text:
Colombia releases official notice in response to Venezuela

January 17, 2005

The government of Colombia released an official notice in response to Venezuela's claims. Recently Venezuela said Colombian authorities illegally invaded Venezuelan territory and kidnapped FARC adviser Rodrigo Granda (also known as Ricardo Gonzalez). Colombia said that Colombian forces captured Granda inside Colombian territory. Colombia also accused Venezuela of harboring terrorists.

At first, Venezuela accused Colombia of invading Venezuelan territory and capturing Granda. Later, Venezuela said that Colombia may have bribed Venezuelan public officers.

The Venezuelan government's protests are a request of the FARC. The FARC demands that the Venezuelan government assures the safety and freedom of their members inside Venezuelan territory.

The complete Colombian declaration follows:

HOUSE OF NARIÑO COMMUNIQUÉ

[[media:Colombia narino02162005.ogg|audio]]: voice of the Press Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia Ricardo Gallant(in Spanish)

1. The right of the people to be free of terrorists needs the efficient and resolute cooperation of all democratic governments.

2. Colombia pays rewards to informants who allow the capture of terrorists. It does not bribe. Venezuela must present proves supporting the alleged bribe to government officials.

3. We cannot be cynically deceived by the FARC which presents the capture of kidnappers like kidnapping.

4. Colombia will present proves to the Venezuelan Government regarding the protection provided by officials of that country to Mr. Granda. The safe haven provided to terrorists violates the sovereignty of Colombia, an offended country, for it increases the risk of terror against its citizens.

5. Colombia does not accept that representatives of terrorist organizations be admitted in a political event sponsored by official Venezuelan institutions. Political opposition is one thing another very different one is terrorism.

6. With surprise it is read in the Foreign Affairs Office in Venezuela communiqué, the intention of involving 4 Colombian police officers in the Granda case. The Venezuelan authorities timely new that it concerned another antinarcotics operation. They were investigated and released.

7. Colombia has used the diplomatic and official channels. What is demanded is that such channels operate in an efficient manner. Once again, information will be delivered to that Government concerning the presence of Colombian terrorists on Venezuelan soil. The name of 7 high ranking terrorist leaders and the location of various camps will be included

8. The will of the Colombian Government to work in harmony with the Government of Venezuela is reiterated and according to the procedure defined by the Offices of Foreign Affairs.

9. Terrorism cannot harm the unity of our nations.

January 16, 2005

House of Nariño

Related news

 * Uribe-Chavez meeting postponed February 4, 2005.
 * Venezuela-Colombia crisis:Castro intervenes, Chavez and Uribe scheduled to meet February 01, 2005.
 * Venezuela-Colombia crisis continues January 24, 2005.
 * Brazilian President meets President of Colombia January 20, 2005.
 * Marxist intellectuals support arrested FARC leader January 15, 2005.
 * Capture of FARC member creates crisis between Venezuela and Colombia, January 15, 2005.


text:
Safe house in the Underground Railroad to be torn down

January 17, 2005

Waukesha County, Wisconsin, Martin Luther King Day. The Waukesha Freeman, a newspaper with roots in the Abolitionist Movement before the American Civil War, announced that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has deemed a house at Highway 164 and Lisbon Road of no historical value, and has authorized its demolition sometime this spring.

A historian in the town of Sussex, Wisconsin, where the house is located, noted that residents had a verbal tradition that it was a location in the Underground Railroad, a route for slaves to Canada, before the American Civil War.

Sue Baker, of the Waukesha County Historical Society, which has a museum of county history in the old Court House, noted that Waukesha County had strong abolitionist leanings.

Ironically, Waukesha County, due to its high house prices, compared to Milwaukee County, has relatively few African-American residents, and statistically, the Milwaukee metropolitan area is one of the most segregated in the United States.

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


text:
Hong Kong Makes First File-Sharing Arrest

January 17, 2005

A 38 year-old man has been arrested by the Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong, for illegally distributing three copyrighted movies via BitTorrent file-sharing technology. This is the world's first criminal arrest of its kind.

The unemployed male was arrested last Thursday for uploading "torrents" to a local message board. The torrents allowed people to download three movies from computers at his home in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong. However, the suspect was not immediately charged, and investigations are still underway, according to the Hong Kong Government. The law in Hong Kong allows for a sentence of up to four years in prison, and a US$6,400 fine per violation — defined as a single unauthorized copy of a protected work.

BitTorrent is an ultra-fast file-sharing technology which allows users (or "peers") to share files of any size via the unused upload bandwidth of other peers, even though their downloads are still in progress. The technology was developed by Bram Cohen three years ago.

In the past several weeks, major BitTorrent websites in the United States have closed down due to, or in order to avoid civil charges initiated recently by the MPAA. According to the former operator of one of these sites, Suprnova.org, software developers have already worked out a solution and are beta-testing a new peer-to-peer program called eXeem. The software will bring together the strengths of Kazaa (another peer-to-peer program) and BitTorrent.

Related news

 * Police raids filesharing resources


text:
User talk:King Ho Cheung

Welcome
King Ho Cheung, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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! -- IlyaHaykinson 00:48, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * 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
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * 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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 * And of course, stories need writing!

Workspace
Hi King Ho Cheung. First, I must say thank you for bringing some much-needed Asian balance to the content of Wikinews.

Secondly, can I ask you what's your opinion on how the Workspace should work? Amgine wants all new stories to be listed at once on the front page, so other people start editing them. When we last tried that I found people were clicking red links (created to create new articles) and then beginning to write articles I was already writing from scratch, just hadn't finished (so not saved) yet. This gave edit conflicts. What's your opinion? Dan100 (Talk) 11:15, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Licenses
It's a horrible area but I've been making some investigations; anything I say could be wrong.

This is the public domain license and this is the share-alike attribution license (the one Sweets uses on her blog). Public domain means that you are guaranteeing that you are in a position to choose the copyright (ie the author or have the author's permission to do this), and that the person using this licence is happy for the work to be re-distributed, re-written, mangled etc at will and the granter of copy-right can never do anything about it.

The BY-SA license means that the author is saying that you can copy and re-distribute the work at will as long as you give credit, and you can change the work as long as you use the same license. (Many feel this is the license Wikinews should use instead of public domain). However any of these rights can be waived by the copy-right holder. This is what Sweets did. Dan100 (Talk) 19:53, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:King Ho Cheung


text:
Romania plans to send more troops to Iraq

January 18, 2005Romania's president Traian Băsescu has pledged to send an extra 100 infantry troops to Iraq to assist the United Nations peacekeepers in the area and to ensure security in the upcoming legislative elections, set to take place on January 30, 2005.

The country, a US ally and a member of NATO since 2004, already has 730 troops in Iraq, being the 8th largest force in the coalition of the willing. The additional deployment will make Romania's force the 7th largest in Iraq, raising its number to 830 troops.

These announcements come amid the global trend of military withdrawal from Iraq. Spain pulled its troops out in early 2004 following a change of government, while Romania's neighbours Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria, also staunch US allies, are planning a reduction in the number of troops in the coming year.

This news also comes at a time when the USA is planning to move its European troops from bases in Germany to more eastern locations. The most likely candidates are Romania and Bulgaria, which are in strategic positions close to the Middle East.


text:
Latham quits as Australian Labor leader

Following hospitalisation for pancreatitis and ongoing speculation about his leadership, Mark Latham has resigned from his roles as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and also the Federal Member for Werriwa. He cited as reasons the media harassment, and a desire to put his family and health first.

Mr Latham became leader of the ALP just over a year ago, on 2 December, 2003, leading the party during the October 2004 federal election. He was hospitalised in the run-up to that election, also for treatment of pancreatitis. Following the defeat of his party, his leadership increasingly came under question.

He fell ill a second time almost simultaneously with last year's Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. His failure to issue a statement on the tsunami drew criticism from the media and calls for his resignation from within his own party, even after it was revealed that he had been incapacitated at the time.

Mr Latham's resignation sidesteps the possibility of a leadership challenge by other members of the party and leaves no clear successor.

title: Latham quits as Australian Labor leader


text:
Romanian president to visit United Kingdom

January 18, 2005Romania's president Traian Băsescu has accepted an invitation by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, to engage in his first bilateral visit to the UK.

Băsescu was elected president of Romania in December 12, 2004, in the country's most hotly-contested election since the downfall of the Communist Party in 1989.

The president met with Quinton Quayle, the UK's ambassador in Bucharest, Romania, where he received Mr Blair's invitation. In London, Băsescu will discuss the strong cooperation between the UK and Romania in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the British support that Romania receives in its fight against corruption and its preparation for EU accession. Romania is expected to join the European Union in 2007.

Băsescu is also expected to discuss regional security in the Black Sea area, an important issue of his presidency, as well as to meet British businessmen interested in investing in Romania. The United Kingdom has been one of the largest foreign investors in Romania and continues to invest significantly in the country, which is attractive due to its low labour costs, which are lower than those in the new Central European member states. Foreign investment is expected to increase significantly this year due to Romania's new fiscal policy, which introduced a flat tax rate of 16%, the lowest among EU member states and candidates.

After winning the presidential elections, Băsescu was criticised by many for his outspoken support for his plan to create a Bucharest-London-New York axis, a partnership between Romania, the UK and the USA. Băsescu later backed down on his claims, though he said that the UK and the US remain of great interest to Romania for reasons of security. Romania remains a staunch supporter of the US- and UK-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.


text:
User talk:65.66.15.20

Welcome
65.66.15.20, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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! -- IlyaHaykinson 07:54, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * 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
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * 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
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

title: User talk:65.66.15.20


text:
User talk:68.122.41.90

Welcome
68.122.41.90, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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! -- IlyaHaykinson 07:54, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * 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
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * 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
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

title: User talk:68.122.41.90


text:
Deadliest Year Ever for Journalists?

January 18, 2005

A new report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) documents 129 cases where media workers have been killed because of their work during 2004. They expect the number to increase as more information reaches them. This could make 2004 the deadliest year ever.

49 casualties (close to 40%) occurred in Iraq, making it by far the deadliest country for journalists. At least 20 of those appeared to be cases were journalists were directly targeted because of their profession.

Another country that deserved special attention was the Philippines where 13 journalists appears to have been asassinated in separate incidents because of their reporting. None of the murderes have been apprehended by the police.

In Nepal two journalists were killed by security forces and one by the rebels. Another journalist was killed by land mines.

title: Deadliest Year Ever for Journalists?


text:
Deadliest year ever for journalists?

A new report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) documents 129 cases where media workers have been killed because of their work during 2004. They expect the number to increase as more information reaches them. This could make 2004 the deadliest year ever.

49 casualties (close to 40%) occurred in Iraq, making it by far the deadliest country for journalists. At least 20 of those appeared to be cases where journalists were directly targeted because of their profession.

Another country that deserved special attention was the Philippines, where 13 journalists appear to have been assassinated in separate incidents because of their reporting. None of the murderers have been apprehended by the police.

In Nepal, two journalists were killed by security forces and one by the rebels. Another journalist was killed by a land mine.

title: Deadliest year ever for journalists?


text:
Romanians raise 395,000 euro for tsunami victims

January 18, 2005Through a telethon, Romanians have raised 15 billion lei, or the equivalent of 395,000 euro for victims of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of Boxing Day 2004 that claimed more than 175,000 victims.

The ten-hour telethon was organised on Sunday, January 16, by the television station Realitatea TV, and was the first time an event of this kind had been staged in the country. Nicoleta Drăguşin, a spokeswoman for the network, claims that, "it was a big success... [15 billion lei] is a lot of money for a private television station to raise."

Dozens of Romanian celebrities took part in the telethon, including goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea, fashion designers Catinca Roman and Mihai Albu, former Foreign Affairs Minister Mircea Geoană and the soprano Mariana Nicolesco. Newly-elected president Traian Băsescu and prime minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu also took part. In between the live showings of celebrities picking up calls from Romanians who had called to donate, there were shown images and footage from the global catastrophe and its aftermath.

Two Romanian tourists have been declared missing in the tsunami. The 395,000 euro raised by the telethon supplement that 150,000 euro worth of aid pledged by the Romanian government in the form of tents, water and drugs to tsunami-stricken areas of South Asia.


text:
User talk:Ronline~enwikinews

Hey Ronline, this isn't the local news for Romania!

Hey Ronline,

Thanks for all the news of Romania. I'm glad to hear about stuff that doesn't get mentioned much in my local papers.

Pingswept 02:07, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Hey Ronline,

Thanks for all the info on Romania, its so completely off your average Australian's radar, that it is interesting to hear about it. Keep up the good work. The bellman 10:19, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Find 5 or more other Romanians who want to start up a romanian version, then go talk to brion, and he'll set it up for you. (i think; ive never set up a language myself so im not 100% sure. anyways talk to Brion or raise it on one of the mailing lists.) The bellman 11:08, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Hey Ronline,

How about a little balance in your reporting? And why not an occaional non-Romanian item?

-Ronline, ignore that. I don't know who wrote it, but they obviously don't understand how wikis nor Wikinews works. Dan100 (Talk) 11:04, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * I mean, I like all your Romanian articles. Hopefully soon people will also be writing lots of articles about news in France, Peru, Japan etc. too! Dan100 (Talk) 11:05, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Salut Ronline! Faptele grãiesc mai apãsat decât vorbele. Any past hints of criticism have now been invalidated. Perhaps I should still clarify a few things. Balance in your reporting _from Romania_. In "local news" sections some stories/angles from Romania and in "international news" from Romania other stories/angles. "An occasional" should be clear enough. I suspect you are interested in many things. We are allowed to dream aren't we?

mersi, ceau (Written by a well-known fan who doesn't understand how wikis or Wikinews works) P.S. Dont forget: negative feedback is good for your teeth.

Workspace war!
What's your opinion on how the Workspace should, er, work? Amgine wants all stories to be listed at once on the front page, so other people start editing them. When we last tried that I found people were clicking red links and beginning to write articles I was already writing from scratch, just hadn't finished (so not saved) yet. This gave biiig edit conflicts. What's your opinion? Dan100 (Talk) 11:04, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for helping out on reverting the spam! - Amgine 07:20, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Region pages/Categories
There are several projects underway to modify the regional pages and add auto-updating. However, you should know that most articles do not have categories added to them, and so linking to the categories is actually more out-of-date than the regional pages. There is a project going already to do what you planned to do: talk to User:Simeon about his plan to move the region pages to the category pages.

Also, please do not make large changes to the main page systems without discussing your changes on the talk page first - otherwise you might accidentally interfere with a process which is already going. - Amgine 21:38, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Romania, 14th most attractive country for business relocation
Hey Roline, I'm sorry for acting so rashly against your article yesterday. I was just angered to see such detail given to a 14th place ranking whilst little mention was given to 1st or 2nd. You asked in a rather detailed comment for both Romanian and other audiences to be catered for. I've taught about that and restored your article with a link to to India one. Hope you accept my apolagy and I look foward to working with you in the future. CGorman 21:33, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Where've you gone
Not seen any articles about Romania for a while :(. Sadly there's a growing US bias on this site; you provided some useful counter-balance! Dan100 (Talk) 21:36, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Romania
Wikinews Romania (in English) is now open for business! Looking forward to some fresh stories! CGorman 22:43, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Re:Romanian Bureau
No problem - you deserve it after all your hard work. CGorman 21:04, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Wikinews coverage stats
You sure love your country! Nice to see some patriotism around! I'll have to increase my coverage of Ireland! CGorman 22:07, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Celtic Tiger
If you ever want to read up on it, I wrote most of the Celtic Tiger on Wikipedia and brought it to Featured status. CGorman 23:28, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Articles per country
The chart on your user page showing the number of articles per country is quite useful.

However, Japan is missing from your list.

If you're only showing articles for the countries with the greatest number of stories, Japan (with eight articles) has more coverage than France (with three or four stories).

It sure would be nice if it were possible to construct a page which updates the tallies automatically.

It will be interesting to see if the total number of Romania-related stories continues to stay ahead of the total number of China-related stories.

— DV 10:38, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I was moving Atlanta article there!
give me some moments to get the story updated after I repost it on the template. edw 05:31, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Happy St Patrick's Day!
Thank! CGorman 18:40, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Personal Views
Great to see my idea has caught on ;). Nice to see you're strongly anti-smoking - you know we have a national ban on smoking in the workplace in Ireland - including the pub - it was like a breath of fresh air when it came in! CGorman 23:21, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Coverage stats
Ronline, kudos for all your efforts on Wikinews and vivat Romania (I guess Latin is as good as any language). Can you make another, more current country-coverage status report? Thanks! 70.57.139.181 10:39, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC) (Dpr)

 * China now has 40 41 articles. Romania better make some more news if it wants to keep up! :) — DV 12:37, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

You could win!
Hi Ronline,

With your recent submission of three stories, you are now caught up on the article debt that would be required, were you to choose to join the Wikinews Writing Contest.

There are some prizes in store for the winner, but the biggest prize would be if Romania were to eventually reign supreme as the source of the most news on Wikinews!

I invite you to join today if you are up to it.

Regards,

— DV 07:03, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Germany
Nice job with the stats but you are missing Germany which has 6 articles!→ CGorman (Talk)  15:25, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Oh and the following are missing also:

 * Category:Taiwan - 15
 * Category:Colombia - 15
 * Category:India - 14
 * Category:New Zealand - 12
 * Category:Israel - 11
 * Category:Cuba - 10
 * Category:Venezuela - 9
 * Category:Kyrgyzstan - 9
 * Category:Lebanon - 8
 * Category:Iran - 7
 * Category:Indonesia - 6
 * Category:Sweden - 6
 * Category:Sudan - 5
 * Category:Syria - 5
 * Category:North Korea - 5

Don't take this the wrong way! I'm just pointing it out to you (by the way i've gone through ever country to compile the above list, so once you merge the two lists you will be fully coorect.) → CGorman (Talk)  17:54, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Country rankings
Great to see the changes. Its nice that Ireland and Romania appear even higher now due to more entries in the list!

Oh and with the creation of this two days ago, Ireland now has 22 articles! Do you think Romania should adopt a smoking ban? → CGorman (Talk)  11:51, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Romania page
Theres been a few changes here (at the English Wikinews) over the last few days. You no longer need to add stories to topic and country pages such as Romania - all you have to do is add Category:Romania to the bottom of an article and it will show up on the Romania page! Its all thanks to a new thing called DPL (Dynamic Page Listing) that ranks the articles listed in a category according to most recent edit. All you have to do now on the Romania page is to update the Lead article! Hope the new system makes things easier. → CGorman (Talk)  20:23, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Congrats
Delighted to see you'll be joining us in the EU in two years time! Can't wait to take a holiday to Romania... im sure it has many beautiful cities and areas. Hope union membership brings about a long period of peace, presperity and happiness! → CGorman (Talk)  20:39, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Unfortunatly i've never been to Central or Eastern Europe - i've been to Spain, Portugal, France, UK, Monoco, USA, Italy... but no where else. Its nice that people from outside Ireland appreciate the gaeltachts - we Irish tend to sneer them because many of us hate our languague! I know it sounds weird, but almost every person in Ireland has gone through 13 years of compulsary Irish languague classes. This has lead to a widespread dislike for the subject. Apart from that, the scenery of the gaeltacht can be absolutely beautiful. Just to let you know - Romanian EU membership was headline news last night on our national tv! → CGorman (Talk)  18:24, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Romania & Ireland
Before I say anything, i'd like you to see my latest piece of work - it draws heavily from your coverage stats and my list of artictless countries, so here it is:

I've created it for the Country of the Week section of Wikinews. As you can see Romania is one of just 3 European countries in dark green!

To respond to your comments on my talk page:

I've talked to several Irish people about the Irish language and did receive several mixed opinions.

You will find the people who have a good aptitude for languagues in general enjoy Irish - whilst others who's strenght may lie in maths subjects will dislike the languague intensely.

''It's strange that they dislike learning it, and would prefer to speak English instead, considering the historical background of England's involvement in Ireland. ''

The younger generations (myself included) have a very strong sense of nationalisim - we've grown up during the liberial Celtic Tiger economy and thus have seen Irelands rise to the top of the world economy. We are still fiercely Irish though, but understand that we cannot issolate ourselves. We understand that to make Irish the working languague of our country would severly damage our economy and so many people view Irish as having no economic value. You must understand that we are a very practial people, why learn Irish when it adds no value to your career? - learning Physics, Accountancy or French would be a far more productive use of ones time. But since we have no choice in school to do something instead of Irish - we build up a resentment towards the subject.

As regards England - having spoken the languague for so long, English culture has entertwined with Irish - we follow English soccer, watch English TV and visit England on weekend breaks. This heavy interaction with England has removed the hatred our forefathers felt against England - infact the majority of people now genuinely like England! You must remember that many Irish people live in the UK - during the 1970's and 1980's we had unemployment rates approaching 20% so many people went to England which has created strong family ties between the two countries.

''when I was in Dublin, I always heard English around me, but everyone seemed to interlace Irish words into the language. '' Yes we definately still use some words daily! Its a bit like in the USA they have their own dialect of English - some even called it American! Common Irish words used frequently include -

 * craic - fun; a good time
 * minger - an ugly member of the opposite sex
 * cultcie - a person from a rural area
 * bogger - a person from the midlands (myself!)
 * ride - beautiful member of the opposite sex
 * shift - a french kiss

As you may see they are mostly used in pubs or at night clubs to describe potential dates.

Do most people in Ireland speak Irish fluently, since they learn in for 13 years at school? Sadly, the answer is most definatly no. Only a small minority ever manage to achieve fluency. 65% of students will drop down to pass/ordinary level midway through secondary school, meaning they are not required to work hard at it. Interestingly there was a debate in the dail (our parlaiment) on this topic recently. The opposition party were accusing the government of wasteing €700m a year on ineffective Irish teaching, for example the course is 100% textbook based until age 13! No listening or talking element! Another thing is Irish is hard to learn for an English speaker - unlike English, French, German or Spanish it is based much more around sound and it does'nt translate directly - for example most things translate into specific phrases, not word by word.

And in the Gaeltacht, do people speak good English? Despite the law requiring all gaeltacht residents to be irish speakers - many are not fluent in the languague!(althought there is currently a crackdown on this.) They have moved there due to tax breaks on property (offered by the government to stop ruarl depopulation) and low house prices. Virtually all people living in the gaeltacht can speak English fluently.

''Ireland is such a good member state of the EU. The EU is treated very importantly there,'' Well we were a net benefacter of EU aid for about a quarter of a century! So naturally we have gained a huge amount from EU membership. A recent Eurostat survey indicated we are the most entusiastic EU member. We also desperately need the EU for labour - our labour force is 1.8m people - but currently due to continued economic growth we need an extra 40,000 people a year! Almost all of them are immegrants because despite having a high fertility rate (2.0 or so kids per family), it is not enough to meet demand. At present we have about 35,000 poles living in Ireland, 80,000 chinese, and tens of thousneds more from the baltic states. We need both the markets and the labour force of Europe to continue to grow.

As you can gather, the economy receives a high level of attention by the average Irish person - as Bill Clinton (I think it was him!) famously said - its the economy stupid! → CGorman (Talk)  15:22, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * I loved listening to TG4 - actually I fully agree with you hear - TG4 is great! Its seen by young people as a much cooler channel than RTE - maily because due to its small size it takes on much more interesting programs than rte does.

 * Interestingly most students speak better German/French than Irish despite 13 years of learning irish compared to 5 years learning french/german!

 * Concerning immigrants into Ireland, there weren't as many as I would have thought there to be... especially in comparison to the UK!  - maybe I did'nt come off well on this; in absolute terms Ireland had an amount equal to 1/3 of the number of immigrants into the UK last year from Eastern Europe - despite our population being just 1/15 of the UK's. That indicates a far higher rate of immigration per capita in Ireland.

 * I actually spent last summer on the Baltic coast, in Estonia, - oh, i'd love to see the Baltic states someday! You seem to be very very well traveled - and I must mention, your English is brilliant! → CGorman (Talk)  20:01, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Categories
This message is being given to several people, so please forgive the formality.

I've created a list of categories that must be included in ALL articles to ensure the DPL system works correctly. Adding the revlevent categories from this list will ensure complete site-wide relevent article listing. It is located at User:CGorman/Categories and you can easily cut & paste out of it. I urge frequent writers to bookmark this page to help save themselves time with categorization. Thanks for your attention. → CGorman (Talk)  19:40, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Vandalism thanks
Thanks for the clean-up! Dan100 (Talk) 15:17, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I believe this is not your first time to have to deal with vandalism! Its a pain is'nt it! Thanks. The big problem is we don't have many European Administrators so we are in danger when the North Americas are fast asleep and the Australians are brushing their teeth for bed! (about 10-12pm UTC). Dan100, from the UK, has [|applied to become an administrator]. Perhaps uou would like to lend your support! → CGorman (Talk)  20:52, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Simeon's changes
As you have probably noticed, Simeon is intent on competely re-writing almost all the Wikinews namespace articles. I object to this on a number of fronts: there's no consensus for such changes, the pages have existed as they were for a long time which I believe is a sign the community accepts them as they are; the existing pages have all been carefully written and constructed by several editors to be the best they can be; and Simeon's changes are to make them grossly longer and harder to read. And I must be honest - a couple of the pages were written by me. I obviously don't mind people altering them, but I do object to them being destroyed. Dan100 (Talk) 15:09, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I didn't mean to slight...
I had noticed your battle with WoW... It seems nearly everyone had a run-in with him in the past two weeks; anons have even been the ones reverting his attacks. Thanks for offering to help keep the place cleaned up... - Amgine 03:55, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Metric system vs. Imperial system
I agree on your metric change on Police investigate rail office, but at the time of its writing I had no conversion tool, and still don't. Guess I'll have to get off my arse and dig one up. -Edbrown05 15:34, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Romania asks kidnappers lead story change
Hey Ron, glad to see you working the lead stories, but!

I recently updated the 1st lead with the Vegas hotel. Where you been? Writing stories!!!! The story you wrote can hold a bit until the Vegas and UK election stories have their moments in the lead.

Can you change it back? -Edbrown05 07:48, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Adminship
Ronline, congratulations — with community support, you are now an Administrator on en.wikinews! I'm glad that you decided to help out with this often hidden, yet vitally important set of tasks! -- IlyaHaykinson 06:14, 2 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Congrats R! Great to have an extra pair of hands. → CGorman (Talk)  16:37, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

Congratulations
Congratulations on 31 articles in 1 day. I don't know how you're doing it, but it's impressive. Pingswept 05:28, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for the fix on the Moldova article. Unfortunetly, I do not know the languages, so I am working off whatever news source i get for the spelling of the names. Lyellin 23:49, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

Archive Policy
Hi!

Amgine is currently blocked, so he asked me on IRC to ask you to keep an eye on Policies_and_guidelines/Archive_conventions

Cheers mate --Dcabrilo 07:29, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Well, check out Water_cooler/miscellaneous

Really a stupid situation :) --Dcabrilo 07:35, 11 May 2005 (UTC)
 * I think it's ok to protect them at this point. Also, come to #wikinews on IRC if you wanna discuss it now :) --Dcabrilo 07:40, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Protection and stuff
Yeah, it's fine to protect articles that are older than two weeks old. There is a policy page on this somewhere but I've forgotten where!

Can I ask you to look at something else? If you go to the Water cooler then the Misc section, you'll see a crazy fight over an article. I've listed the article itself on Deletion requests (for the reasons given there and hte article's Talk page), and I'd be much obliged if you could vote! Dan100 (Talk) 07:37, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Wikinews coverage stats
As you know I maintain the wikinews coverage map, to update it I usually use your list Wikinews coverage stats as a base however it is'nt always that up to date (for example Indias total is 10 off!). So I was wondering could you give me permission to update your list when I update my map? → CGorman (Talk)  20:47, 13 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Thanks! I just wanted to make sure you did'nt mind. → CGorman (Talk)  11:42, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

vandals are messing with the templates
Lets try to stay on top of them. Paulrevere2005 10:52, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

Congrats
We treat the Eurovision as a big joke in Ireland and the UK (because of its many crazy aspects - monoco has equal votes to germany, neighbours always vote for one another, the fact that many sing in English and the that it is'nt just about the song; its about the dance, the image and costumes), but nevertheless congrats on doing so well; I know you love your country so much and this is another thing to be proud of - as you know we Irish have done very well in the past. → CGorman (Talk)  16:58, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
 *  All in all, I think that voting "masquarade" is what makes the event fun.

 * You summed it up perfectly - it is ment to be fun. I must say I was delighted to see Moldova do so well - the vast majority of people here in Ireland had never heard of it before! But by sunday morning everyone was reading about Moldova in the Sunday newspapers.
 * Interestingly I read an article recently about the connection between the EU and the Eurovision - its basic conclusion was as the Eurovision heads east, the EU follows - so hopefully someday the EU will include Moldova, the Ukraine, and Turkey (aswell as many others).
 * One of the reasons Ireland treats the eurovision as a joke today is that we have done very badly in recent years. This year our act was Joe and Donna McCaul; I actually used to know Joe; and I tell you, he was a far better comedian than singer! → CGorman (Talk)  20:36, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

An invitation
I'm attempting to start up a new edition of Wikinews, one with a simpler user contributions system at Wikinews/Start a new edition. The goals of this project would be to simplify the process of submitting articles such that anyone with no knowledge of the Mediawiki software or the Wikimedia projects culture can easily understand and submit an article, and immediately see it on the main page developing articles section.

If you would be interested in supporting this project I would be pleased if you would sign up at the Meta page.

Rfda
This is a message to inform you that I have added every administrator to the Rfda section on WN:A. This is not personal and I feel as if the community, who did not have the option of voting for or against most of the administrators, should be able to choose who they want to be in charge. I also want to say that I value everyones work on this site and I know that everyone does their best. I hope that none of you will take this personally and I hope that all of us will continue to work together. Jason Safoutin 12:23, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

New Policy has users up in smoke
Hello. I am not sure if you check this page anymore, but I thought you might be interested as to what is going on here at Wikinews: Image use policy/New wikimedia policy action plan. I am outraged as well as others...do you have an opinion? DragonFire1024 09:53, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Request for de-adminship
We are currently in the process of voting to de-admin some admins who have not been active recently, including you. If you wish you could say something at WN:A. Thanks. Bawolff ☺☻ 09:51, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

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 Ronline. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Ronline~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 23:26, 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) 06:36, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ronline~enwikinews


text:
User talk:213.66.141.159

But that doesn't mean that these types of news can't be covered :) It's one of Wikinews' aims to cover a broad range of news and also news which might not appear in other publications. I will also form a Wikinews Romania sub-bureau later under Wikinews Europe bureau. Cheers, Ronline 12:16, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Romanian issues
Hey! Concerning balance in my reporting, I don't think it says anywhere in the Wikinews mission statement that reporters must write about all topic areas and not focus on one in particular. In fact, it is encouraged that people focus on developing the breadth of a certain topic area - they do this in Wikipedia too. I like focussing on Romanian articles and for that reason I will always write about them. If anyone else wants more balance in reporting, then I challenge them to write articles about something else to "balance out" the Romanian articles. But, seeing as you want me to write non-Romanian items, I will write an article about the beautiful country of Sweden next time :) Adjö, Ronline 12:01, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * Hi. Just to let you know, I don't mind negative feedback at all, because it is good to see everyone's opinions on what I contribute. That's good and it would be worse without it. All I'm saying is that, at the same time, everyone has the right to contribute what they want, though feedback does count and is valuable. OK, so about balance in reporting. I still don't understand you there too much. What do you mean by "an occassional". I think what you mean is that some stories should be formed from one angle about Romania (a more negative one) while others should be from a different (more positive) angle. Is that what you're trying to say? "We are allowed to dream aren't we?" - you're hinting here that my stories about Romania are written by me in order to paint an idealised picture of Romania - one that is like a dream. Sorry if I didn't understand you there! Is that what you meant? Other than that, thanks for all your feedback, it was appreciated (I mean it, really!). Ronline 02:16, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:213.66.141.159


text:
Airbus launches world's largest passenger plane

In a ceremony attended by several European political leaders and 5,000 VIP guests, Airbus unveiled plans for the A380, a twin-deck aircraft that can carry up to 840 people in all-economy class (550 for a Boeing 747), or 555 people in typical three mixed classes layout.

The new aircraft will take the world's-largest title away from rival Boeing's 747. Boeing's upcoming new design, the 7e7, does not attempt to compete directly with the A380 but instead is aimed at a more efficient and comfortable flight at 200-250 seats.

Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard stated that he expected sales of the aircraft to exceed the 250 required for the project to break even. To date, 149 confirmed orders for the aircraft have been received. Airbus has hopes that sales will exceed 700. The company is currently in talks with China regarding possible sales there.

The first test flight of the aircraft may take place as early as March, and the first commercial flight is expected to take off in mid-2006 from Singapore's Changi Airport.

British and American airline Virgin Atlantic has purchased six of these aeroplanes and intend to fit them with gyms and bars as well as seats.


text:
Archbishop kidnapped in Iraq released unharmed

The Syrian Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Basile Georges Casmoussa, aged 66, who was abducted by unidentified gunmen yesterday afternoon, was released earlier today and is now back in his home.

According to Father Dwraid Brbar of the Mosul diocese, the abductors probably took the wrong person. They were not aware that he was an archbishop. "Initially they asked for a ransom, but when they realised that they had taken a member of the Catholic Church they released him without demanding money".

Casmoussa was born in Iraq and has been archbishop of the Syrian Catholic rite in Mosul since 1999.


text:
User:King Ho Cheung

King Ho Cheung is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with King Ho Cheung and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the

title: User:King Ho Cheung


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User:VlSimpson/Week In Space

{{date|} {|
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This Week in Space

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title: User:VlSimpson/Week In Space


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User talk:VlSimpson/Week In Space

This page is going to be the overview for astronomical and space mission tidbits and pointers to the significant events of the previous week. Mainly for things that don't warrant an article or don't get one written. So the page can also serve as an article wanted page, I suppose.

I can't write 'em all myself. 8-] But I'll try.

My basic plan is add the current day of week events as they occurr or at least the morning after. We'll see how it works out. As each week ends, it becomes the last week section and the new week is started. I think two weeks of material only should be displayed so the page doesn't become unmanageable.

Please post all comments, suggestions, additions, flames, etc., here.

I'll keep it here for now until I get last week filled out and this week caught up. Then I'll hang it off the page.

title: User talk:VlSimpson/Week In Space


text:
New tsunami could hit soon

A British minister in the Department for International Development says that a second tsunami could hit South-East Asia within the next 50 years.

Gareth Thomas warned world leaders at a natural disasters conference in the Japanese city of Kobe. The conference was called to discuss the feasibility of an early warning system for tsunamis to be set up in the Indian Ocean.

He told a BBC radio program earlier today that such a system would cost £20 to £30 million pounds. There is a similar system in the Pacific Ocean, and Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese Prime Minister, said that Japan would provide technical support for the system. "The system needs to be rapidly developed," he told the conference.

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, being held only 10 years after the earthquake that destroyed the city, began with a silent tribute to those who lost their lives in the tsunami.

The United Nations Emergency Co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, said, "I hope that nations will make a strong commitment to establishing a system in the Indian Ocean that will help vulnerable populations within the next ten years."

He also added that the system would remove danger: disasters will still happen, but forewarned is forearmed.

title: New tsunami could hit soon


text:
Template talk:Wikitip

I hate to interfere, but this tip of the day has been the same since the 15th.-- AliceCrypto (Talk|Contributions) 17:56, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Wikitip


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Chile's candidate convinced of enough votes to become OAS chief

January 18, 2005

Chile's Interior Minister José Miguel Insulza said that he is convinced that he has enough support to become the next Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), and that he sees himself as a consensus candidate.

Speaking in Brasilia, Brazil, he claimed to have the support of Venezuela after meeting President Hugo Chavez last Friday. He already has the support of Argentina and Brazil. He is the more left-wing of the three officially declared candidates, the other two being El Salvador's Francisco Flores and Mexico's Luis Ernesto Derbez, so it comes as no surprise that he has the support of other South American left-wing governments.

It remains to be seen whether he can gain consensus of the member states. It is Francisco Flores who has the important support of the USA, though some see this as a disadvantage.


text:
User:MikeEdwards~enwikinews

Hi! This is my user page. If you want to leave a message, please do so on the Talk page. Thanks!

Here are useful links:

Here's today's lede:

title: User:MikeEdwards~enwikinews


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White rhinos fly to safety

Five of the last remaining northern white rhinos in the wild will be airlifted from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Kenya in coming weeks. This is a desperate move to save the population from extinction.

In 2003, about 30 rhinos lived in Garamba National Park. Since then, heavily-armed poaching gangs have slaughtered around 20 of these animals. Kes Hillman Smith of the Rhino Project at International Rhino Foundation (IRF) now believes there are fewer than 10 animals left in the park.

Sometime before the rainy season begins in February, the rhinos will be flown by military transport plane or helicopter to a private reserve in central Kenya.

Outside of the Garamba National Park, there are also 10 northern white rhinos in captivity. However, it is very difficult to breed them in captivity.

Trade in rhino horn has been banned internationally since 1977, but it is worth more than $1200 (USD) per kilogram on the black market.

title: White rhinos fly to safety


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User talk:Pozzo Lucky

Welcome
Pozzo Lucky, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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! -- IlyaHaykinson 19:55, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * 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
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * 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
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

English Help
When we say "brother" are we including males and females? Thank you for Brazilian President brother passed away revision. -- Carlosar 13:47, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Irmãos would be translated as brothers if only male, and brothers and sisters (irmãos e irmãs) or (occasionally) siblings if both male and female.

title: User talk:Pozzo Lucky


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Wikinews:Briefs/January 18, 2005

January 18, 2005 The following stories made international headlines Tuesday:

Rice details plans as head of U.S. State Dept.
At her confirmation hearings to be appointed the next U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice said she is committed to mending international relations and to continued troop support in Iraq.
 * Sources:USA Today, The London Times

Eight Chinese abducted in Iraq
Eight Chinese construction workers have been kidnapped. The kidnappers are demanding that the Chinese government reassure that it will not allow its citizens to work for Americans in Iraq. They have threatened to execute the hostages in 48 hours if China fails to comply. China has long objected to the last US-led Iraq war, which ended with the capture of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president.

 * Source:BBC News''

Hajj attracts thousands of Muslims
Mina, Saudi Arabia, was witness to thousands of pilgrims in a hajj celebrating the life of the 7th century prophet Muhammad. They stopped in Mina before heading on to Mount Arafat as part of a five-day cycle of prayer. Government officials set up more than 40 thousand fire-proof tents in Mina to temporarily house the pilgrims.
 * Source:Associated Press''

World's oldest mother gives birth to twins, one dies
In Bucharest, Romania, a 66-year-old woman who was impregnated via in vitro fertilization gave birth to a 1.4 kilogram (3.1 pound) baby girl through caesarean section. A twin died. Romania has no age limit on in vitro fertilization.
 * Source:Reuters

title: Wikinews:Briefs/January 18, 2005


text:
First ever corruption conviction of public official in Honduras

Dante Gabriel Ramírez Erazo, who was Director of Roads in Honduras between 1994 and 1998, was yesterday found guilty of illegal enrichment by stealing 967,892 Lempiras ($US51,000) during his two years in this office. This is the first time a public official has been found guilty of this type of offence in Honduras. He will be sentenced on February 15th. Although the sentence is from 3 to 5 years, he may be able to pay a fine instead. He also has the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court of Justice, something he may well do as he maintains his innocence. He is not in prison at the moment, but he cannot leave Honduras and he has to report to the judges on a weekly basis. Part of the prosecution case against him was his ownership of a house worth 1,350,000 Lempiras ($US72,000).

Reference

 * http://www.laprensahn.com/policiales.php?id=804&tabla=January_2005&fecha=20050118


text:
Suspects arrested in Brazilian kidnapping case

Thursday night (January, 13), São Paulo police officers arrested four men in a supermarket in São Caetano do Sul. According to the police the men are suspect of kidnapping Marina da Silva Souza, aged 44, mother of the celebrity Brazilian soccer player of Santos Football Club Robinho.


text:
Talk:Airbus launches world's largest passenger plane

I'd like to know where the figure of 'up to 840' passengers came from. Airbus says only 555 on its website (linked from article). Dan100 (Talk) 22:39, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Future reporting
The first of these airframes is not expected to test fly until March, earliest. so:
 * unveiled plans for the A380
 * The new aircraft will take the world's-largest title...

- Amgine 01:57, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)


text:
Swedish doctor prosecuted for refusal to hand over patient data

A well-known Swedish doctor and researcher at has been prosecuted, together with the Vice-Chancellor and the President of the University Council, for failing to hand over sensitive data on patients to outside critics.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman, an official appointed by the Parliament, decided to press charges against Professor, MD, Professor , (Vice-Chancellor) and (President), for failing to comply with a court order from February 2003.

The court had ordered Gillberg and his colleagues to hand over sensitive data on patients and their relatives to two critics of their research: Eva Kärfve, a sociologist, and Leif Elinder, a pediatrician. The basis for the court's decision was the section of the Swedish constitution relating to freedom of the press. Since the university was a public body, it was obliged to turn over any documents to any citizen upon request unless the document was protected by a specific paragraph in the Secrecy Law.

The university argued that the material should be protected by a paragraph referring to the confidentiality of information about patients. The courts decided, however, that they could hand over the data (about 70 shelf feet of documents) if they specified a proviso that would preserve confidentiality. The university was thus ordered to first write a proviso (set of conditions) for Kärfve and Elinder and then hand over the data.

Gillberg and the other members of the research group refused to comply. They referred to the promise they had given to the participants in their studies that all the data would be kept completely confidential. They also argued that the data was particularly sensitive since the research concerned psychological and psychiatric disorders among children, and that it was impossible to anonymize the data beyond possible identification. When they had pursued all legal avenues without success, someone apparently destroyed the documents in May 2004.

The Gillberg group received considerable support from other medical researchers and from their university. They felt that important clinical research could be jeopardized unless complete confidentiality could be promised to the patients.

Eva Kärfve stated that she was happy with the prosecution and that it would "strengthen the protection of research in Sweden."


text:
User talk:210.80.130.198

Welcome
210.80.130.198, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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! -- Davodd | Talk 00:31, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * 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
 * Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
 * 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
 * Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
 * And of course, stories need writing!

title: User talk:210.80.130.198


text:
Marxist intellectuals support arrested FARC leader

January 17, 2005

Marxist intellectuals released a letter supporting both the arrested FARC leader Ricardo Gonzalez (also known as Rodrigo Granda) and the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Granda is the alleged adviser of the FARC.

Colombian authorities arrested Granda on Dec. 13, 2004. The FARC is accused of terrorism by the governments of the USA and Colombia. Their members are regularly searched by Colombian authorities. Worldwide, police agencies have an interest in FARC members because of their involvement in international drug trafficking.

The arrest of Granda has caused disagreement. The FARC accuses Colombian authorities of capturing Granda inside Venezuelan territory. Venezuelan President Chavez claims Colombia invaded Venezuelan territory and possibly bribed Venezuelan officers. Colombia says the arrest occurred inside Colombian territory and that Granda was moved to Colombia by Venezuelans. Colombia admitted the payment of a reward for Granda, but rebutted accusations of bribery.

Recently, the Colombian government released an official notice accusing Venezuela of accepting representatives of terrorist organizations in political events sponsored by official Venezuelan institutions.

Open letter from international intellectuals, to the international public opinion

The kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda, carried out in Venezuelan territory presumably by agents of the Colombian police, is an attempt to create difficulties between both countries in order to debilitate the Bolivarian movement. An additional effect is to reduce the international prestige of the conduct of President Hugo Chávez creating doubts about a possible Venezuelan implication in said kidnapping. All intended to cause a possible armed intervention of the United States as a result of the conflict.

In view of this stratagem, the undersigned, artists, writers, intellectuals of Our America and the world declare our unrestricted support to the process of social change initiated in Venezuela and declare our adhesion and solidarity to the Bolivarian movement and the diaphanous conduct of its leader President Hugo Chávez Frías.

Ernesto Cardenal (Nicaragua)

Alfonso Sastre  (Spain)

Atilio Borón (Argentina)

Emir Sader (Brazil,professor)

Lisandro Otero (Cuba)

Theotonio Dos Santos (Brazil)

Fernando Morais (Brazil, writer, journalist)

Georges Labica (France)

Saul Landau (USA)

Hernando Calvo Ospina (Colombia, writer, journalist)

Pascual Serrano (Spain)

Domenico Losurdo (Italy)

Gilberto Lopez y Rivas

Ramon Chao (Spain, musician, writer, journalist)

James D. Cockcroft

Santiago Alba Rico

Alex Cox

Stella Calloni (Argentina,  writer, journalist)

Carlo Frabetti (Italy, journalist, writer)

Carlos Fazio (Mexico, journalist, writer)

Miguel D'Escoto (Nicaragua, priest)

Miguel Urbano (Portugal, journalist)

Juan Brom

Luis Hernández Navarro (Mexico, journalist)

Andrés Sorel (Spanish, writer)

John Gerassi (USA, Professor)

Marcos Roitman Rosenmann (Spain, Professor)

David L. Raby

Manuel Cabieses (Chile, journalist)

Eva Forest

Rev. Raúl Suárez(Cuba)

Francisco Jarauta

Eva Sastre Forest

General Vasco Gonçalves

Héctor Díaz-Polanco

Manuel Talens (Spanish, writer)

Alejandro Moreano (Equador, journalist)

Pablo Armando Fernández (Cuba,writer)

Keith Ellis

Dick Emanuelsson (Colombia, journalist)

Carlos Fernández Liria (Venezuela, writer)

Horacio A. López

Angeles Maestro

Víctor Ríos

Danielle Bleitrach

Alcira Argumedo

Quintin Cabrera

Mark Rosenzweig

Arturo Corchera

Cuauhtémoc Amezcua Dromundo

Tubal Páez

Irene Amador

Roger Grevoul

Julie Ruben

Anamaría Díaz

Carlos Alberto de Almeida

Alberto Lecchi

Rosa Miriam Elizalde

François Duteil

Humberto Tumini

Carlos Tena

Elizabeth Martinez

Juan Carlos Monedero

Solange R. Echeverria

Vicente Romano

Jane de la Selva

César Fernández

Norma Núñez Montoto

Marcela Cornejo Z.

Laurindo Leal Filho

Nayar López Castellanos

Julio C. Gambina

Octavio Mercado González

Olivia Vidal López

Miguel Ángel Buenrostro

Juan Carlos Volnovich

Berta Joubert-Ceci

Jorge Ceballos

Isaac Rudnik

Hildebrando Pèrez Grande

Manuel Ortega Hegg

Hélio Doyle

Dr. Rubén Cantú Chapa

Corina Mestre

Manuel Sa Marques

Oscar-René Vargas

Henri Alleg

Roberto Mastroianni

Daniel Chavarría

Elías Letelier-Ruz

Pedro Pablo Rodríguez

Beatriz Rajland

Victor Casaus

Luciana Castellina

Jorge Raúl Rodríguez

Adalberto Santana

Rolando Rodríguez

Lourdes González

Rita Terranova

Alicia Castellanos

Rolando González Patricio

Paulina Fernandez

Vicente Feliú

Rafael Cuevas Molina

Carlos A. Lozano Guillén

Raúl Villegas Dávalos

Sergio Guerra

Enrique Ubieta

Fernando López D´Alejandro

Ana Daglio

Oscar González

Jorge Timossi

Carlos Oliva

Ana María Vera Smith

Salvador López Arnal

José Dos Santos

Humberto Arenal

Iris Galindo

Jaime Mühlrad Zimmermann

Pedro de la Hoz

Maritza Capote

Enrique Cirules

Carlos Alzugaray Treto

Toty Flores, Argentina.

Daniel Rodríguez

Alberto Faya

Marilyn Bobes

Miguel Alvarez

Carlos Roberto

Alberto Luis Tabares

Daniel De Santis Mesa

Manuel Henríquez Lagarde

María Toledano

Manuel Fernández-Cuesta

Rafael Hernández

Manuel López Oliva

Santiago Pujol

Aurelio Alonso Tejada

Alberto Guerra Naranjo

Felix Contreras

Magaly Sánchez Ochoa

Marina Norma Rodriguez Lopez

Lino Arturo Neira Betancourt

José Luis Fariñas

Juana García Abás

Virtudes Feliú

Gioia Minuti


text:
2005/01/19 Pacific Northwest soaked with "Tropical Punch"

January 19, 2005

As much as 200 mm (8") of rain have been recorded in portions of British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada since Monday. Even by "wet coast" standards, this is heavy rain.

The heavy and sustained precipitation across the lower mainland regions have caused mudslides and flooding, with roads and highways being closed and families evacuated. In Port Coquitlam, a retaining wall burst, throwing concrete and rubble tens of metres and covering an arterial road with mud to a depth of two metres.

Further inland and north, where colder temperatures have prevailed, the precipitation has been falling as freezing rain and sleet, or heavy snowfalls. Terrace, BC, was isolated as highways north and south of the city were closed due to a heavy glaze of ice. The Trans-Canada Highway and most other roads through the mountains were closed due to heavy and sudden snow accumulations which created severe avalanche hazards.

"The avalanche danger is at high or extreme in all of our six forecast areas," according to John Kelly at the Canadian Avalanche Centre in Revelstoke.

But these are only first hazards. "If the rain continues at the same magnitude and according to the forecast, then some of the rivers could reach flood stage either later [Tuesday] or Wednesday morning," said Allan Chapman, a hydrologist with the River Forecast Centre in Victoria.

The source of the wet weather is a large system reaching the coast from the Pacific Ocean tropics, a type of system nicknamed by meteorologists a "Tropical Punch". A similar system caused severe flooding and precipitation in 2003.

The system is not going away, either. Environment Canada expects the system, which lies southwest of Vancouver Island, to continue to develop "waves" of weather which will strike the mainland and head inland over the next several days to a week, possibly dropping 50-100 mm (2"-4") of additional rain per day at least until the end of the weekend.


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Talk:Suspects arrested in Brazilian kidnapping case

Renamed article to "Suspects arrested in Brazilian kidnapping case" because the previous headline made it seem like the arrested people were suspected of being a player's mother. -- IlyaHaykinson 05:34, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)


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Talk:Beijing plans $242B freeway link to Taiwan

Taiwan/mainland China
Although these seem much simpler for some, realize that due to Western long-standing support for Taiwan as Republic of China, "simplifying" these actually confuses most westerners. It also obscures some of the underlying conflicts which are highlighted in this story. - Amgine 06:36, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

What are you talking about? Nobody knows what the Republic of China is, everybody has heard of Taiwan. If you read a real newspaper you would find that they refer to the ROC as Taiwan. In any case you don't need to refer to the Republic of China on Taiwan through out the entire article, once will suffice. It makes it much more simple to refer to Taiwan instead of the ROC. --208.187.180.214 07:42, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Personally, I always think of it as Formosa. But at least I'm aware of its history, if not particularly familiar. I just found several news articles referring to the ROC, Taiwan, and mainland China. Try googling. (btw: I agree about the intro with ROC, then Taiwan. Go ahead on that.) - Amgine 07:46, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Use Formosa? That makes no sense. Why would you want to use a name imposed on the island by the west? The bellman 07:22, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Tell me why "Chinese Communications Minister Zhang" is not confusing when the comparison is obviously Taiwanese? They are both Chinese. Similarly, Chinese and Taiwanese governments. - Amgine 07:52, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

First of all, whether or not Taiwan is China is a highly sensitive subject. If you call many Taiwanese people Chinese they will get very upset. On the other hand if you tell some people (from China and certain people in Taiwan in favor of unification of Taiwan and China), that Taiwanese people are not Chinese they will get upset. The safest thing to do is to call them Taiwanese. Secondly, more people will confuse the REPUBLIC OF CHINA with the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, than will be confused in thinking that Taiwan and China can be refered to as Taiwan.

Certain people on Wikipedia feel it nescessary to refer to Taiwan as the Republic of China because it is the official title. But even the ROC government interchanges the title. Also some of the changes made in the article show the editors' biases, refering to mainland China infers that Taiwan is part of China, just not the mainland. The press however uses Taiwan and China instead of Republic of China and People's Republic of China, they do this one, to show nutrality and two to simplify things. It was me who originally wrote this article, I prefer refering to it as Taiwan, (although I generally refer to the government on Taiwan as the Republic of China), however I feel that for the more broad audiance refering to the PRC and ROC serves no purpose. I reverted to my changes, you can add references to the PRC and ROC at the first of the article if you would like. Any changes beyond that I would HIGHLY dispute. --208.187.180.214 08:03, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)--208.187.180.214 08:03, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

PS if I had any choice of what got changed I would change the headline. The headline implies that the freeway from China to Taiwan would cost $42 billion. However, that is the estimate for the entire project of building freeways from city to city.

 * I am quite aware of this; I have done research with Taiwanese researchers. I am equally aware the majority of people in Taiwan have repeatedly voted to be considered Chinese, continually force the local minority native islanders to speak in Mandarin, etc. The people consider themselves Chinese; their president (native islander) has stated a "One-China" theory in which mainland China rejoins the ROC.

 * I agree the article is biased, though I am unsure of the direction. I have found examples in U.S. press articles of ROC/PROC/mainland China usage, and Taiwan/China usage. In the latter, officials are introduced under their full title. Generally, for clarity, the governments are referred to by their cities, iow Taipei and Beijing. For this reason I suggest you revert your changes, or choose another more consistent method for clarity. Your current usage exclusively suggests the island has no independence from the PROC, which is biased. - Amgine 08:14, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

If that's the case then the article was not filed until January 14. Originally I put the "On January 13" at the first of the article because. . . I wrote it a day later. Later on somebody added the dateline, with the wrong date. --208.187.180.214 08:41, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * This is a very difficult one. However, first of all I wouldn't attach too much importance to the names used - unless you're well-briefed on the history of the situation, it makes little difference. I can't see how which name is used alters the perception of independence (or otherwise). However I lean towards using official titles for countries, so I think I'll change a few to them. It's also interesting just to see the subtle differences between the ways to island and the mainland describe themselves. Dan100 (Talk) 11:04, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * But now I've made those changes and read them back they don't read very well at all. I'll try using the capital cities, as mentioned above. Dan100 (Talk) 11:07, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * That is exactly my point! Using the names does not have that much importance unless your "well-briefed on the history of the situation," and those who are not well briefed on the history of the situation will be confused by references to the Republic of China, Taiwan would be much easier to follow. However, another concern was when Jiang changed the article, he replaced neutral phrases (used by the AP) with highly political ones (e.g. Taiwan for Republic of China). Even more I disagree with comments made in the article discussion stating claiming "the fact" that Taiwan is part of China as a reason that terms such as "mainland China" and "PRC" are needed. This is not a valid arguement (especially in the neutral world of journalism) since the issue is not resolved yet. I DO NOT TAKE A POSITION ON WHETHER OR NOT TAIWAN IS CHINESE!!! That is not my argument. My argument is that there is no need to add long titles all the time, such as Republic of China, because they serve to confuse rather than clarify, this is the common practice of the Associated Press, which seperates Taiwan from China by calling The Republic of China, "Taiwan" and the "People's Republic of China", China.

 Here's my newest version of the article, I thought it was a little less biased than the previous ones.--208.187.180.214 10:06, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

People’s Government plans $242B freeway link to our Taiwanese comrades --From Wikinews

January 14, 2005

On Jan. 13, People’s Republic of  China Communications Minister Zhang Chunxian announced a major plan to enlarge the country's freeway system and link all of  China's major cities. The project would cost about US$242 billion and take over 25 years to complete, (a small price to pay for the glory of the People’s Republic). A certain portion of the plans, however, drew cheers from comrades all over China and across the world—plans including the construction of a freeway to the Taiwan, over 100 miles away from the Chinese mainland. The bridge will serve to unite the motherland liberate Taiwan!

The freeway would have to overcome great odds. The length of the freeway, whether a bridge or a tunnel, will be much longer than any other in existence. The longest bridge in the world is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, USA, which is 23 miles long. Interestingly enough, the second longest bridge will be the Hangzhou Bay bridge in China; it will span 22.3 miles when completed in 2008. The longest tunnel in the world is the Seikan Tunnel, connecting the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido at 33.4 miles.

The bridge will withstand the frequent typhoons and earthquakes that plague the Taiwan strait. The great work of the plebeians will even withstand the mighty black tides and marine trench that plague the strait.

The biggest miracle however will be the reuniting of our comrades on Taiwan, (who are currently under the bondage of capitalism), under: the pinciple of socialism, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the dictatorship of the proletariat and Marx-Lenin-Maosest thought. Currently Taiwan’s leaders, block the unification. Forbidding the people of Taiwan to travel directly to the liberated area, hindering them from visiting there comrades and families here on the mainland.

Chairman Mao Hundred Thousand Years!

Rants and Raves
Can you show me a source for the elections Taiwan held to determine that they (the Taiwanese) would like to be considered Chinese? I don’t remember that one.

I also don’t ever remember the Taiwanese people ever telling the Taiwanese Aborigines, to speak Mandarin. Especially since there is a great movement on the island towards speaking Taiwanese.

Or when the president referred to one China. I do remember President Chen making a rather ambiguous statement  in his National Day speech this past year about “propose that both sides use the basis of the 1992 meeting in Hong Kong,” (http://www.president.gov.tw/php-bin/prez/showenews.php4)  however, I must not have got much out of it as some people, as I didn’t get the part where he promoted the “One China Principle.”

I don’t ever remember saying that Taiwanese weren’t Chinese either. I merely recognized that it a disputed topic. I don’t dare claim to have an answer for a question that has been up in the air for 60 years (or maybe even longer).

I don’t even get this statement:

“Tell me why "Chinese Communications Minister Zhang" is not confusing when the comparison is obviously Taiwanese? They are both Chinese. Similarly, Chinese and Taiwanese governments. - Amgine 07:52, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)”

I guess it makes sense now that we’ve solved “Taiwan problem.”

I admit you might be able to find references to the Republic of China, in news reports from the Republic of China government and in the more “unification“ leaning news papers. However, in western papers and most English versions of Taiwanese papers the phrase “Republic of China” hardly ever shows up. The AP style guide usually prefers Taiwan. This is quite likely done mainly for neutrality, because people are more familiar with the word Taiwan, and because the name Republic of China causes confusion with the People‘s Republic of China. Exceptions are when the article is referring to the actual title “Republic of China,” such as when the premier recently said “Taiwan, Republic of China,” while on a South American visit.

As for looking through the PRC’s eyes, they would never be happy if the term “Republic of China” was used! Therefore using the term “Taiwanese,” when referring to the government helps with neutrality in that aspect too. On the other extreme, if we referred to “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Taiwan’s leader” instead of “Taiwanese President.” Perhaps then the accusations, made against my writing being biased to “the other direction.” By not referring to the Republic of China. Again, BY REFERRING TO THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA (or Taiwan) BY TAIWAN, WE ARE NOT ADVOCATING THAT TAIWAN BELONGS TO THE PRC, OR THAT THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA DOES NOT EXIST WE ARE SIMPLY FOLLOWING THE NORMAL PRACTICE OF NEWS REPORTERS. IT IS THE MOST NEUTRAL WAY POSSIBLE. By using this term we satisfy the PRC (we don’t refer to the ROC), Taiwanese who don’t like to be referred to as Chinese, and only slightly upset “pro-unificationists,” and other people who for some reason or another feel the need to use the “long title of the country“ (e.g., certain people on Wikipedia). However, if we used China or ROC to refer to Taiwan as they desired we would upset the other groups.

Another thing, when do we ever start out our newspaper articles talking about the “United States of America”? Or see how many any other articles referring to China (outside Wikipedia), call China, the “Peoples’ Republic of China“. Compared to Chinese Government or China. Even official Chinese news sources hardly refer to the People’s Republic of China. (Google that.) We generally refer to nations by their short title. Not their long ones (that is everywhere but Wikipedia).

As to my reference in earlier postings about “mainland China.” I personally do not find anything wrong with the term “mainland China” or the “Chinese mainland.” However, it does pose some problems. Nearly every time I wrote China in the article it was replaced with “mainland China” or “People’s Republic of China,” these terms are all interchangeable, so the changes were not necessary. Besides being not necessary they also are subtle referrals to Taiwan being part of China (which, up until tonight, when we solved the “Taiwan problem,” was disputed). How does it do this? Well, if there is a Chinese mainland there must be a Chinese “minorland”. . . Taiwan? The phrase “Chinese mainland” also has the potential to offend believers in the “one China principle.” If there’s a “Chinese mainland (PRC)” there must be some other China. . . ROC? Granted, by just using the word “China” to refer to China (as opposed to Taiwan) can offend the PRC government as well.

With such a confusing question I propose we follow the standard set by the AP and the Taiwanese government to use the name Taiwan for Taiwan. You mean the Taiwanese government doesn’t always refer to itself as Taiwan? That’s right, recent changes and proposals for changes within the Taiwanese government include: a UN bid using the name Taiwan instead of Republic of China; President Chen promoted using the name “Taiwan Duei” (instead of the name “Jhonghua Duei,” used in the past; changing the names of government owned industries containing the word China, from such things as China Steel, China Airlines, and Chung-hwa Telecom (Chinese Telecom) to the Taiwan Steel, etc. Why is Taiwan doing this? One reason is because China, makes these things seem as if they are from China (mainland China, in case you were confused) and not from Taiwan.

As to referring to Taiwan’s government as Taipei and China’s as Beijing, there is nothing wrong with that. It is similar to referring to the US government as Washington, or Canada’s as Ottawa. Mainly it just adds a little bit of variety in the mix. However, Taiwan to tends to be going away from referring to Taiwan as Taipei (something that started when the Nationalist government did not want Taiwan as a nation, but were not allowed to be called China or the Republic of China), instead of calling the Taiwanese government published magazine as TAIPEI REVIEW they changed the name to TAIWAN REVIEW. As journalists we shouldn’t use the name “Taipei” when referring to Taiwan, unless we are using it in the same way that we refer to Washington as the US government.

Last of all if we use the word Taiwan instead of Republic of China will people assume that we are advocates of the Taiwanese independence movement? It’s highly unlikely. It is already being done by the AP, I don’t think that Taiwanese independence is on their agenda do you?

What’s in a name? When we (Wikinews), who are apparently trying to appear professional and competitive with the mainstream media, use unconventional usages, what message are we sending about our agenda? --208.187.180.214

 * The use of "China" in place of "mainland China" implies that Taiwan is not part of China. The term "mainland China" is neutral in nature, and does not imply that Taiwan is part of China. "Mainland China" also excludes Hong Kong and Macau so it is not synonmymous with the PRC. As someone who is familiar with Chinese and the situation, I know that people on opposite sides of the issue use "mainland China vs. Taiwan" in their regular speech, not "China vs. Taiwan" for fear of not only offending those from the mainland, but unficationists on Taiwan. Though pro-independence supporters would rather use "China" instead of "mainland China", they do not find the term offensive. Therefore, for the sake of offending no one, we should use "mainland China"/"Chinese mainland" where appropriate. The rest is much more complicated and bound to offend someone.

 * Within Taiwan itself, whether to use "Taiwan" or "Republic of China" is a very hotly debated issue, with pro-independence supporters wanting to rename everything "Taiwan (the goal of Taiwan independence would be basically to rename the "Republic of China" to "Taiwan") and pro-unification supporters wanting to keep the legacy of the Republic of China. The PRC only prefers "Republic of China" being used within Taiwan because the alternative would be independence. However, they prefer that name not show up at all (you wont see it on news reports or publications) because the official view is that the Republic of China no longer exists. In the Chinese language, you'll rarely encounter the term "flag of Taiwan" for example because part of the whole debate over whether to change the symbols relies on the fact that theyre symbols of the Republic of China and not Taiwan. If president Chen is promoting something, it's bound to be opposed by a large segment of Taiwanese. Dont assume the president's proposals be general consensus.

 * To get to the point, just because AP does something doesnt mean it's NPOV or what wikinews should do. "China considers Taiwan a renegade province which should be reunited by force as necessary" is a rather poor way to describe the situation, I believe. It oversimplifies it into the case of Communist aggression vs. Taiwan independence, which is only a small part of the real problem. This discussion should be taken to naming convention to make policy. I'll refrain from proposing anything here. --Jiang 04:51, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * Any statements about President Chen were in response to comments that Taiwanese are definitely Chinese, and since the user used arguments of President Chen making references to Taiwan Chinese, I was giving showing the user statements to the contrary.

 * I think that also you are overly complicating things as well. People on Taiwan regularly refer to their presidents as "Taiwan zongtong" and even refer to Taiwan's flag as "Taiwan de guoqi." People from China regularly say they are from China and People from Taiwan say they are from Taiwan. They don't say I am from The People's Republic of China or the Republic of China (on Taiwan).

 * I don't really see anything non-POV about using the term "mainland China" either (I feel it only has a slight amount of "politicization", and only infers that Taiwan is not part of mainland China, by the way). However I don't feel it's nescessary, if you refer to China readers will know that your refering to the People's Republic of China. My main problem is with your need to switch China to mainland China each and every time it is used. It is not nescessary, just as using People's Republic of China, Republic of China, all the time in every article. It is not only redundant but confusing to readers not familiar with the situation.

 * Since there are no naming conventions for refering to Taiwan, that I could find on Wikipedia, when writing the article I used the AP conventions, and there is no where on Wikinews that says that is wrong.

 * I agree with you, the AP's naming conventions are not nescessarily non-point of view. However, I don't think your's are more so. The AP also has one up on your conventions, it's simpler and people won't be confused by ROC and PRC. Newspapers are made for the masses and not for the small amount of "China watchers." Granted Wikipedia can be slightly more technical in it's usage, (however, I feel the usage policy for Wikipedia could be reviewed as well.)

--208.187.180.214 05:47, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * What are is the process of establishing a naming conventions policy? and I will try to propose something.

Although people from mainland China say theyre from China (zhongguo) and people from Taiwan say theyre from Taiwan, this is still disregards what people mean by the term "China". When we use AP style, then we make the politically loaded and inaccurate assumption that China=mainland China and Taiwan is thereofre not part of China. Almost everyone in mainland China and half the people in Taiwan would disagree with this assumption on political terms, and the people of Hong Kong and Macau would disagree on actual terms.

I will concede that using the full official names may be cumbersome and confusing, and any use of them (if at all) should be restricted to references to the political entity, official titles, etc. However, trying to keep references to "mainland China" as "China" is an oversimplification. I see no confusion with the use of the term "mainland China". Those who dont get it can easily skip over "mainland" without much confusion. Those who do get can not be offended. It is important that we stay factually accurate and not perpetuate mass ignorance. If there's mass misconception, then why continue to perpetuate it? Isnt news supposed to educate? That's the point of repeating the damn sentence "China considers Taiwan a renegade province which should be reunited by force as necessary" over and over again. If anything is confusing, then let's add a couple lines to clarify.

Do note that the term "mainland China" is used not infrequently by the mainstream media:

for establishing policy, ask the water cooler. I think we need a general page on political npov and naming conventions, which doesnt exist.--Jiang 11:06, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)


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Romanian economy booms in 2004

January 19, 2005

Romania's National Institute for Statistics has announced a record growth of 8.3% in gross domestic product for the year of 2004, the highest growth since the fall of communism in 1989. This growth is surprising, seeing as most analysts predicted that GDP would grow by only 5-6% in 2004. Growth was driven mainly by domestic consumption, as well as by increased foreign investment and a good agricultural yield. The growth of 8.3% was also one of the highest in Europe, exceeding by far that of Romania's neighbours Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland.

Despite the introduction of a new 16% flat tax for personal income and company profit, which will boost foreign investment, economic growth is expected to ease in 2005 to around 5.5%. However, on the back of projected economic reforms, growth is expected to break the 8% barrier again in 2006.

Romania, for a long time lagging behind its neighbours in terms of economic growth and per-capita GDP, has posted strong growth since 2001. However, while having one of the highest standards of living in southeastern Europe, Romania continued to lag behind Central Europe in terms of per-capita GDP, which is now about half that of Romania's neighbour Hungary and around one-third of the European Union average.

While some analysts predict that the current high rate of growth is due to a long time of GDP decline in the 1990s, others say that Romania is entering a cycle of boom which will continue for many years to come. Many of the new EU member states, as well as candidate countries such as Romania, have recorded solid growth in the last few years and are aspiring to emulate Ireland, whose Celtic Tiger era of growth resulted in it transforming itself from one of the poorest countries in Western Europe to one of the wealthiest. The new 16% flat tax rate, as well as Romania's relatively low wages, are expected to boost foreign investment, which drove Ireland's economic boom and is also expected to play a major part in Romania's economic transformation.

The HVB Group mentioned in its recent report about the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe that, by 2010, Romania will be a highly attractive destination for foreign investors and will continue growing economically at a solid rate. Romania's 2007 entry into the European Union is expected to further improve its reputation in the business world. However, although having a liberal fiscal policy, Romania must work in cutting red tape and discouraging corruption, which remain obstacles to further growth.

Inflation
Romania's inflationary statistics also suggested a positive trend, with prices growing by 9.8% between year-end 2003 and year-end 2004. While this is still one of the highest rates of inflation in the region, it compared favourably to the 22.5% inflation recorded in 2002 and the 14.5% recorded in 2003.

The Tăriceanu government's inflationary target in 2005 is 7%, even though many international analysts, including the HVB Group, suspect this will be hard to reach due to the predicted widening of the budget deficit in 2005. The budget deficit is expected to increase because of the new tax system, which will lead to lower revenues for the government. Romania has long been criticised for its high rate of inflation and has been pressured by the International Monetary Fund to reduce its budget deficit.

title: Romanian economy booms in 2004


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Bucharest to host its first ever CowParade

January 19, 2005

Bucharest, the capital of Romania, will become the first southeastern European city to host CowParade.

Between June 1 and the end of August this year, the city will be flooded by herds of decorated cow sculptures, exhibited at well-known landmarks, such as The Palace of the Parliament, Europe's largest building, as well as on the streets and outside metro stations. Over 3000 local and international artists will participate in the event, decorating more than 100 life-sized fibreglass cows. The decorated cows will feature Romanian and Bucharestean themes, as well as issues related to international city life.

After the event ends, all the cows will be auctioned off, with the proceeds donated to the Special Olympics Romania, a charity helping athletes with mental disabilities. The Bucharest CowParade is organised by Event Horizon, a Romanian marketing consultancy.

CowParade, which was first held in Zurich in 1998, has been held in 22 cities in 5 continents and is today the world's largest public art event.

Bucharest was chosen from over 500 other candidate cities and has waited for the event for a couple of years. The new local government in Bucharest wants to relaunch the city's image as a creative and colourful metropolis and have therefore enthusiastically supported the exhibition. The high-profile event is expected to boost the image of Bucharest worldwide, especially in the artistic scene.


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User:Pingswept

Mechanical engineer by day, grammarian by night. I live in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, approximately.

"What I care about is whether journalism - the process of hunting down factual information and verifying it - survives and thrives somewhere, somehow." --Rebecca MacKinnon, March 3, 2005

Here is my tweaked version of the Main Page.

1. Wikinews is cheap
Fifteen years ago, before the Internet was widespread, a large fraction of the cost of journalism was in the distribution. To reach a large audience, you had to use paper, radio, or television. All of those media are expensive. After distribution (or maybe before-- I'm not sure), you have to pay your reporters. Wikinews saves those costs too. Currently, Wikinews is reaching thousands of people for less than $100 per day.

2. Wikinews has a distributed workforce.
When I'm going to sleep each night, the Australians are just waking up; we usually overlap on IRC. The workforce is still small, but we already have people contributing 24 hours per day.

3. Writing news is more satisfying than vandalism.
It is true that at any moment, any Wikinews reader can insert nonsense into any article. That might be fun for a few minutes, but it gets boring pretty quickly. On the other side is the satisfaction that the regular Wikinews contributors get from maintaining the site. The stream of recent changes is monitored by several people; my impression is that most contributions from an anonymous reader or a new username gets checked by one of the Wikinews regulars.

4. An increasing fraction of news happens on the web.
Technology news, in particular, occurs on the web. While Wikinews will probably have a hard time reporting on combat zones, we're on equal footing with the rest of the media when it comes to the web. As an example, take the recent New York Times story about religious blogs. All of the news involved occurs in the development of various religious blogs on the web. Product launches are another example-- once you read the press release, you've got the story. We can add details and context from other sources, but the physical location of the products is no longer interesting.

5. We have the passion.
If I were a journalist working at a big paper, I expect that I would have to write a lot of stories that don't interest me-- "Town of Thornton, Colorado, gets new bike path." With Wikinews, if I'm not interested in it, I don't write about it. I suspect that news written by people who care about their subjects will generally come out better than news by people who are writing for a paycheck, if all other factors were equal. In the world we actually live in, the people who get paid to write start with more talent and get more practice than the amateurs. On the other hand, all of the journalists who bend to corporate rules rather than lose their jobs are also professionals.

6. We have a gap to fill.
The coverage of large media companies corresponds to the gross domestic product of the subjects. Events in Africa, for example, are vastly underreported in the United States. It's a complex issue, so look at Ethan Zuckerman's analysis. Wikinews can help fix this. I maintain that 1 million native speakers of Swahili getting their first word processor is an important story, even though no major media outlet has covered it yet.

title: User:Pingswept