miltbrannbakterier i kjølvannet av 11. september i USA” rough translation (If this turns out to be a prank/joke, then it’s going to be a real bad one. We’re thinking of the case where anthrax bacteria was found in the wake of 11 September in the US) Oslo Crime unit’s Jostein Plassen.

All the envelopes, that have been found, have been sent to Folkehelseinstitutet (public health institute) for analysis, although the findings will not be clear for a few days yet.

The recipients have been sent to their local casualty units for check-ups. They are being questioned by the police in an investigation to discover the identity of who lies behind the incident.

None of the recipients are known to have any suspicion as to what lies behind this situation.

title: Talk:Possible Anthrax scare in Norway


text:
Wikinews:Briefs/May 22, 2006

The time is 17:00 (UTC) on May 22nd, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

PM John Howard's nuclear push causes alarm
Australia

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced he wants a "full-scale nuclear debate", and three of his senior federal government frontbenchers - Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Resources Minister, Ian Macfarlane, and Environment Minister Ian Campbell - have all suggested Australia, which has around 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves, should consider enriching uranium - a step in processing that would allow it to be used as reactor fuel as well as for nuclear weapons.

One of Saddam Hussein's defense lawyers thrown out of court
Iraq

Bushra Khalil, one of the defense lawyers for former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, was thrown out of court by Chief Judge Raouf Abdel after speaking out of turn.

Chief of World Health Organization dies
Switzerland

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctor Lee Jong-wook, 61, has died after doctors performed brain surgery on him to relieve a blood clot.

Steel major Arcelor ready to reconsider Mittal's offer
Luxembourg

Luxembourg's largest steel company Arcelor is ready to study Mittal Steel's improved takeover offer, the former said on Sunday, opening the door to possible talks with Indian steel-magnate Laxminivas Mittal. Arcelor Chairman Joseph Kinsch told reporters after a meeting of Arcelor's board that the directors of the company would be ready to examine the details of Mittal's latest offer once it has been approved by the CSSF (Luxembourg's finiancial regulatory body).

NSW govt to rebuild high school with private funding
Australia

New South Wales minister for Education and Training, Carmel Tebbutt told parliament that Kelso High School, which was destroyed by fire on August 18, 2005 will be rebuilt under the NSW government's New Schools Public Private Partnerships (PPP) program. Under the program, the bulk of construction costs come from private companies who own the schools for 30 years, after which time they revert to government ownership.

Mark Rocket first New Zealander to book Virgin space flight
New Zealand

Mark Rocket, a Christchurch internet entrepreneur, has purchased a $300,000 flight into space with Virgin Galactic. In 2008 he will take off for space from the Mojave Desert, near Los Angeles in an eight man spacecraft. He will spend about 10 minutes in space.

Closing statements
We invite you to visit wikinews.org for up-to-date news and information. This has been Audio Wikinews Newsbriefs. Thank you for listening, and enjoy the rest of your day. This recording has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

title: Wikinews:Briefs/May 22, 2006


text:
Seven year old boy swims from Alcatraz to San Francisco

May 22, 2006

Braxton Bilbrey, a 7-year-old boy from Glendale, California, swam from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park in San Francisco, California. The length of the swim is approximately 1.4 miles.

"It kind of seems like a long way, but I'm not totally worried. It's not that far," Bilbrey said before he started swimming.

"For a 7-year-old to be that motivated and stick with a goal that long is amazing," said Bilbrey's mother, Stacey Bilbrey.

Bilbrey, who has participated in several youth triathlons, trained for four days a week for 2 hours at a time. He decided to take the swim after reading about Johnny Wilson, a 9-year old fourth grader who also made it across, taking just less than two hours in October 2005.

"If you were to ask me if a 7-year-old is old enough to do it, I'd say maybe one out of 10 million, but he's that one," said Bilbrey's coach, Joe Zemaitis. Zemaitis made the swim along with Bilbrey. A United States Coast Guard boat and two additional swimmers followed to take action in case an emergency occurred.

Alcatraz was formerly a Federal prison noted for being "escape proof" while in use.


text:
Britain expects troops out of Iraq within next 4 years

May 22, 2006 Britain says it expects all foreign combat troops to withdraw from Iraq by 2010. It is the first solid statement from Britain on a firm date for troop withdrawal. Prime Minister Tony Blair says the new Iraqi national unity government offers "new hopes for the country."

He was speaking at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose new government was sworn in on Saturday. A senior British official travelling with the prime minister, said the withdrawal of the present multinational force should be accomplished within four years.

He told reporters that London hoped all but some non-combatant foreign soldiers could be withdrawn by the time of the next Iraqi election in late 2009 - provided the country moved in the right direction. "The aim is to take Iraq to a position where the multinational force is able to withdraw during its period in office," the official said. According to Reuters, the statement is perhaps the firmest call yet from one of the two main allies in the United States-led invasion of Iraq on a date for pulling out troops.

He said the unity government will hasten the handover of control from coalition forces back to Iraqis, allowing Britain bring some troops home by mid-year. Britain has around 7,000 troops in Iraq. Prime Minister Maliki said overall control of security in most of Iraq's 18 provinces could gradually pass into Iraqi hands by end-2006.

As violence continues across Iraq with at least 11 people killed in shootings and bomb attacks, Mr Blair said it had taken "three years of struggle" to reach the formation of a government. "It's been longer and harder than any of us would have wanted it to be but this is a new beginning," he said from Baghdad.

The installation of Iraq's first full-term government since 2003 has forced discussion on withdrawal plans for approximately 150,000 foreign soldiers stationed there. The United States says it is too early to discuss a timetable for pulling out its 133,000 troops.

108 British military personnel have been killed in Iraq since it joined coalition in 2003. Mr Blair is expected to visit Washington this week to meet with President George W. Bush.


text:
Montenegro secedes from Serbia

May 22, 2006 After a referendum, the Montenegro region of Serbia and Montenegro declares independence to form the new Republic of Montenegro. Unlike other Balkan states such as Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, Montenegro has achieved independence without violence. "I am convinced Montenegro could be the next country from this region to join the European Union, after Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, which are further along the process," says Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who has promoted Montenegro's independence. It is also predicted that Montenegro will join the United Nations in September.

The referendum, with an 86.3% voter turnout, had a 55.4% approval for the secession, which satisfies the European Union's minimum 55% approval. With a population of 650,000, Montenegro is the world's newest country. Serbia reluctantly agreed to the split, and the European Union approved. Despite expectations, there were no riots that night; however, early celebrations had occurred in the capital Podgorica based off of expected results.

This is the first time Montenegro has been independent since 1916, when it became a part of Austro-Hungary. In 1918 Montenegro merged with Serbia. Soon Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia together formed "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians", which later changed the name into Kingdom Yugoslavia. In 1945. Yugoslavia became a communist state. In 1991 and 1992 four of six Yugoslavian republics declared independence but two, Serbia and Montenegro, remained together.

Some analysts note that Serbia and Montenegro has not functioned as one state since the Belgrade agreement, signed three years ago. Each republic had separate anthems, laws, and currencies and their joint parliament did not meet very often.

title: Montenegro secedes from Serbia


text:
Talk:Former chaplain at Guantanamo tells about abuse and underage prisoners

is the quote in the third paragraph correct?
I was just about to read the article for "spoken wikinews" and stopped at the third paragraph. As far as I understood Mr. Yees intentions, I was quite surprised to "let him say" (I can go on ...), instead of (I can´t go on). Did I misunderstand the article? Gumboyaya 18:09, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I think he mean 'continue to tell about' instead of 'I can accept'. Maybe I shall change something to make it clearer. I look at it now. international 18:23, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Cheers, mate. Gumboyaya 18:38, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Dont know if its ok to break a quotation like this... but i did it. Anybody is free to object and revert. international 18:41, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Not sure if this article goes for news... yet. Im interested what James Yee have to say on his lecture. Anywikinewsie close to Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire, USA) tomorrow? Could be interesting original reporting.

international 17:27, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Now article is little more newsier but not npow, going to serch after responses to his story later if no other fix it international 18:52, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

US statement
I cant find any good statement from US about Guantanamo prisoner treatment that fits the article. I think its nessesary to ad it before publishing. Anywikinewsie? international 06:36, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

NPOV
Here's the issues I have with this. "Abuse" needs to be defined - it's too ambiguous of a term. In order for this article to be published, it needs to be formatted into a news article, and not a piece just about Yee's claims. This article lacks a lot of balance, and only supports Yee's claims, and nothing more. Tagging NPOV, because this is little more than a transcript of the speech. --MrMiscellanious (talk) – 19:13, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I disagree with MrM's opinion and see no actionable objections. Ironically, the objection itself seems to violate NPOV as it appears to me to demand a higher and more esoteric standard of news which reports US government misdeeds and that would,if true, be in violation of our anglo/american pov policy. Neutralizer 12:17, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * In any event, I see that International has worked to try to address MrM's concern so I will remove the tag now. MrM waited some time before becoming involved in the article so it does not seem reasonable to let the tag sit here until he revisits the article; if anyone feels the tag is still justified after international's recent edits, please try to NPOV the article before tagging it. Neutralizer 12:24, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I publish and untag it international 12:51, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I also cannot understand MrM's claim of NPOV. Abuse IS defined within the article with examples. As the inital author, I would love to see another side of this story included in the article. However, I have not found any information that contradicts Yee's claims. Perhaps MrM can contribute this info? --Landreson 13:26, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Neither of you have even acknowledged anything I stated above. Back to develop, tagged again.  --MrMiscellanious (talk) – 21:38, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Neither... I dont take you serious. international 22:13, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't think I asked for your opinion on me. Please stay on topic and discuss the article.  I have reverted your removal of the tags, because you have done absolutely nothing to engage in any conversation that would allow the representation of users' approval of this article representing the Wikinews standards and quality of news that it holds.  If you are not interested to engage in conversation, please do not remove any tags on the article.  --MrMiscellanious (talk) – 22:18, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Ditto International and Landreson ; no actionable objections and concensus is for publishing. Neutralizer 00:28, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Unless you meet the concerns of the user(s) then there is no concensus. Do not assume that you three or two are a concensus. Follow policy and please make the necessary corrections. This is a community and you need to trewat it as such. Jason Safoutin 00:36, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Sory,dragonfir, what is the objection to the article you might have here? Yrtsihpos 01:34, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree with Landreson on the "abuse issue". Jason, please specify your objections. If you don't have any of your own, don't tag the article as it might appear that you act as a proxy. --vonbergm 02:00, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * The concerns are clearly stated by MrM above. And are easily read. I will not repeat them. You also will not remove tags by other users. If the tag is removed, without concensus and or fixing the issues, then it is considered disruption. Jason Safoutin 02:36, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Article is good for publishing. Dragonfire, dont follow your bad guru.international 03:57, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Agree with Landreson and Vonberm and international and Nutralizser and say publish please. Yrtsihpos 04:19, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * If you continue to ignore users concerns, then that is considered disruption. This is a community, NOT WikiPOV. Fix the issues or move on. But DO not continue to remove tags unless you make the corrections requested. Your refusal to collaborate is not acceptable behavior. Jason Safoutin 11:31, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * DF; who are you tlaking to with such hostility? Neutralizer 12:46, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Th hostility is that the suggestions made by MrM has been ignored. Blantantly. I should also point out that none of you need to be reminded of policy as all of you are quite familiar with it IMO. When you completely and utterly ignore a user, thats just wrong. Hostility? Ignoring the request of others in a Wiki-community is much more "hostile" IMO. Jason Safoutin 12:51, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * DF, Please tell the community exactly what you feel the issues are with this article? It seems to me that so far you have not given us 1 single actionable objection to work on? I could be wrong though; please tell me where your explanatory edit is. Neutralizer 12:52, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Note to community: Please note that the users, other than MrM have continupously removed a tag placed by a user, other than me (MrM) who made specific requests at the begining of this article. Please note that the users there after his request have refused to meet or even aknowledge those requests and thus completely ignoring them. This is disruption and IMO refusal to collaborate. Not in the edit summary of Neutralizers last edit: please see talk and try to express concerns through article edits rather than tag Well its not his to remove. Once again, ignoring the issues. Also publishing with NO concensus. Jason Safoutin 12:57, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, if nothing else I've gotten what I wanted: some first-hand experience with how Wikinews works. I guess it's both good and bad that an article as minor as this one has created such a major debate. Again, as the inital author I have to reiterate what others have been saying here. For those that keep unpublishing this article, please tell us EXACTLY what's wrong with it. And don't just say "What MrM said" because I've already responded to his claims and have heard nothing further on that. I can address his claims in more detail, but my general perception is that he simply dislikes the fact that this story was published. Can we decide NOT based on NPOV or bias WITHIN an article that Wiki shouldn't publish it? In other words, are we acting as editors to decide which stories we like and don't like? Because in that case, ok we can have a debate. But otherwise, I really don't see a case for NPOV. Re-read the article. "Mr Yee told about.." "James Yee was accused.." "On another aspect of the treatment he experienced, Yee said..." And then we have included as much info as I am aware of from the military perspective: "Gen. James Hill..." and "Col. William Costello..." etc. So the article is describing a speaking event. It is essentially paraphrasing the speaker, and filling in some background info cocerning a hot-button issue, as well as including some reaction from an opposing side. There is nothing "supporing" Yee's claims. The only thing I can agree on here is that there is not enough POV from the military, so I suggest that if anyone seriously wants to find out more about this, that they do some of their own investigative journalism - call the military PR and get a statement, interview eyewitnesses at Gitmo, etc, instead of taking it upon yourself to kill the article altogether. If you're goal here is to charge "bias" against anything you don't agree with, make a very thin case out of it, and then publish only whatever fits your own agenda, maybe you should apply for an editor position at Fox News.. --Landreson 13:39, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Get it together, guys. The story is well-sourced and published. If the tag makes some feel any better, then that's fine with me, but otherwise, I seen no problem with reporting what an individual said and attributing it to that individual. If there's any response, report about it in another story. That's my opinion, anyway. Thanks for the contribution, Landreson. Karen 13:44, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Alright, now it's not published, but same thing - get it together. State remaining issues with story and have them re-addressed. Karen 13:48, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I have re-published the article as the editors who expressed NPOV concerns seem to have ignored Karen's suggestion. Neutralizer 23:52, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * You have ignored eveyones request. In fact, I am no longer wasting my time with you or your tag team. Jason Safoutin 23:57, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I hear the puckering sound of someone telling us the grapes have soured.

I honestly hate to edit a story and find it locked in limbo by objections that aren't specific enough to be actionable. I'd hate to think we're all wasting your time here putting all these words into stories that might never be read because someone only objects just enough to get our attention, but never fully delivers an explanation. Sure, the story "only supports Yee's claims" - it's about Yee's claims, and it might be days to forever before someone delivers an official response. …precisely why I suggested that could be another story for another day. Karen 06:05, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Page is no longer protected
This article is protected due to: revert war, tag/untag. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 23:59, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Amgine, one edit after a 10 hour wait can hardly be called a "revert war". Please also note that the user that insisted on the tag has given no explanation of his own during the last 24 hours in which he has reverted the article already 3 times. I have held off changing the tag to "publish" for the sole reason that I don't want to "solve" disputes by pushing people into 3RR. But not explaining concerns, even when asked by four different people to do so, is clearly disruptive. Your actions are implicitly condoning such behaviour and are not helpful. Please explain. --vonbergm 04:40, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * ok now for tag to go I hope so. Yrtsihpos 05:17, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Amgine just came a bit late to the party. No response from the main objector you-know-who, so thankfully colaboration moved forward instead of around in circles. I'd like to get used to this forward-progress experience a bit more. Karen 05:49, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Not news - May 5th speech
This article as it is currently written is not news. The gentleman in this article gave a speech on May 5th. During the speech he made many allegations about US treatment of prisoners. Some or all of these allegations may be true - but there is no news event here. Furthermore: Wikinews is not a soapbox: we do not publish editorials or opinions, not even if they are the content of someone's speech. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 01:35, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * You have a point about the date, although May 5 is not so far away and wikinews has not preorted about this earlier. I will take a look at it later today. The article does heavily rely on the personal experience of Yee, which might make it look like an opinion. In the case of Guantanamo, there is no independent reporting on the conditions there available, so we have to resort to reporting peoples personal experiences, although these carry an inherent bias. Btw, you still have some explaining to do under the previous heading. --vonbergm 16:45, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Just a thought, but if a transcript of this speech is available and it was a public speech, it could be uploaded to en.Wikisource. This would obviate the arguments about POV/editorial/etc. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 18:15, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Sure, if there is a transcript, it could be uploaded to wikisource. But I don't see what implications this has for NPOV concerns on this article. From looking above, this was initially triggerd by a talk he was giving at Dartmouth, and the old speech source was used since nothing was available from the Dartmouth talk at the time. Now there is, so by including those and making appropriate changes, the "not news" issue should be resolved. Collection of articles:.
 * Amgine, please explain your latest unpublish. Your "May 5th argument" does not hold any more, so you better come up with a new reason. --vonbergm 04:31, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Publishing old news which is, in fact, an unabashed editorial with no critical response, is a violation of a range of Wikinews policy, including NPOV. Because person X says something is thus and so does not make it news or reportable. Please do not republish this article without showing there is a news event or phenomenon which is *new*. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 04:32, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Amgine, you complained before that the article was based on an old event. As explained above, the original intention seems to have been to report on an event happening at the time, although initially there was no good source for it. Now there is, I added the source, restructured a little and added some new details from the new speach. Material from the old speach is still in the article as background. If you still believe that this is "not news", you need to give a new argument. Apparently you also argue that the article violates NPOV based on missing opposing point of view. As extensively discussed in a missing critical response cannot be used to keep an article from being published if there is no response available and efforts have been made to locate and include a related response -- which clearly has happened in this article. --vonbergm 04:49, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * And to add, Amgine, how is a speech not a "news event?" I would assume that you would consider Bush giving a speech to be a valid "news event," no? Are we to assume that you are the person who shall decide which speakers are newsworthy and which are not? --Landreson 17:59, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * As vonbergm says its news and there is no excluded material that can call for npoving. Amgine, whats prevent untaging and publishing? international 18:11, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

 * To respond: If President Bush gives a speech in a dozen, or a hundred, places, the speech is not news. Who he is speaking to, the date, the location, how many people, possibly even the venue and the security are news. But not the content of the speech. Because it's old news.

 * This article was written with content from coverage of the May 5th event. That content has not changed. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 07:00, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

 * The story isn't specifically about any particularly dated speech (event), but about the fact that this guy is giving this speech, making these claims. If U.S. President Bush did the same thing, it would certainly be news - newscasters would air the speech, then follow it with their summary - at least the first time the speech was reported. This is the first time Wikinews is reporting the speech, and it's not the speech that's being reported (the date, the location, how many people, etc.) but its content, the claims. Read the headline - it's about the former chaplain at Guatanamo telling about abuse and underage prisoners, which is news to me because I haven't attended any of the many speeches being made. This sort of story isn't about an event, but a phenomenon (defined as "An unusual, significant, or unaccountable fact or occurrence."). As best as I can interpret What_Wikinews_is_not, this story is not not permissible. Karen 09:00, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Karen, you say the story is not permissible, but seem to argue the opposite. Please clarify. --vonbergm 15:57, 30 May 2006 (UTC) Never mind, I suffered from pre-coffee reading diability... --vonbergm 19:07, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Heh! Karen 03:36, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Story continues
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060528/ap_on_go_co/marines_iraq_investigations

It is not wikilike for Amgine to come back 2 days later and block the story. This would be site disruption on other wikis. I will remove the tags. Amgine, please take the new source above and contribute a new story if you do not personally like this one but noone is the "bossman" of a wiki. I see from the Dispute Resolution history that your disruptions have caused many problems here on wikinews and you will soon have another Arbcom to deal with if you do not stop blocking and disrupting valid article production here. As Karen said; you came late to this article and have no authority over it. Please start collaborating. 64.229.29.191 19:33, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * This news story has no essentially new information, the general story has been reporte in Rep. Hunter calls for hearings about alleged "cold-blooded killings" of civilians by U.S. Marines over a week ago. --vonbergm 20:54, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I thought it was about today's interview where he focusses on the coverup? 64.229.65.234 02:53, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * No, and that's why it should not be published. -  Amgine | talk en.WN 04:24, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, you are right 64.229.65.234. The story you referenced has more focus on the coverup, but I am not sure if there is enough in it to make a new story and get it published at wikinews -- especially considering how hard it has been to get the first story published. People will object that it is "not news", that it gives Murtha "a platform to get his message out", and what have you not. Personally I see nothing wrong with reporting that story, although it will be just a short article. So if you have the energy, you got my (moral) support. And btw, why not sign up for a username? --vonbergm 04:29, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Why not just scrap this one and re-write about the events up to date? This was news, but when "contributors" come late and claim it's old news, that's because by now it is, and the more it's delayed, the older it gets. I've seen this used as a POV-censoring technique before. If I found a speech transcript story from a few weeks ago, I could unpublish it today claiming it's no longer news? Learn to identify tactics of "contributors" so you can prevent doing a lot of work on stories only to have them marked and tagged. For someone to come so late to this story to unpublish it is just a shame. Karen 21:16, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I started to 'modernize' it little. It seems like there is no transcript of this speach so we can chose to make it much shorter but informative or let the article, after some tweeking, include both speaches. I leave it to you and other wikinewsies. international 21:33, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I like your idea - expand it to be inclusive of recent events or contract it to be exclusive. It just seems like it needs to be done soon or just scrapped, because I'm not going to work on a story only to have one contributor come late and object. Karen 22:27, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Publish
Continual tagging in spite of consensus to publish seems disruptive to me. 64.229.184.222 22:19, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * That's the way it seems to me, as well. But if someone can edit it to add balance between the consensus and the objections, then I'd support re-publishing as soon as possible. It doesn't seem to me to be a violation of policy - but then I'm not an expert on interpreting the policy as some claim to be. Karen 22:25, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Headline fixed
There's an "n" missing in the "Guantanomo" in the title. Doldrums 18:20, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Good that someone use the eyes ;) Feel free to correct it. international 18:25, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
 * might as well wait till final publication, else will break a few links, i think. Doldrums 18:31, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Go, Doldrums, go! I fixed all the links after renaming. None of the three redirects are multiple redirects. I need to start checking the headlines closer. This is at least the third time I've missed something that you'd think was obvious in the headline. Karen 03:58, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Chronology of delaying of publication
The purpose is to synthesize the various delays of the publication of this articles and the reasons and couterarguments given. With a better understanding of this history, cases like this can hopefully avoided in the future. Although I will try to present this in a matter that is as factual as possible, I am afraid that my POV will enter in this analysis. I invite others to present their view.

 * The difference between the version before the first NPOV and the final version is small, consisting of the reordering of paragraphs and the addition of information about a more recent speech. This diff covers a timespan of 7 days.
 * The first NPOV concern was based on the following reasons:
 * 1) The word "abuse" in the title needs to be defined.
 * 2) "This article lacks a lot of balance, and only supports Yee's claims, and nothing more. Tagging NPOV, because this is little more than a transcript of the speech."
 * W.r.t. 1. it was pointed out that "abuse" is defined within the article. For 2. a discussion ensued trying to find statements contradicting Yee's claims. Several people reported that they could not find such statements.

 * Many contributers concluded that the stated NPOV concerns were not strong enough to keep the article from being published. Over the next day the article was reverted to NPOV status once by MrM and three times by DragonFire, once by Ral315 and once by Amgine, and reverted to non-NPOV status twice by International, three times by Neutralizer, once by Yrtsihpos. During this time there was no additional attempt to explain the initial NPOV concern on the talk page. The last revert by Neutralizer was after a 10 hour wait with no edits or comments by parties placing NPOV tags. Amgine used this edit as pretext to protect the page (in the state that he just reverted it into), citing "edit warring" as reason. After unprotection by Chiacomo the article was republished by Yrtsihpos.
 * Two days later Amgine reverted the publish and taged the article "Not News". His explanation, the first explanation by people that taged the article since the initial one, saying
 * "This article as it is currently written is not news. The gentleman in this article gave a speech on May 5th. During the speech he made many allegations about US treatment of prisoners. Some or all of these allegations may be true - but there is no news event here. Furthermore: Wikinews is not a soapbox: we do not publish editorials or opinions, not even if they are the content of someone's speech."
 * In response to this, newer sources and information about a more recent speach (that became available while the article was in dispute) were incorporated into the article.
 * During the following 2 days the article was published (reverted) 4 times by various IPs and 4 times (in addition to the above noted revert) reverted to taged status by Amgine. The discussion on the talk page only saw sporadic responses from the tagger (Amgine), who also listed it at DR citing the same reason as on the talk page. All people commenting on the DR request, as well as all that commented on the article talk page (except for Amgine) did not follow Amgine's reasoning.

 * None of the taggers made any constructive edit to the article. --vonbergm 22:51, 30 May 2006 (UTC)


text:
User:Goober-peas~enwikinews

My name is goober-peas. This song is built by my user name!\Sitting by the roadside on a summer's day

Chatting with my mess-mates, passing time away

Lying in the shadows underneath the trees

Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas.

Chorus

Peas, peas, peas, peas

Eating goober peas

Goodness, how delicious,

Eating goober peas.

Verse 2

When a horse-man passes, the soldiers have a rule

To cry out their loudest, "Mister, here's your mule!"

But another custom, enchanting-er than these

Is wearing out your grinders, eating goober peas.

Verse 3

Just before the battle, the General hears a row

He says "The Yanks are coming, I hear their rifles now."

He looks down the roadway, and what d'ya think he sees?

The Georgia Militia cracking goober peas.

Verse 4

I think my song has lasted just about enough.

The subject is interesting, but the rhymes are mighty rough.

I wish the war was over, so free from rags and fleas

We'd kiss our wives and sweethearts, say good-bye to goober peas.

title: User:Goober-peas~enwikinews


text:
User talk:Goober-peas~enwikinews

How do you create an account for wikipedia? Peeps talk!
 * Please stop all I want to hack Kilo-Lima's account, and other negative comments about that user. If you post anymore comments of a similiar nature, you will be blocked. Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 00:41, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Welcome
, welcome to Wikinews! Thank you for your contributions; I hope you like the place and decide to stay! If you haven't done so already, you may want to create an account.

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome!
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
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Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Goober-peas. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Goober-peas~enwikinews that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:18, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:31, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Goober-peas~enwikinews


text: File:Arcelor logo.gif

title: File:Arcelor logo.gif


text:
Wikinews:Archives/All

If you want to see every category, including defunct ones, try Special:Categories or a list of all the portals.

title: Wikinews:Archives/All


text:
User talk:24.177.47.40

Welcome
, welcome to Wikinews! Thank you for your contributions; I hope you like the place and decide to stay! If you haven't done so already, you may want to create an account.

Our key policies - if you read anything, read these! Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews: There are always things to do on Wikinews: By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes ( ~~~~ ), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome!
 * Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
 * Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
 * Introduction - overview of the site
 * Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
 * Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
 * Contents - the contents page.
 * Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
 * The front page lead articles often need updating
 * Developing stories need finishing and publishing
 * Discussions need your input
 * And of course, stories need writing!

Additionally, 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 will be reverted quickly. --Deprifry|+T+ 18:39, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:24.177.47.40


text:
User:R2b2

I'm a independent IT contractor from Wellington, New Zealand.

I'm new to WikiNews and Wikis in general but hopefully I'll pick things up quickly and start making a meaningful contribution to the WikiNews community...

As I'm new, I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions that you might have regarding the things I do.

Stories started by me...

 * Wellington Hurricanes in Super 14 rugby final
 * Police retrieve body of American tourist on hunting holiday in New Zealand
 * Body of missing New Zealand student believed found

Stories on which I've done significant work...

 * Brazilian soccer team defeats New Zealand All-Whites

What else is going on?

 * I'm playing around with a redesign of the NZ Portal - here's where I'm up to

Contact me
For now, the best way to talk to me is via my talk page.

Links

 * This is me over at Wikipedia (where I'm new as well).
 * My Sandbox

title: User:R2b2


text:
Ian Paisley rejects Sinn Fein nomination

May 22, 2006 Plans to restart the Northern Ireland Assembly failed today as the controversial Democratic Unionist Party leader and Protestant evangelist Ian Paisley rejected the nomination by Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams for him to be First Minister of a new Northern Ireland Executive. Gerry Adams nominated his colleague, Martin McGuinness, the deputy leader of Sinn Fein to be the Deputy First Minister.

Britain restarted a shadow version of the Assembly last week for the first time in 3 1/2 years to form a power sharing home rule government made up Catholics and Protestants by a November 24 as directed by the Belfast Agreement. However, accusations of a spy ring lead to the suspension of the Assembly and direct rule from London was reinstated in 2002.

Adams rose to his feet and uttered the following "I want to move that Iain Paisley be returned as First Minister and Martin McGuinness be returned as Deputy First Minister on the restoration of devolved government," in Gaelic before translating it for the rest of the Assembly to understand.

After being asked by Speaker Eileen Bell, "Dr. Paisley, do you accept the nomination as first minister on restoration of a devolved government?"

Paisley rejected the nomination instantly stating "Certainly not, madam! And I think it goes without saying that the reasons are known well throughout this province, and they've been endorsed by the majority of unionist voters."

Paisley further more stated, "Are we going to have in the government of Northern Ireland those who are terrorists, those that condoned and even planned murders, who robbed banks, who committed criminal acts and who will not support the police?" The DUP will not support Sinn Fein until the Irish Republican Army disbands, renounces crime and Sinn Fein accepts the Police Service of Northern Ireland, something it has refused to do for decades during the time of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The United States Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, Mitchell Reiss, stated "We need to start getting on with business, talking to each other, trying to work out some of the problems today, not leaving them until the last minute."

The Assembly has adjourned until Tuesday.


text:
User:Bobby fletcher

Hi, I'm 'bobby fletcher', the author of "Sujiatun Fact Or Hoax" blog.

title: User:Bobby fletcher


text: File:Ianpaisley.jpg

title: File:Ianpaisley.jpg


text:
Portal:Australia/Australian nuclear debate

In the midst of the nuclear stand-off in Iran, Australian government officials have been discussing the merits of nuclear energy and uranium enrichment in Australia. This has been met with criticism from the opposition and minor parties.

December 22, 2005

 * Australian academic study supports nuclear power
 * A group of Melbourne scientists has released a study of the energy problems confronting Australia in the future. The study endorses the use of nuclear energy and attacks some of the data used by anti-nuclear campaigners. The scientists from the University of Melbourne say their research shows that the benefits of nuclear energy have been underestimated and concerns about nuclear waste overplayed.

May 20, 2006

 * Australian PM pushes for "full-blooded" nuclear energy debate
 * Australian Prime Minister John Howard has told media in Canada that he wants "a full-blooded debate" in Australia about the issue of nuclear power. "I have a very open mind on the development of nuclear energy in my own country," he said. "That includes an open mind on whether or not Australia should in fact process uranium for the purposes of providing fuel for nuclear power in the future in Australia."

May 22, 2006

 * Downer welcomes Australian nuclear energy debate
 * Australia's foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer has given his support for a serious debate on nuclear energy in Australia. Mr Downer's comments follow similar comments made by Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Canada last week.

 * Mr Downer said that climate change has strongly influenced many to change their position on nuclear power and to encourage debate. He encouraged people to keep an open mind on nuclear power within the context of reducing greenhouse gases. The production of nuclear energy produces far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than coal and oil power stations.

 * PM John Howard's nuclear push causes alarm
 * Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced he wants a "full-scale nuclear debate", and three of his senior federal government frontbenchers - Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Resources Minister, Ian Macfarlane, and Environment Minister Ian Campbell - have all suggested Australia, which has around 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves, should consider enriching uranium - a step in processing that would allow it to be used as reactor fuel as well as for nuclear weapons.

 * However there is strong opposition for nuclear power in the Australian community. The Australian Greens have rejected the Prime Minister's assumption that nuclear power might be 'desirable' for Australia. The Greens say they challenge Mr Howard to show "true leadership on climate change and nuclear non-proliferation."

May 23, 2006

 * Australian treasurer enters nuclear debate
 * Peter Costello, Australian treasurer and the man most likely to succeed Prime Minister John Howard as Liberal party leader has thrown his support behind a nuclear power industry in Australia.
 * Mr Costello said that when nuclear power generation becomes economically viable, Australia should pursue it's use. "If it becomes commercial, we should have it. That is, there's no in-principle objection to nuclear energy" Mr Costello said.

May 24, 2006

 * The Australia Institute identifies ideal sites for nuclear power stations
 * The Australia Institute, an Australian research organisation considered to be aligned to the political left has released it's analysis of ideal locations for a nuclear power plant in Australia.

 * According to the institute, they consulted with a number or nuclear energy experts and determined the best possible sites for a nuclear power reactor in Australia. These sites include the popular holiday destinations of Port Stephens in New South Wales and Westernport Bay in Victoria.

May 25, 2006

 * Australian Government under pressure to reveal nuclear sites
 * The Australian Labor Party has placed pressure on the federal government to reveal potential sites for nuclear power plants. The pressure comes after the release of a report by The Australia Institute which identified several locations on the East Coast of Australia as "ideal" nuclear power sites.

 * Speaking in the Australian House of Representatives on Wednesday, opposition leader Kim Beazley (Brand, Labor) asked Australian treasurer and acting Prime Minister Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal) to name potential nuclear sites.

 * "As part of the government’s intention to consider nuclear power in Australia, will it nominate the proposed sites of its nuclear reactors and their associated high-level nuclear waste dumps?" Mr Beazley asked.

 * Howard's revival of nuclear debate "surprising": Political expert
 * Dr Frank Cain, a political expert and Lecturer in Defence and Australian Political and Economic History at the University of New South Wales has told Wikinews that many political commentators are finding Prime Minister John Howard's revival of the nuclear debate "surprising".

 * Australia came close to building a nuclear power reactor in the Jervis Bay Territory in the late 1960s but was later abandoned in 1971 after massive anti-nuclear demonstrations. The fear that Australia would produce nuclear weapons as a by-product of its nuclear energy programs killed the plans and a change in government ended the plans.

May 26, 2006

 * Science minister visits Australia's newest nuclear reactor, receives nuclear power report
 * Australian Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop visited the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in Lucas Heights, New South Wales today. The purpose of her visit was to inspect progress on Australia's newest nuclear research reactor - OPAL. Whilst at the facility, she received a report on the economics and safety of a nuclear power industry in Australia.

June 4, 2006

 * Australian nuclear power plants rejected by states
 * Australian media reports that Prime Minister John Howard is expected to push a nuclear energy inquiry through federal cabinet this week. Meanwhile, a list of possible sites for nuclear reactors has been leaked by the Opposition to media. The locations, listed in 1997, include Adelaide, Darwin, Perth, Lucas Heights, Goulburn, Holsworthy, and Broken Hill in New South Wales and other sites.

June 7, 2006

 * Australian PM announces nuclear taskforce
 * As expected by media sources, Australian Prime Minister, John Howard announced on Tuesday that he will be setting up a "Prime Ministerial taskforce" to investigate uranium mining, processing and nuclear energy in Australia.

June 11, 2006

 * Australian cabinet discounted potential security risks with nuclear energy
 * Australia's justice minister, Chris Ellison has said that the Australian federal cabinet did not consider security issues when it decided to setup an inquiry into nuclear power.

 * Speaking to the Nine Network, Senator Ellison said when considering energy, security concerns are not an issue. "When you look at sources of energy you don't look at any potential terrorist threat," he said.

June 16, 2006

 * Four incidents occur at Australian reactor in a week
 * The Australian federal opposition has attacked the Howard government following four incidents in a week at the HIFAR nuclear research reactor in Lucas Heights, South of Sydney. The incidents come just a week after the Australian government announced an inquiry into the feasibility of nuclear power.


text:
Talk:PM John Howard's nuclear push causes alarm

Nice article
Great work there elliot, although I believe you should have marked it as OR - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 01:00, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Sure, how do I do that? --elliot_k 03:05, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Add the tag ((original)) below the publish tag. Again, it is a really well-written and researched article - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 08:43, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


text:
Template:Countdown

}}} 1, 2007 - 1 month}}|July||29}} | }} -->
 * Today

Countdown to date

 * Only works if date in future
 * Calculates days until an event happens. Takes one unnamed parameter, which is day that event happens.   should countdown the number of days t'll the 30th of the month. If no argument is given, should count how many days ago the month started ( Doesn't quite work yet )
 * Optional parameter month=. will calculate date taking into account what month if month equals the current month, or the next month. Month in format of name or number

Bugs

 * If today is the day its supposed to count to, it doesn't work as supposed to Fixed by putting in outermost else. Don't know why innermost didn't work.
 * Doesn't whine about invalid dates
 * Month pram only works for current and next month

fa:الگو:شمارش معکوس

title: Template:Countdown


text:
Portal talk:Australia/Australian nuclear debate

There are some articles about proposed waste dumps:

 * Australian government paves way for nuclear waste dump in Northern Territory
 * Opposing a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory

Should these be included, or is the "debate" limited to nuclear power? - Borofkin 01:12, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I am not sure to be honest, I think it should probably include evrything related to the arguments for and against nuclear activities - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 01:29, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


text:
Australian treasurer enters nuclear debate

May 23, 2006

Peter Costello, Australian treasurer and the man most likely to succeed Prime Minister John Howard as Liberal party leader has thrown his support behind a nuclear power industry in Australia.

Mr Costello said that when nuclear power generation becomes economically viable, Australia should pursue its use. "If it becomes commercial, we should have it. That is, there's no in-principle objection to nuclear energy" Mr Costello said.

Mr Costello said that nuclear energy was clean and safe, provided waste was dealt with. "Nuclear energy is an efficient form of energy. Provided you deal properly with the waste, then it's safe,"

"It has much less greenhouse emissions than coal." Mr Costello said.

Long time environmentalist and Labor party member for Kingsford Smith, Peter Garrett said that the government were only discussing nuclear energy to cover up its inaction on climate change.

"When really, when you look seriously at what is going on here, Australia needs to make a decision about why we are not addressing climate change and find those necessary alternatives that will make up the energy mix" he said.

Mr Garrett said that it was a "farce" that PM Howard leaves the US and suddenly becomes pro-nuclear. "It's more than hypocritical, it's a farce for the Prime Minister to come back from America and suddenly become born again for nukes" he said.

Federal Environment Minister, Ian Campbell rejected Mr Garrett's claims that the government has ignored climate change and renewable energy, but said that nuclear power needed to be considered. He denied that the debate on nuclear power is a cover-up.

"We need to look at all of the options, not have this false debate about renewables versus coal or coal versus nuclear" he said.

"We need everything and we need to do it very well and that's how we will secure Australia's future." Mr Campbell said.

The federal opposition's environment spokesperson, Anthony Albanese said today that Mr Howard's viewws were stuck in the past and were not in the best interests of Australia.

However, Mr Albanese said Mr Howard's views were retrospective and not in Australia's best interest.

“This is classic John Howard whether it be the GST, whether it be the extreme industrial relations agenda, or whether it be this nuclear fantasy which will become Australia's nightmare – John Howard always returns to the past” Mr Albanese said.

“For John Howard to say that there hasn't been a debate on nuclear energy would suggest that he went to sleep in the 50s and he's just woken up.”

Mr Albanese claims that the high cost and safety concerns surrounding nuclear energy outweighed any benefits. “The problems of cost, safety, waste disposals and nuclear proliferation in the climate of terrorism are more acute today than they've ever been.” he said.


text:
Malaysian Home Ministry ban approved documentary

May 23, 2006

Malaysian documentary The Last Communist was passed without cuts by the National Film Censorship board in March. Ten days before it was supposed to start screening, the Home Ministry retracted the approval.

The film made its world debut at the Berlin Film Festival 2006 without filmmaker Amir Muhammed in attendance. It also appeared at the Seattle International Film Festival 2006 and the London Film Festival 2006. It has been reviewed favorably in Variety and UK's Sight & Sound. Sight & Sound called the film an "essayistic delight" and of Amir Muhammed "the only visible heir to the Chris Marker tradition."

The ban comes after Berita Harian, a conservative Malay daily, printed a series of articles critical of the film and the Censorship board. In the first article, the reporters ask government ministers and professors to comment on the impact of the film. The response is wholly negative.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad issued a retraction of the approval on May 5, 2006. Deputy Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho described the reasons behind the ban as, "the public was not very happy about the movie."

Neither the Berita Harian journalists nor their sources had seen the full movie. The article misstates that the film glorifies "the communist leader" when Chin Peng is mentioned only once throughout the film.

At the request of opposition Parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, the documentary was screened for ministers of Parliament. Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said, "The plot isn't controversial and there's nothing that could be deemed as offensive from the cultural viewpoint." Lim Kit Siang called the movie, "an eye opener for all".

On Monday, 22nd May, Radzi announced that in the annual meeting of the UMNO supreme council, in June, the government is scheduled to decide whether to keep the ban on the film, or let the people decide.

At the time of the ban, Radzi had not seen the film either.


text:
Drug crackdown in Northern NSW nets two suppliers

May 23, 2006 New South Wales Police, on Monday arrested and charged two people in separate simultaneous raids in Northern NSW. The raids follow an investigation into cannabis supply by Strike Force Bayan.

Police conducted three separate raids simultaneously around 7:30 p.m. on properties in Mullaway, Woolgoolga and Halfway Creek, all just North of Coffs Harbour on the NSW North Coast.

Police claim to have seized AUD $400,000 worth of cannabis at a property in Mullaway and have arrested and charged a 35 year-old man with drug possession.

The other person caught by the operation was a 46 year-old woman at the Woolgoolga property. She was charged with supplying cocaine.

Police found a large amount of cannabis and money at the Halfway Creek property but are yet to lay charges over the discovery.

Back in December 2000, a Alcohol and Other Drug Sector Agency Forum discovered that the rate of cannabis use among young people in the Coffs Harbour area was particularly high and that many cannabis users come from families where parents and even grandparents use the drug.


title: File:23May2006.pdf


title: File:23May2006.sxw


text:
Mother charged with manslaughter

May 23, 2006 An overseas student who is currently in Dunedin has been charged with manslaughter because of her baby's death.

The 20-year-old will appear in Dunedin Court this afternoon.

Her baby was born in the early hours of Saturday, May 20. The mother was taken to hospital on the same day about 2:30 p.m. because her friends were concerned about her health, she was suffering from internal bleeding. It was later discovered that she had given birth. The baby was found at around 11 p.m. at Studholme College, which was where she was staying.

They interviewed the mother and performed an autopsy on the baby.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Wakelin says: "She's obviously quite traumatised still. Physically she's recovering well, but she's got a long way to go psychologically."

Police would not comment on the case any further since the case is now before the courts.

title: Mother charged with manslaughter


text:
Global warming underestimated, say scientists

May 23, 2006 Some scientists say current climate change estimates may be significantly underestimating the potential scale of global warming. The team of researchers report that the actual warming due to human fossil fuel emissions could be 15 percent to 78 percent higher than estimates that fail to take into account the feedback mechanism which involves carbon dioxide and Earth temperature.

Greenhouse gases are believed to contribute to global warming, yet scientists have said that global warming itself triggers greenhouse gas emissions - meaning that the Earth may get hotter faster than climate models predict.

Another team of researchers in California, has reported a similar conclusion: "when the Earth has warmed up in the past, due to the sun's natural cycles, more greenhouse gases have been spewed into the atmosphere. As greenhouse gas levels rose, so did the Earth's temperature," the scientists reported.

Dr Margaret Torn of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said: "It means the warming is happening faster, each decade is actually warming faster than it would have," Dr Torn said. "It's the pace of change that will be one of the big problems. It's how humans adapt and the cost that will depend on the rate of change of climate."

Over the past 30 years, the Earth has warmed by 0.6 degrees Celsius, NASA has reported. Over the past 100 years, it has warmed by 0.8 degrees C, indicating a recent acceleration in warmth. Current climate models predict temperature increases of 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius, but the California team realised that additional carbon dioxide caused by the natural solar cycle may elevate these estimates.

Taking this information on board could mean temperature increases of 1.6 to 6 degrees Celsius - and the higher temperatures are more likely, they said in a statement.

Meanwhile, another group of leading US scientists has linked global warming to the recent increase in hurricane intensity. They warn that humans must develop cleaner energy and transportation immediately - or bear the risk of more extreme storms.

"One is faced with repeating history, of putting up with $200 billion worth of damage every so often," said Dr. Peter Webster, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and author of a 2005 study that found the strength and duration of hurricanes has doubled in the last 50 years. "I’m not sure how many $200 billion the country can afford," he told journalists.

Lawrence Berkeley's Dr Torn said humans are the biggest unknown: "To predict the future, you have to guess how much CO2 levels will go up. That depends on the biggest uncertainty of all - what humans decide to do. Do we get smart and prevent CO2 emissions? Do we continue with business as usual? Or will we end up somewhere in between?"


text:
Hurricane forecasters: Up to 10 hurricanes in Atlantic

May 23, 2006

Forecasters with the U.S. in  predict that up to ten hurricanes will form in the North  this hurricane season, and that up to six of them will be considered "major." The hurricane center also predicts that from 13 to 16 "named" storms this season (i.e. of strength or greater, with winds in excess of 39 mph or 62 km/h.)

A major hurricane, as defined by the National Hurricane Center, is one that rates Category 3 or above on the, with sustained winds of 111 mph (179 km/h) or more.

Conrad Lautenbacher, administrator of the, says that warmer ocean temperatures and low make conditions favorable for hurricane development. Although it is too soon to predict how many storms will make landfall, Lautenbacher says that it is possible that two to four hurricanes could affect the United States.

According to NOAA, the Atlantic basin has been in an active period since 1995, with nine of the past eleven seasons with above average storm activity. Max Mayfield, directory of the National Hurricane Center, said, "the research is telling us we are in an active period that may last 20 years, and that's not good news. So the message is clear: We need to be prepared."

"It takes just one hurricane over your house to make for a bad year," said Mayfield.

Last year, 28 named storms developed into 15 hurricanes, of which seven were major. The hurricane center had predicted five major hurricanes out of nine total hurricanes that year. Five hurricanes (,, , , and ) were so destructive that the World Meteorological Organization retired their names.

The North Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.


text:
User talk:203.106.230.8

Welcome to Wikinews! Thanks for creating Malaysian documentary "passed without cuts", banned by Home Ministry, we need more articles like this. There are a few issues that must be dealt with before it can be published. The most important is that it currently does not conform to our Style guide. Wikinews articles must meet certain standards. You may find the information at Writing an article to be useful.

Discussion about your article will occur on the article talk page. Please go there to start or participate in the discussion with other Wikinews contributors. Please keep at it and try to get this article published. Getting news stories that interest you published at Wikinews can sometimes be difficult, but you will find that it is worth the effort. - Borofkin 07:26, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:203.106.230.8


text:
User talk:219.93.44.162

Welcome to Wikinews! Thanks for creating Malaysian documentary "passed without cuts", banned by Home Ministry, we need more articles like this. There are a few issues that must be dealt with before it can be published. The most important is that it currently does not conform to our Style guide. Wikinews articles must meet certain standards. You may find the information at Writing an article to be useful.

Discussion about your article will occur on the article talk page. Please go there to start or participate in the discussion with other Wikinews contributors. Please keep at it and try to get this article published. Getting news stories that interest you published at Wikinews can sometimes be difficult, but you will find that it is worth the effort. - Borofkin 07:26, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Great!
Thanks Borofkin,

I'll have a look and make improvements.

title: User talk:219.93.44.162


text:
User:Suleyman Habeeb~enwikinews

Hi, I'm Suleyman Habeeb.

I'm from Istanbul, Turkey.

I'm also members of English and Turkish Wikipedias.

In the future I'll try to write news articles on Turkey and Middle-East.

Feel free to email me at suleyman_habib@yahoo.com.tr

title: User:Suleyman Habeeb~enwikinews


text:
Talk:Drug crackdown in Northern NSW nets two suppliers

Original Reporting
Written from original sources (media release and report) - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 08:37, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


text:
Australian PM to be snubbed by up to six Irish MPs

May 23, 2006 When Australian Prime Minister John Howard speaks to Ireland's Dail (lower house) later today Irish Time up to six members will not be in attendance to protest Australia's involvement in the invasion of Iraq.

Joe Higgins, one of the members who will dissent from parliament for Mr Howard's speech called him a xenophobe and warmonger. "I would describe him as xenophobic, as a warmonger, as an anti-trade union representative of Australian and indeed world big business," he said.

Mr Howard said that the boycott plans were an example of democracy at work. "Well, I would say to them, isn't it terrific to celebrate the joy of democracy? And part of the joy of democracy is the right to peaceful and lawful dissent," Mr Howard said.

"The Irish brought many things to Australia and one of them was dissent. So they are living exemplars of that Irish spirit, God bless them," Mr Howard said.

It is the first time Mr Howard has visited Ireland as Australia's Prime Minister. Mr Howard was last in Ireland in 1986, when he was leader of the opposition.

Mr Howard's visit has also encouraged predictions about the 2007 Australian general election.

Two community leaders in Ireland have said they expect Mr Howard to secure a fifth term in office when Australia goes to the polls in 2007. University College Dublin president Hugh Brady said that he had been told by his sources that Mr Howard was expected to return to office next year.

Eugene McCague, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce president, followed Mr Brady's comments, telling a group of business people that Mr Howard could share some advice with Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern. There will also be an election next year in Ireland and Mr Ahern will be seeking a third term in office.

"I hope if you have a few moments, the Taoiseach could take an opportunity to ask and learn from you what are the secrets of winning three general elections in a row, or indeed in your case four general elections in a row" Mr McCague said.

"And I also suspect he might like to understand what the secret is of somebody whose party members are clamouring for him to lead them into a fifth general election in a row."


text:
Howard government confirms "secret nuclear power committee"

May 23, 2006 An internal government committee has been created to look at Australia's nuclear energy role. The Federal Government has admitted it has set up a "secret committee" to examine the economics and science of nuclear power. During a Senate estimates committee, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet's deputy secretary, Duncan Lewis confirmed that the committee had been formed following statements by US President George W Bush to create a global nuclear energy partnership. He told the Senate estimates that the committee would effectively try to develop an Australian perspective on the American proposal.

Labor Opposition environment spokesman, Anthony Albanese, says the information has not been made public because of the sensitivity of the issue. "This hasn't been announced, the work's been done behind-the-scenes because the Government knows that this is indeed a very dangerous path for Australia to go on," he said.

Greens Senator Christine Milne said that the establishment of a secret committee to look at nuclear power was deeply troubling: "Prime Minister John Howard says he wants a full public debate on whether Australia should adopt nuclear power, yet his government has set up a secret committee to examine the matter," Senator Milne said.

"The latest evidence about climate change supports the Greens' position that nuclear power is no solution to climate change, as the government claims. As well as being dangerous it is too slow to mobilise," Senator Milne said in a media release.

Democrats Leader Lyn Allison says it is extraordinary that the Government did not make the details of the committee public. "It's very clear... that we're looking here at a very secret, narrow and possibly a biased inquiry," she said. "If that's where it is going, in fact we'll be moving as soon as we can to establish a Senate inquiry into this, we think it needs to be open, it needs to be public." Senator Allison said in a media release that Howard's push for nuclear power "is greed and glow in the dark politics..."

"The Government has no plan for power generation into the future that doesn't add to greenhouse emissions or produce intractable waste. The enrichment process is energy-intensive and Australia is already the world's highest per capita greenhouse gas emitter. We cannot afford another energy guzzling industry, especially when this government has abandoned renewable energy," she said. "Enriching uranium concentrates the isotopes making the uranium more hazardous, more polluting, and makes Australia a greater target for nuclear terrorism."

Senator Milne said on the Democrats website: "Australians want leadership on this issue, not knee jerk reactions to what George Bush thinks is a good idea. They want a debate that isn't set up to merely justify selling enriched uranium and nuclear power."

Anthony Albanese says John Howard's push for a nuclear energy debate would become "Australia's nightmare." Mr Albanese said Mr Howard's views were retrospective and not in Australia's best interests: "This is classic John Howard whether it be the GST, whether it be the extreme industrial relations agenda, or whether it be this nuclear fantasy which will become Australia's nightmare – John Howard always returns to the past," Mr Albanese said in a News Limited article.

"For John Howard to say that there hasn't been a debate on nuclear energy would suggest that he went to sleep in the 50s and he's just woken up." Mr Albanese said the dangers and costs of nuclear energy outweighed the energy benefits. "The problems of cost, safety, waste disposals and nuclear proliferation in the climate of terrorism are more acute today than they've ever been."

Nuclear power sites for east coast?
Meanwhile a new study by the Australia Institute has identified several areas on Australia's east coast, where nuclear power plants could be built if the Howard Government decide to take the nuclear energy path. The Australia Institute say they have consulted experts who say that the plant will need to be located on the coast, near transmission lines and be near a major centre with good rail and port access.

The institute's Dr Clive Hamilton said the area south of Wollongong, the central coast of New South Wales, the Sunshine Coast and other areas in Queensland and Victoria would be ideal. "You can't have a nuclear industry without specifying where the nuclear power plants are likely to be," he said. "We're really taking up the Prime Minister's challenge to have a debate about nuclear power in Australia. We want to make it an honest debate and to start talking about where you would put the nuclear power plants if they were to be built."

Dr Hamilton suggests the nuclear debate barely touched the surface. "Wherever a nuclear power plant is built in Australia, some people aren't going to like it, that's just an inevitability," he said. "I think if we're going to have a serious nuclear debate rather than just a false debate then we need to start to talk about the reality of building nuclear power plants which, in the end, comes down to location."


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Israeli forces capture Hamas commander

May 23, 2006 Israeli troops have captured Ibrahim Hamad, the leader of the military wing of the Islamic Group Hamas in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Israel accuses the 41-year-old Hamad (who has headed the Izzedine al- Qasam brigades in the West Bank since 2003) of masterminding a string of suicide bombings including attacks on cafes and universities in Jerusalem. Hamas, which has launched some of the biggest attacks against Israel, declared an informal truce 15 months ago. Since then, Hamas also won the palestinian parliamentary elections in January of this year.

The raid (which was executed early this morning) involved Israeli troops, jeeps and a bulldozer. Eye-witnesses say the soldiers surrounded a row of shops in which Hamad was hiding and threatened to demolish the building if he did not come out. The bulldozer then proceeded to ram the iron doors of the shops, after which Hamad emerged and surrendered. The Israeli troops then ordered him to strip to make sure he was unarmed. After this, he was arrested and taken away in his underwear.

Hamad had been wanted by Israel since 1998, he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority but was released in 2002 during a major Israeli offensive in the West Bank. The BBC's correspondent in Jerusalem, Caroline Hawley says it is not clear why Israel moved against Hamad since Hamas has not carried out any attacks for over a year. Israeli operations in the past few months have been concentrated against the more active group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

title: Israeli forces capture Hamas commander


text:
Talk:Montenegro secedes from Serbia

The title is wrong
Montenegro did not secede from Serbia, it was never a part of Serbia. What it secedes from is the federal state of Serbia and Montenegro. Huge difference. It be like saying "Oregon secedes from California", instead of "Oregon secedes from the United States". I know it's a bad example, but the point remains. --67.189.72.211 10:56, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Correction to the article
I never really got to it, but it had to get done -- I had to post a correction. The mainstream media indeed gave us the illusion that Montenegro officially departed from the union of Serbia and Montenegro that day, but that was simply not true. This should serve as a reminder to the community: when covering a sensationalizing event, be very, very careful to take a look at the writing closely and not lead yourself to writing an inaccurate article. While it took a short while for the retraction, the important point is that we now acknowledge the truth. — THIS IS M ESSED OCKER  (TALK) 05:48, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Montenegro secedes from Serbia


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Turkish and Greek fighter planes collide in mid air

May 23, 2006

Two fighter planes, a Turkish plane and a Greek  collided in mid air and crashed into the. The location of the crash is approximately 10 miles east of, a Greek island in the southern part of the Aegean Sea.

Yiannis Papageorgiou a spokesman for the says that the Greek F-16 was dispatched to intercept and identify the Turkish plane that according to Papageorgiou was violating the  Flight Information Region, when the two planes collided.

The Greek Defense Ministry said earlier "the planes collided during interception manoeuvres above Karpathos. We don’t know what has happened to the Greek pilot yet." A passing merchant ship rescued the Turkish pilot, Halil Ibrahim Ozdemir, who refused to be rescued by Greek frogmen. The Greek pilot was killed in the incident.

Vecdi Gonul, Defense Minister for the Turkish government released a partial statement saying, "we’re still waiting for definite information and our Chief of Staff is speaking to the Greek Chief of Staff."

as well as rescue personnel have been dispatched to the area.

When the event became known, Turkish Foreign Minister, communicated immediately with his counterpart, Dora Bakoyiannis in order to have a first conversation regarding the fighter planes' crash.

Both countries of their airspace over the sea and fighters sometimes conduct mock dogfights in the area between the two countries.


text:
Talk:Howard government confirms "secret nuclear power committee"

Original Reporting Notes
Used Greens and Democrats Media Releases. See Sources: Greens Media Release, May 23, 2006 Democrats Media Release, May 22, 2006 Democrats Media Release, May 23, 2006 --elliot_k 12:57, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


text:
Australia saves three billion plastic bags from circulation

May 23, 2006 The Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, has praised supermarket shoppers and operators for cutting three billion plastic bags from circulation during the past two years. He said a report compiled by the Australian National Retailers Association, representing major supermarkets, showed that by the end of last year supermarkets had reduced their annual use of lightweight, single-use bags by 45 per cent compared with 2002.

"This is an enormous achievement by shoppers and supermarket management and a clear demonstration of a behavioural change by thousands of Australians," Senator Campbell said. "The cutback means fewer bags in the litter stream. The goal must be to stop plastic bags getting into the litter stream and spoiling Australia’s environment."

The Senator says the result came from entirely voluntary action – "no regulations, no levies or additional costs to shoppers. I am delighted that the major supermarkets are committed to achieving the 50 per cent goal by the end of this year. I also share their view that development of a viable degradable bag to replace existing lightweight plastic ones is a key to achieving further significant reductions."

Plastics have been widely used in Australia in the past few decades but environmentalists say plastic bags have had a devastating impact on the nation's natural environment. According to Clean Up Australia plastic bags can take between 20 and 1000 years to break down. Despite their recyclable nature, an estimated 6.67 billion or 36,700 tonnes of plastic bags are disposed of in landfill sites throughout Australia each year.

Many thousands of marine mammals and seabirds die every year around the world as a result of plastic litter. A 2004 NSW Parliamentary paper reported that plastic bags are of "significant concern in the marine and aquatic environment, as aquatic life can be threatened through entanglement, suffocation and ingestion." The then Federal Environment Minister was reported as saying: "All environmental ministers believe that all plastic bags should be phased out within five years. If this voluntary campaign isn’t working then of course we have to consider what to do (next)…."


text:
Talk:Australia saves three billion plastic bags from circulation

OR NOTE
From Ministers Media Release, Clean Up Australia website and NSW 2004 report on Plastic bag "ban". See Sources. --elliot_k 14:03, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


text: Portal:India/Wikimedia

title: Portal:India/Wikimedia


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Portal:India/box-header

  [ edit ]

title: Portal:India/box-header


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Former U.S. senator Lloyd Bentsen dies at 85

May 23, 2006

According to family, former United States senator for Texas and former Treasury Secretary, Lloyd Bentsen has died at the age of 85 in his home located in Houston, Texas.

Bentsen is most famous for his words during a Vice Presidential debate on October 5, 1988. Indiana Senator Dan Quayle, the Republican candidate for Vice President, compared his congressional experience to that of former President John F. Kennedy when he sought the presidency. Bentsen replied, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy." The sharp rebuke, however, didn't save Bentsen, as George H.W. Bush and Quayle defeated Michael Dukakis and Bentsen in the 1988 elections.

In 1998, Bentsen suffered a small stroke, which he said was caused by a 3-month long trip to 15 different nations.

"I enjoy challenges and being involved," Bentsen said.

Bentsen was born on February 11, 1921 and represented the state of Texas for 28 years.