Friday, October 20, 2017

On Wednesday, at least seven people were killed and 22 were injured in [[Quetta, Balochistan province, Pakistan, after a car rammed into a truck carrying policemen. Abdur Razzaq Cheema, a police chief, said five police officials died in the incident and eight were critically injured.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, police official Muhammed Akbar said the incident took place on Saryab road. Sanaullah Zehri, chief minister of Balochi province, said, “it was a sucide attacker who appeared in a car with 70 to 80kg of explosives”. Reuters reported Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Another police official was killed in a different part of the city. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for shooting and killing that official. They also claimed to have installed a bomb on the roadside. Officials said two Pakistani soldiers were killed due to that explosion.

At least five were killed in in a gunfire incident in Quetta last week. Earlier this month, more than a dozen were killed at a Sufi shrine in Balochistan in an alleged suicide attack.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The 2008 Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE 2008), organized by the Taipei Book Fair Foundation (TBFF), will start tomorrow and end next Monday (Feb. 18) at the Taipei World Trade Center in Hall 1 & 3 and in the Taipei Show (TWTC Hall 2). Before the opening of the main show, the TIBE changed significantly.

Since the Preview Exhibition was held in 1992 in Jhonghe City, Taipei County with the “History of books in China” theme, the preview exhibition wasn’t eventually held before the main show every year.

This pre-main-show exhibition style was replaced by a consuming battle between bookstores from actual to virtual (via Internet) and reading festivals from municipal libraries in Taiwan that the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China promoted. But in 2008, after the TBFF was regrouped last year, the preview exhibition finally returned on Feb 2 & 3 with the “Book Market” and “Arts and Crafts” in the Huashan Culture Park, Taipei. With the preview exhibition, the reading population is expected to expand rapidly and widely in Taiwan.

To gather on different cultures, the TBFF not only arranged a variety of seminars from book-cover designing, changes of publishing industry, publishing style, and strategies from global publishing industry, but also invited executives from the publishing industry worldwide such as Michel Le Bris, Gilles Lapouge, Shaun Tan, Markus Zusak, Tony Wheeler, and Maruen Wheeler and executives from the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Apart from seminars and executives, the Stiftung Buchkunst (Book Art Foundation) will showcase several awarded books from “Giant of Japanese Design” and some book design awards in the “Most Beautiful Book Designing” pavilion. Two book design awards by TBEE named the “2008 TIBE Prize” and “2008 Golden Butterfly Award” will be successively announced on Feb 13 & 14.

Not only on book-designing and pavilions, even though Australia was named as the main international pavilion, the TBFF chose the opening movie “What My Eyes Have Seen” from France and a closing movie named “The Edge of Heaven“ from Germany, those selected movies including the opening and closing ones will be screened at the movie pavilion. The Travel Literature Pavilion will show a different style varied from the 2007 Taipei International Travel Fair, not only just about traveling but also mixed with cultures and literature.

Monday, May 2, 2005

Baseball commissioner Allan H. “Bud” Selig has proposed a new steroids use policy for the game. The plan calls for a 50-game suspension of a player testing positive for the first time, a 100-game ban for a second offense, and on a third violation the player is out with a lifetime ban from the game.

In an April 25th letter written to Don Fehr (Executive Director of the Players Association) and all major league team owners, Selig wrote, “Steroid users cheat the game.” So far this season, four less-than-big-name major league players have been suspended. Under the current policy, each player is forced to sit out 10 games.

The ball is now thrown to Fehr, who said over the weekend the union was not ready to discuss it. An answer from the players union will probably be forthcoming some time this week.

Congressional hearings on steroids in baseball were held March 17. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking minority member of the House Government Reform Committee, said, “It’s weaker than the policy Congress is considering, but significantly stronger than baseball’s current policy.”

Testifying at the hearings, Fehr said, “My personal view, this is not an institutional view I’m expressing now, my personal view is that our job with violations of substance abuse is not to destroy careers. Our job is to stop it.”

Selig also wants to add amphetamines list of banned substances in the major leagues.

Friday, October 12, 2007

I had an unofficial phone call from Gay Talese last Tuesday. He had just flown back from Colombia and he was cranky. “I’m happy to do an interview with you,” he said, “but what the hell could you ask me that’s not already out there? Have you even bothered to look?!”

“Jeez, Mr. Talese, lots of things,” was my response. I lied. The truth is that when I call people to interview them, I do not have a set of preconceived questions. My agenda is to talk to them and gain a sense of who they are; to flesh them out as humans. To find out what they think about the world around them at that moment. With Gay Talese I had little interest in talking about Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and with Augusten Burroughs I had little interest in discussing Running with Scissors. I want to know what they think about things outside of the boxes people have placed them in.

With a memoirist like Burroughs, even this is a challenge. What parts of his life he has not written about himself, other interviewers have strip-mined. When we met for dinner at Lavagna in the East Village, I explained to Augusten this issue. I suggested we make the interview more of a conversation to see if that would be more interesting. “Instead of you in the catbird seat,” I said, “let’s just talk.”

We struck an instant rapport. What set out to be an hour and half interview over dinner had turned into four hours of discussion about our lives similarly lived. I removed half of the interview: the half that focused on me.

Below is Wikinews reporter David Shankbone’s conversation with writer Augusten Burroughs.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Predicted heir to World Wrestling Entertainment Shane McMahon has announced he will leave the company on January 1, 2010. McMahon is the son of current owner Vincent K. McMahon and the current Executive Vice President of Global Media for the company. With the departure of Shane, it will be the first time that a male heir will not take over the company when Vince retires.

Shane announced his resignation on WWE.com earlier today saying, “It is with great sadness that I announce my resignation from the WWE, effective January 1, 2010.” He mentioned how he “never even considered a future outside the walls of the WWE.” He continued to thank his father and superstars of today and the past. According to Shane, he resigned because it was his “to pursue outside ventures.”

World Wrestling Entertainment released an official statement responding to Shane’s announcement. Current owner and Shane’s father Vince McMahon said, “Even though I am personally saddened by Shane’s decision to leave the company, I am proud of the enormous contributions he has made. He will unquestionably bring passion, commitment and extensive business experience to any endeavour he pursues.”

Shane was the fourth generation to World Wrestling Entertainment. He is the son of Vincent K. McMahon, the grandson of Vincent J. McMahon and the great-grandson of Jess McMahon. He has two sons who are considered the fifth generation.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Over the weekend, millions of Americans faced the new ban of online gambling.

The legislation was attached by Rep. Bill Frist to the Port Security bill.

Many of the public companies that offer online gambling have been quick to react and give their outlooks on the legislature. Party Gaming and 888 among others have said that they will shut down all U.S. operations if President Bush signs the bill into law. This sent online gambling stocks tumbling with Party Gaming leading the way with a 55% decrease in market value.

The people involved are awaiting to see what happens over the next few weeks.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Australian Capital Territory — Thousands of Canberrans took a look at the new Cotter Dam on the Cotter River on open day on Sunday. The public was given limited access to the still-active construction site. Buses took viewers from the car park below to top of the dam wall. They ran every 15 minutes from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

The dam is to supply fresh water to the city of Canberra. This is to provide water security for the city as droughts become more frequent due to global warming.

It is a gravity dam, which holds back the waters through sheer mass. It is about 80 metres (about 260 feet) high. The dam is made from roller-compacted concrete. The concrete was laid dry and compacted with rollers. The concrete was made on site. Only the final touches use conventional concrete. In addition to the main dam, there are two saddle dams filling depressions in the landscape so flood waters flow over the spillway and not out the sides of the lake.

The dam on the Cotter River has been under construction for four years. Concrete pouring is expected to take another two weeks. The site is then to be rehabilitated. Thousands of seeds were collected during constructions. These are to be replanted to replace the native flora. Work is expected to be complete by September.

The dam replaces an old dam, first built in 1911 but subsequently expanded several times. Now heritage listed, it has been submerged by the waters of the new dam. Some materials were salvaged from the old dam to build the new, and some have been put on display.

The river is named after Garrett Cotter, an Irish-born convict who was transported to Australia and lived in the area in the 1830s and 1840s.