Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Major media outlets have told an Australian senate committee on environment, communications and the arts that Australians are being denied full coverage of sporting events.

They have told the inquiry that major sporting organisations are restricting how photos and text can be used on the internet and other digital media, which is threatening the reporting of sport as news.

Sporting organisations have hit back saying that such online content is a big money earner for them. They say that the money earned from those rights gets invested in grassroots programs.

Australian Associated Press asked the committee to recommend legislation guaranteeing the right of news media cover major sporting events.

“AAP reporting and photography are the lifeblood of news for regional and rural newspapers across the country,” Fairfax Media, publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and a number of regional papers, said in its submission. “Millions of Australians are being prevented from receiving full AAP coverage of major sporting events. When photographs of sport events are privatised, all forms of journalism are vulnerable to such restrictions.”

“AAP believes that the most effective way to protect the public interest in receiving news about sporting and related events is to have a legislated provision for right of access for news media,” AAP’s submission says.

The Australian Football League, in its submission, also argued for legislative amendments, but to the Copyright Act. Their recommendations would see the use of audio-visual, photographic and audio media restricted in the digital domain.

“To avoid protracted disputes with media organisations and to ensure a minimum standard of protection across digital sports news reporting in Australia, AFL believes that the best means of introducing these restrictions is by way of amendments to the Copyright Act or a mandatory industry code,” the AFL’s submission said.

Wikinews asked the AFL, Football Federation Australia and the Sunshine Coast Daily for comment. The AFL refused to comment until after their submission was formally made to the committee.

Monday, July 16, 2007

In two separate incidents, men posing as members of the New York Police Department (NYPD), have invaded homes in the New York City area. In both cases, they robbed the residents, but in the most recent, they sexually assaulted a woman.

On Saturday, July 14, at 1:09 a.m. EDT (UTC-4), four men knocked on the door of a Yonkers, New York, apartment. The 33-year-old male that lives there opened the door, as the men outside wore NYPD hats and t-shirts, and had badges hanging around their necks.

The men promptly ordered the male victim to the floor. “When this guy pushed me, he had a gun in my face,” the victim said. “I could see the other guy. He motioned to the others, come on, let’s go, let’s go.” The intruders shouted “Where are the drugs?” as they ransacked the apartment.

Two of the men entered the bedroom and sexually assaulted the 30-year-old female. The couple has a five-year-old child, who was sleeping in another bedroom. “The more I resisted, the more he began to hit me,” the woman said. She said she was sexually assaulted by two of the men while her boyfriend was bound and guarded.

Police said the men then left with a cell phone, a laptop computer, a diamond ring and a gold chain. Police do not believe that they were real officers. As of this afternoon, no arrests have been made.

On Thursday, July 5, shortly after six p.m. in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn five men knocked on the door claiming to be “the police.” When the victims opened the door, they pushed their way in demanding the family give them drugs and money.

When police responded to a call reporting a robbery, they found the family, husband, wife and their daughter, tied up. The man suffered a head injury when he was pistol-whipped. Police say the robbers got away with a camera, jewelry, and US$5,000 in currency.

Neighbors told NY1 that they were stunned. “Frightened. Make you think twice before you want to open the door, you know,” said one of the neighbors. “Now you be asking for all this ID and stuff and even still you’re going to wonder, are they for real? So it’s kind of scary.”

There is no word about whether the two cases are connected. Yonkers is on the border of New York City, but is outside the jurisdiction of the NYPD.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014With the English-language Wikinews continuing to increase the amount of original content published, we take a look back at some of the eighty-plus original reports from our contributors during 2014.

Monday, January 31, 2005

New South Wales – 452 serious incidents that occurred during 2003 and 2004 have been brought to light, by a report released today about the safety of patients in the hospital system in New South Wales, Australia. Many of the incidents highlighted by the report resulted in injury, or even death.

The report detailed 13 patients who had operations that they were not meant to have or who had the wrong part of the body operated upon. It also noted that another 22 were seriously injured in falls in wards and bathrooms.

Other statistics included four suicides in hospital, with another 128 occurring in community care. Another nine people retained surgical instruments or materials inside them after the operation. The rest of the serious incidents related to labour and delivery problems (26) and clinical management problems (157).

Saturday, February 10, 2018

On Wednesday, an anti-terrorism court in the Pakistani city of Haripur sentenced one man to death, and five others to life imprisonment, for killing 23-year-old Mashal Khan in a mob violence incident last year. 57 out of 61 verdicts were announced, which took place behind closed doors for security reasons, and about 250 police officials and commandos were deployed.

Imran Sultan Mohammad, who had confessed about shooting Mashal Khan, was sentenced to death by judge Fazal-e-Subhan. Khan was a journalism student in Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University, who was accused of blasphemy, an offense punishable by death in Pakistan, and was killed in mob violence on April 13. Later in June, police investigation revealed it was a false accusation as they found no evidence of blasphemy. Khan was stripped, beaten by dozens of people in the boys hostel, thrown from the second floor and shot dead — which was videographed and posted on social media.

Defense lawyer Saad Abbasi said 25 accused were sentenced to three-year prison, and 26 accused were released free from charges. Mashal Khan’s brother Aimal Khan said, “Our demand was that all of the suspects should have been convicted […] We ask the police to arrest the remaining suspects who are still at large and to bring them to trial.” Police had arrested one suspect recently, who is yet to face the trial.

Last year after the death of Mashal Khan, speaking to BBC Urdu, his father Iqbal Khan said, “This issue is not just about my son. The issue is the mob came to the university, and challenged the government. So the government should question themselves, or do justice.” He had also said, “In this country, freedom of speech, those who speak the truth, is restricted. They cut people’s tongue. So I say they killed [my son], and then accused him [for such a serious crime].”^{((hin))Hindustani language: ?? ????? ??? ??????-?-??? ??, ?? ??? ???? ???? ??, ?? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ??????}

According to police findings, the false accusation of blasphemy was started by a student group after Mashal Khan had criticised the university for hiking the fees, asserting corruption in the university. Some students had complained about Khan’s alleged secular views to the university authorities.

Reportedly around a hundred relatives of accused waited outside the premises, for the verdict. “A day will come that the judge will answer the God. The verdict he has announced is unjust”, said a guardian whose son was sentenced to three years’ jail.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the lynching last year and said, “Let it be known to the perpetrators of this act that the state shall not tolerate citizens taking the law in their own hands. No father should have to send his child off to be educated, with the fear of having him return in a coffin.”

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Utah Senator Chris Buttars has decided not to introduce a bill requiring the teaching of “divine design” in Utah schools, at least for this year. Buttars withdrew after State Board of Education director Patti Harrington assured him that Utah public school curriculum does not teach that man descended from apes.

Buttars had hoped his divine design proposal would escape the controversy of creationism or intelligent design. “The only people who will be upset about this are atheists,” he stated on June 6 when he announced his intention to run the bill.

Utah is home to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints also known as the Mormon Church. On the surface it would seem Utah would be a likely scene of intense religious pressure in public schools over the teaching of evolution. But unlike states with a strong Christian conservative presence, Utah’s LDS leaders have avoided some of the more contentious separation state and church battles.

On the topic of divine design, official LDS church spokesmen have been largely silent at least in public. But with more than 90% of the legislature made up of members of the LDS faith, few in Utah would deny the influence of the church on public policy.

Groups on both sides of the issue are gearing up for what many consider an inevitable fight. The ACLU of Utah has posted a paper on divine design on its web site (http://www.acluutah.org). The Eagle Forum which wields significant policital power in Utah has expressed its support for Buttars proposed legislation.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Bill Bernhardt is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Kitchener Centre riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Please note that Bill provided his answers in “ALL CAPS”; due to the time constraints of this election coverage, it remains in this typographic style.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.