Wikinews Shorts: April 6, 2007

A compilation of brief news reports for Friday, April 6, 2007.

In Ramadi, Iraq, a truck loaded with explosives and chlorine gas exploded when an apparent suicide bomber drove the truck toward a checkpoint. The police opended fire and the truck veered toward a residential complex where it detonated. At least 20 people were killed and scores more injured.

It is the sixth chlorine bomb in the Anbar region in the last two months.

Sources


Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged in a press conference that the Afghan government has been in talks with Taliban militants about a peaceful reconciliation for the war-striken country.

Karzai also ruled out any further deals with the Taliban to free Afghans or foreigners kidnapped by insurgents.

Related news

  • “Italy confirms swapping Taliban for Mastrogiacomo” — Wikinews, March 22, 2007

Sources


A European Union lawyer has sent a warning letter to the European Commission, warning that Ethiopian and Somalian government troops may have committed war crimes. The allegation is that under the AMISOM commander, civilians were attacked. The EU could be at risk of being seen as complicit, if it does not act to stop abuses, because it is providing funding to the Somali government.

Sources


Australian art gallery raided by police; photographer faces possible indecency charge

Monday, May 26, 2008

The Rosley Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney, Australia was raided by police over the weekend following complaints of child pornography. The complaints related to an exhibition of works by photographer Bill Henson, which included several photographs of naked pubescent children. Twenty-one of the forty photographs in the exhibition were seized during the raid, and police have announced that charges will be laid under the NSW Commonwealth and Crimes Act for “publishing an indecent article”. Digital versions have also been removed from the Gallery’s website.

Whatever the artistic view of the merits of that sort of stuff – frankly I don’t think there are any – just allow kids to be kids.

Politicians on both sides of the fence spoke out against the exhibition. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, speaking to the Nine Network, said he found the photos to be “absolutely revolting […] Whatever the artistic view of the merits of that sort of stuff – frankly I don’t think there are any – just allow kids to be kids.” His Opposition counterpart, Brendan Nelson, believes that the exhibition “violates the things for which we stand as Australians and indeed as parents”.

Art experts have supported Henson and defended his work, denying claims of child pornography and exploitation. According to Betty Churcher, a former director of the National Gallery of Australia, “[t]here is absolutely no suggestion of pornography in these photographs”. Sydney art dealer Denis Savill hung one of Henson’s works, featuring two nudes, in his gallery window beside an Arthur Boyd nude, to “give them something to grizzle about”.

According to Tony Oxley, husband of gallery owner Roslyn, the gallery’s answering machine has recorded several threats to burn the building down. The police action also calls into question the fate of similar works by Henson in other galleries in Australia and around the world.

How the Army Corps of Engineers closed one New Orleans breach

Friday, September 9, 2005

New Orleans, Louisiana —After Category 4 storm Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, on the night before August 29, 2005, several flood control constructions failed. Much of the city flooded through the openings. One of these was the flood wall forming one side of the 17th Street Canal, near Lake Pontchartrain. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the primary agency for engineering support during such emergencies. A USACE team was assessing the situation in New Orleans on the 29th, water flow was stopped September 2nd, and the breach was closed on September 5th.

Contents

  • 1 Background
  • 2 August 27: Before the storm
  • 3 August 29: Day of the storm
  • 4 August 30: Flood
  • 5 August 31: Recovery begins
  • 6 September 1: Construction
  • 7 September 2: Water flow stopped
  • 8 September 3
  • 9 September 4: Almost done
  • 10 September 5: Breach closed
  • 11 September 6: Pumping and moving on
  • 12 See also
  • 13 Sources

Category:Music

This is the category for music. See also the Music Portal.

Refresh this list to see the latest articles.

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Turbolinux adopted by China’s largest bank

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

The Turbolinux operating system, a variety of GNU/Linux free/open source software, has been chosen as the in-house server software for the front-end banking operations of China’s largest bank, replacing SCO Unix. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) announced the migration on Thursday, April 28.

The announcement is significant in terms of the sheer size of the bank. “This is the biggest Linux implementation in China,” said General Manager Claude Zhou of Turbolinux China. The ICBC serves more than 108 million customers and manages their combined assets of US$640 billion (5.3 trillion renminbi). Its 390,000 employees are scattered across 20,000 branch offices throughout China. The planned deployment will be undertaken in steps and is estimated to take three years.

Zhou described the reasons for the planned migration as the stability and security of Linux. Nielse Jiang, an analyst at IDC, also attributed the switch to insufficient support by the SCO Group. “In China, SCO Unix offers very weak support for customers; they have so few employees,” Jiang said.

ICBC selected Turbolinux over its various competitors, including Microsoft Corporation, in part because of its need to maintain its custom-written Unix-based software. The increasing scalability and stability of Linux also were factors in the decision.

Turbolinux has been China’s number one source of Linux for the past 4 years. In 2004, Turbolinux held 62.0% of the Chinese server market, and also had 24.9% desktop market share, a much larger portion of desktop share than GNU/Linux holds in the United States.

Turbolinux is an Asian-Pacific distribution of Linux with its corporate headquarters located in Tokyo, Japan, and offices in China and the United States. Turbolinux claims that its “Turbolinux 7 Server was the first-ever to conform to Internationalization standards to help simplify development of applications that require multiple language support — a critical requirement for software distributed globally,” and supports the use of its software in the Japanese and Chinese languages.

Turbolinux was also used as the operating system of choice for China’s recent supercomputer, the Dawning 4000A. With its unveiling on November 15, 2004, China became the third country, after the U.S. and Japan, to surpass the 10 teraflops level of performance in a single machine. The computer, located in Shanghai Supercomputing Center, contains 2,560 64-bit Opteron processors from AMD, each running at 2.2 GHz, and at its introduction was the 10th fastest computer in the world.

Turbolinux is being spread throughout China, both throughout government and the business sector, in key areas such as transportation and telecommunications. In December 2004, ZTE Corporation, the largest telecommunications manufacturer in China, partnered with Hewlett-Packard and Turbolinux to bring the benefits of GNU/Linux software to that industry.

The other three largest banks in China have either already announced plans for major migrations to GNU/Linux servers running various distributions, or are expected to do so later this year.

Bathroom Remodels: Turning Your Bathroom Into An Oasis

Bathroom Remodels: Turning your Bathroom into an Oasis

by

Crazy Cabinet Guy

An atmosphere of personal indulgence, which used to be the domain of day spas, is finding its way into master bathroom remodels. Limited only by imagination and a project’s budget, standard master bathroomss are turning into customized retreats. The good news is luxury can be incorporated into any design by using higher end tile designs, fixtures, and bathroom vanities or decorative bathroom furniture vanities.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IxwNgRPsdc[/youtube]

STYLE Start scouring those magazines that you see in the waiting rooms… make sure you check out the local design studios and design tradeshows. Styles change year to year, so if you want to keep up with current trends make sure you do some research. MATERIALS “For master baths, no material is too luxurious or too unusual. Whether it is installing travertine tile from floor to ceiling, find a rare type of granite countertops, or buying a one-of-a-kind decorative bathroom vanity, the options are endless” says Dale from Artistic Bathroom Designs in Philadelphia, PA. LAYOUT To create a custom floor plan, consider hiring a certified bathroom designer, who will analyze the size of the space and your family’s needs. Some things to discuss with the designer include: Shower or Bath: “The master bath has undergone some changes in recent years. Giant tubs, once wildly popular, have fallen out of favor. Instead, people are choosing custom showers including overhead showerheads, wall-mounted showerheads, hand-held showerheads, shower tiles, rain bars, body sprays and steam showers. Oversized tubs and jacuzzi tubs are under-utilized these days. When people are shopping for homes, they are not looking for the high end tubs, but they are demanding more and more out of the shower features” says Jake Parks of Atlantic States Realty. Choosing a custom shower with a smaller bathtub can have a big impact on the layout of a bath, too. “A big tub with a nice surround takes up a tremendous amount of space. We can do a great big custom shower in a lot less space,” Parks says. Number of Sinks: If it is new development, it is almost expected to have two sinks in the master bathroom. In a remodel of an older home, the running of the second line and installation of a second sink can be cost prohibitive. Think about the return on investment before making a major change like installing a second water line and sink. Delicate Matters: While it may seem a bit awkward to talk about the toilet versus the tub, whenever doing a remodel or new bathroom, the recent trend is to separate the tub and toilet by creating a second room. This can add a lot of value to your home. Universal Design: Another trend in master bathrooms is the use of universal design. This approach, designed to accommodate people of all ages and abilities, includes wider doorways, showers with no raised lip around the bottom, larger shower doors and more room around fixtures. Once thought of as industrial-looking, universal elements such as grab bars now blend seamlessly into even the most luxurious master bathrooms. THE DETAILS When it comes to extras in a master bathroom remodel, look toward the luxurious. Hang an extravagant chandelier over a soaking tub; install a high end decorative bathroom furniture vanity; add built-in warming drawers for towels or install a pass-through fireplace for ambience and warmth. You might also consider increasing the master bathroom’s convenience by housing your washer and dryer, adjacent dressing rooms or even massage tables in the space. Sound systems and televisions have become quite common in master bathrooms, but today’s remodels are taking the concept to a new level. Flat screens are becoming more popular and in-mirror models, where the television is visible only when it is on, are another option. A master bath should be a calm, quiet retreat, and that can be tough to pull off with the noise from a television or stereo bouncing of the room’s hard surfaces. These finishing touches will add that extra bit of luxury to an already spa-like master bath remodel.

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Author Amy Scobee recounts abuse as Scientology executive

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.

Viktor Schreckengost dies at 101

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Viktor Schreckengost, the father of industrial design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an iconic piece of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery died yesterday. He was 101.

Schreckengost was born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio, United States.

Schreckengost’s peers included the far more famous designers Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes.

In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost’s work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings.

Broward County Sheriff’s police dog killed in shootout in Florida

Thursday, July 17, 2008

A man shot and killed a Broward County Sheriff’s Office police dog in Miami Beach after a two-county chase in Florida early Thursday morning.

The shooter, Delvin Lewis, 27, was firing shots at his girlfriend during a domestic dispute in Oakland Park. When police arrived, the suspect got into his car and fled, engaging roughly 20 cruisers in a 30-mile chase which ended near Mount Sinai Medical Center’s emergency room in Miami Beach. An exchange of gunfire followed in which Lewis reportedly killed the dog. ER doctors tried to save the animal but it was too late.

The shooter was also struck and has been taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he remains with no life threatening injuries.

According to a Mount Sinai spokeswoman hospital facilities are now accessible after the authorities locked down the area for three hours following the shooting.

Lewis has been arrested 26 times by Florida authorities including one in July 2003 in which he injured a police dog striking him repeatedly on the head with a cellphone.The suspect has been charged with aggravated assault with a motor vehicle on a law enforcement officer, aggravated fleeing and eluding, resisting an officer with violence and principal in the death of a police dog.

Hitting a police dog is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail, while killing a police officer is a capital offense which can lead to the death penalty.

Miami-Dade Police Department is handling the investigation which involves Broward Sheriff Office and Miami Beach police.

Lewis has been in and out of jail since 2000 and had been arrested for domestic battery in 2000 and 2004, when he beat a pregnant woman.

The dog, whose name was Oozi, was a 7-1/2 years old Belgian Malinois assigned to BSO’s Cooper City district. He was trained in narcotics and helped in hundreds of arrests in his career, including 35 this year.

Oozi and his partner, Deputy Gerald Wengert, were named BSO’s Employees of the month in May for their role in the apprehension of three burglary suspects.

Claims from British quake may run into “low tens of millions of pounds” – Insurance association reps

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Representatives from the British insurance industry have said that the cost of the earthquake which hit Britain early yesterday could be over 10 million GBP. The Association of British Insurers has said in a statement that the cost for the earthquake is “likely to run into the low tens of millions of pounds.”

The Senior claims manager at the UK bank Norwich Union has described the damage by saying that at the moment most insurance claims regarding the earthquake describe “minor damage such as tiles off roofs, breakages inside the homes and brick walls collapsing.” It has also been reported that approximately 1,200 insurance claims were made in the first twelve hours after the earthquake hit Britain.

These reports come one day after the United Kingdom was hit by a 5.2 earthquake. Tremors were reported as widespread as Edinburgh, Manchester, Sheffield, Middlesbrough, Cambridge, London, Birmingham and Southampton .