Tuesday, April 14, 2009

French fishing vessels have blockaded the English Channel ports of Calais, Bolougne, and Dunkirk.

The protest is an industrial action over tighter fishing quotas imposed by the European Union, with French fishing unions asking for their government to provide financial assistance or take a tougher line. CFTC Fishermans Union spokesman Bruno Dachicourt told Agence France Presse: “There are easily twenty boats blocking the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in organized ranks. Not a boat will go in nor out.”

The fishermen are protesting the lowering of European Union quotas on fishing, which place a ceiling on the amount of fish that the fishermen of each member country are allowed to catch and sell. The EU has lowered quotas in response to concerns about the sustainability of fisheries, but each drop in quota reduces the amount of work each fishing vessel can do. “The feeble amount of the quota obliges us to close the fishing zones three months after the beginning of the catch”, said Stéphane Pinto, spokesman for the CFDT trade union group representing fishermen in Boulogne.

Ferry sailings between Dover in the United Kingdom and Calais were suspended, with UK authorities implementing the Operation Stack management plan in response. Under the plan sections of the M20 motorway are closed to traffic and used as a managed lorry park. Motorists have been advised to seek alternative routes if possible. Most cars and passengers from the P&O Calais-Dover sailings at 16.10 (apparently the first sailing affected), 17.40 and 18.25 left on the “Pride of Dover” at 11.47 arriving Dover at 12.30. Two SeaFrance ferries, Renoir and another, left slightly earlier.

Fishermen have also used fires and roadblocks to interfere with access to the ports by road.

The blockades come eight days after a similar incident in the Mediterranean, when French fishermen in Marseille, Ajaccio, Toulon and other port cities interfered with oil tanker movements and blockaded ports throughout the south of the country.

Wikinews is unaware of any official statement from the British or French Governments in response to the blockade.

Friday, July 15, 2011

On Tuesday, the Euro fell to a new record low in relation to the Swiss Franc, and to multi-month lows against the U.S. Dollar and Japanese yen; all considered by investors to be safe currencies during times of economic turmoil.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that recent comments from the newly installed head of the International Monetary Fund, France’s Christine Lagarde, resulted in a sell-off of the Euro. At a roundtable discussion in Washington, Lagarde noted that the IMF had not yet reached discussion of terms and conditions of a second Greek bailout plan. In fact, a representative from the IMF is currently meeting with Eurozone policymakers to draft such a new proposal. The yield differential between Italian bonds and German bonds has spread to more than 300 basis points, something not seen in over a decade and evidence of investors’ concern.

Adding to the Euro’s woes is the upcoming release of the bank stress tests on Friday. The European Bankers Association said that they expect the data release to shed new light on the Eurozone’s banking situation. Representatives of several of the Eurozone’s governments, including Germany, have requested that the association consider releasing fewer specific details for fear that investor panic will ensue. The inadequacy of the capitalization rates has been an issue with the European Central Bank, whose president recently called upon Eurozone banks to make every effort to put their balance sheets in order.

For the time being at least, an unsubstantiated rumor reported by the Wall Street Journal states that the Eurozone’s central banks’ purchase of periphery debt has helped to quell the downward momentum of the Euro.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The government has announced 13 June as the date for the upcoming Mount Albert by-election.

The by-election has been caused by former Prime Minister Helen Clark‘s departure to head the United Nations Development Program. While it is considered to be a safe Labour seat, the by-election is expected to be heavily contested.

Candidates must be nominated by 19 May.

Nominations for the Labour Party close on Wednesday. So far four candidates have put their names forward: Auckland city councillor Glenda Fryer, former candidate Hamish McCracken, University of Auckland political studies lecturer Meg Bates and employment lawyer Helen White. List MP Phil Twyford, widely expected to succeed Ms Clark, has not put his name forward.

The National Party has narrowed its possible candidates down to two: list MP Melissa Lee or unsuccessful 2008 candidate Ravi Musuku. The decision will be made at a party meeting on 4 May.

The Greens and ACT New Zealand will both contest the by-election, but have yet to select candidates.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Yesterday afternoon United States President Barack Obama surprised his two-term vice president Joe Biden in the White House State Dining Room with the country’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction.

In a ceremony described by the press as highly emotional, Obama cited his choice of Biden as a running mate as one of the best of his career and described their few arguments as the sort that brothers would have and Biden himself as “a lion of American history.”

This made only the fourth time in U.S. history that this modified form, the Medal of Freedom with distinction, has been awarded. Biden joined Pope John Paul II, then-former President Ronald Reagan, and former General and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Early during the ceremony, Obama noted comically “this also gives the Internet one last chance to talk about our ‘bromance.'” The hashtag “#BROTUS,” a play on the acronym for President of the United States (POTUS), was a common sight on Twitter in 2016.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The following is the seventh in a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2012 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after a brief mention of some of the month’s biggest stories.

In this month’s edition on the campaign trail, the leading candidates for the Americans Elect presidential nomination respond to a major announcement from that organization’s board of directors, two presidential candidates in favor of same-sex marriage react to President Barack Obama’s announcement of support for the practice, and Wikinews interviews the newly-selected Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Two buildings have been damaged in a bombing in Athens, Greece on Thursday. The target was a building owned by an agency that manages state real estate.

Nobody was injured in the blast, but the building’s entrance was damaged. A nearby store and a parked car also sustained damage. The homemade device, which consisted of explosives placed inside a plastic bag and tied to a pole close to the target, damaged the Hellenic Public Real Estate Corporation building.

The area was cordoned off by police after the explosion, which occurred at 9:30 p.m. local time yesterday. Bomb disposal experts checked the area following the explosion, while anti-terrorism officers began their investigation. The building is about 250 yards from the Athens police headquarters, and is also close to the Supreme Court.

No claim of responsibility has yet been made, but the Greek conservative government has been attempting to control left-wing terrorism in recent months. One group, the Revolutionary Struggle, was responsible for a failed car bombing against an Athens Citibank office on February 28, and also bombed a Citibank branch in the city on March 9. Greece has been receiving advice from police in London after the increase in terrorist activity and rioting last year throughout the nation.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Juan Antonio Samaranch, former head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has died in Barcelona at the age of 89.

A former diplomat and Spanish ambassador in Moscow elected to the IOC in 1980, Samaranch was largely credited with the renewal of the Olympic movement over two decades marked by boycotts, bribery and drug scandals. While appearing to be small in stature and uncomfortable speaking in public, he was viewed as an often ruthless operator who could forge consensus within an often fractious Olympic movement and bring IOC members to deliver what he wanted.

Samaranch was admitted to hospital on Sunday with heart trouble and died at approximately 11:25 UTC, marking one of a number of occasions he has fallen ill. Even in retirement, with advancing age and medical issues, Samaranch continued to travel and be active in Olympic circles, working to try and secure both the 2012 Olympics and 2016 Olympics for Madrid as well as attending various sport conferences.

“I cannot find the words to express the distress of the Olympic Family,” current IOC president Jacques Rogge was quoted as saying, also making mention of the personal inspiration he drew from Samaranch.

During his time in office, Samaranch worked to help increase the number of participating countries at the Olympics, oversaw the creation of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the creation of the IOC Athletes Commission.

Prior to his election to the role of IOC president in 1980, he had a long background in sports, having held roles with the Spanish Skating Federation, Spanish National Olympic Committee and as Chef de Mission at the games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Rome and Tokyo.

Monday, January 4, 2021

On Friday, the Uruguay language academy shared a statement rejecting football player Edinson Cavani’s ban of three matches and a £100,000 (US$137,000) fine ruled by The Football Association (FA) in England.

The sanction was made on Thursday based on a comment on Instagram that the Uruguayan striker made to a fan who congratulated him on his football performance.

In particular Cavani wrote “Gracias, ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Thank you} negrito” and the FA concluded this was “insulting, abusive, improper and brought the game into disrepute” and “an ‘aggravated breach’ […] as it included reference, whether express or implied, to colour and/or race and/or ethnic origin.”

According to the Uruguay language academy, terms like “negro” (black) and specially its diminutive “negrito” —like terms such as “gordo” (fatso) or “gordito”— are often used in an endearing or friendly way and “[i]n fact, a person so addressed is not necessarily overweight or dark-skinned.” ^{((es))Spanish language: ?En los hechos, la persona […] no tiene que tener sobrepeso o tener un color de piel oscuro} Further the statement says: “Cavani’s use of the voice ‘negrito’ to address ‘pablofer2222’, a fan of the football player, has this kind of affectionate tenor: given the context in which it was written, the person to whom it was addressed and the variety of Spanish that was used, the only value that word ‘negrito’ can have —and in particular because of its diminutive nature— is affective.” ^{((es))Spanlish language: ?El uso que hizo Cavani de la voz negrito para dirigirse a “pablofer2222”, un fan del futbolista, tiene este tipo de tenor cariñoso: dado el contexto en que se escribió, la persona a la que fue dirigido y la variadad de español que se usó, el único valor que puede tener negrito -y en particular por su índole de diminutivo- es el afectivo.}

“In summary”, the statement from the Uruguay language academy signed by its president, minister of the Electoral Court of Uruguay Wilfredo Penco, concludes by saying, “the English Football Association has committed a serious injustice with a Uruguayan athlete of the highest international level and it has exposed ignorance and error regarding the uses of the language and in particular of Spanish, without taking note of all its complexities and contexts.” ^{((es))Spanish language: ?la Federacíon Inglesia de Fútbol ha cometido una grave injusticia con un deportisa uruguayo del máximo nivel internacional y ha puesto en evidencia ignorancia y error a propósito de los usos de la lengua y en particular del español, sin tomar nota de todas sus complejidades y sus contextos.}

This was not the only Spanish language academy supporting Cavani against the accusation of racism. The Argentina language academy —Argentina, another country of the Río de la Plata Basin, shares with Uruguay the variety of Spanish known as Rioplatense Spanish— on December 22 called on the FA to acquit Cavani and “the presentation of the corresponding excuses for having affected his good name in an unfounded way.” ^{((es))Spanlish language: ?Se pide la presentación de las correspondientes excusas por haberse afectado su buen nombre de manera infundada}

Meanwhile, in Argentina and Uruguay on Friday, the hashtag #graciasnegrito became a trending topic on Twitter, in support of Cavani against the sanction received.