Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The Peel Hotel, located in Melbourne, Australia has been given permission by the Victorian State Civil and Administrative Tribunal to ban lesbians and heterosexuals from going into their bar which is catered specifically for gay men.

Owner of the hotel Tom McFeely, said he went to the tribunal in order to protect gay males by providing them with a bar that has a friendly atmosphere and where the men can be in a “non-threatening” situation.

“If I can limit the number of heterosexuals entering the Peel, then that helps me keep the safe balance. Heterosexuals have other places to go to; my homosexuals do not,” said McFeely adding that there are over 2,000 bars and clubs around Australia for heterosexuals to attend.

The hotel’s commissioner says that many of the gay men who attend the bar felt uncomfortable and felt like zoo animals.

“(They) also have felt as though they’ve been like a zoo exhibit with big groups of women on hens’ parties coming to the club,” said the Peels Hotel Commission Chief, Helen Szoke who also said that many of the bars gay men have been harassed or have been threatened with violence.

Lesbians and heterosexual individuals are still allowed to stay at the hotel.

Cate McKenzie, who is the chief of the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission also supports the ruling saying, “This would undermine or destroy the atmosphere which the company wishes to create. Sometimes heterosexual groups and lesbian groups insult and deride and are even physically violent towards the gay male patrons. To regard the gay male patrons of the venue as providing an entertainment or spectacle to be stared at, as one would at an animal at a zoo, devalues and dehumanizes them.”

The Victorian Gay and Lesbian Lobby Group says that the ruling makes the Peel Hotel one of the only two establishments in Melbourne to cater specifically to gay men.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ian Narev, the CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, this morning “unreservedly” apologised to clients who lost money in a scandal involving the bank’s financial planning services arm.

Last week, a Senate enquiry found financial advisers from the Commonwealth Bank had made high-risk investments of clients’ money without the clients’ permission, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars lost. The Senate enquiry called for a Royal Commission into the bank, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Mr Narev stated the bank’s performance in providing financial advice was “unacceptable”, and the bank was launching a scheme to compensate clients who lost money due to the planners’ actions.

In a statement Mr Narev said, “Poor advice provided by some of our advisers between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that. […] There have been changes in management, structure and culture. We have also invested in new systems, implemented new processes, enhanced adviser supervision and improved training.”

An investigation by Fairfax Media instigated the Senate inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s financial planning division and ASIC.

Whistleblower Jeff Morris, who reported the misconduct of the bank to ASIC six years ago, said in an article for The Sydney Morning Herald that neither the bank nor ASIC should be in control of the compensation program.

Monday, September 25, 2017

On Friday, Transport for London (TfL) announced US-based taxi booking application Uber would not get a renewed private hire operator license after their current permit expires at the end of the month. The regulatory body released an official statement on their website and stated Uber London Limited was “not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator license”.

TfL said Uber London “demonstrate[d] a lack of corporate responsibility” for reporting serious criminal offences, and for obtaining background of the drivers and medical certificates. In August, police said Uber allowed a driver despite allegations of sexually assaulting a passenger. The company has been accused of sexism and bullying. TfL in its statement also complained about possible use of “greyball” software to prevent officials from accessing the application for law enforcement duties.

According to Uber’s statistics, about 3.5 million people in London use Uber. There are some 40 thousand drivers tied with Uber within the British capital. Per the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998, Uber can appeal against TfL’s decision within three weeks. Uber received an interim renewal for four months in May, and it is set to expire at the end of the month. To this announcement, Uber London’s General Manager Tom Elvidge said, “By wanting to ban our app from the capital Transport for London and the Mayor have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice. If this decision stands, it will put more than 40,000 licensed drivers out of work and deprive Londoners of a convenient and affordable form of transport. To defend the livelihoods of all those drivers, and the consumer choice of millions of Londoners who use our app, we intend to immediately challenge this in the courts.” He also added, “This ban would show the world that, far from being open, London is closed to innovative companies who bring choice to consumers.”

TfL said Uber’s irresponsibility could compromise the safety and security of the public. In contrast, Uber’s response said their service enhances safety. London mayor Sadiq Khan, on Facebook, said, “[…]all companies in London must play by the rules and adhere to the high standards we expect — particularly when it comes to the safety of customers. Providing an innovative service must not be at the expense of customer safety and security. I fully support TfL’s decision — it would be wrong if TfL continued to license Uber if there is any way that this could pose a threat to Londoners’ safety and security. Any operator of private hire services in London needs to play by the rules.”

Uber has received criticism from traditional taxi drivers as well as government officials. Uber was banned from Bulgaria and Denmark, and faces regulatory issues in France, Italy, Hungary, and Spain. It also faced legal inquiry for use of greyball in the US to resist government regulation of the application. Regarding the complaint about improper use of use of Greyball, Elvidge cited an independent review and said it “found that ‘greyball’ has never been used or considered in the UK for the purposes cited by TfL”. Uber operates in over 40 cities and towns in the UK.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Renault driver Fernando Alonso finished third in the Brazilian Grand Prix, held at the Autodromo Carlos Pace near São Paulo. McLaren drivers and championship rivals Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikonnen finished first and second respectively; although Alonso’s third place decreased his lead in championship points over Raikonnen, his closest rival, to 23, he nonetheless was able to secure the 2005 Drivers’ World Championship. Since the winner of a Formula One Grand Prix earns 10 points and only two races remain, Raikonnen no longer has a mathematical possibility of becoming World Champion.

Alonso thus ends the five-year long reign of Michael Schumacher at the top of Formula One. At 24, he also became the youngest Formula One World Champion, ahead of Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who was 25 when he took the crown in 1972. He is also the first Spaniard to take that title.

Even though the Drivers’ Championship is over, the Constructors’ Championship will most likely go down to the wire during the last two races of the season in Suzuka (Japan) and Shanghai. Even though Renault has led the Championship for most of the season, Raikonnen’s recent victories in the Hungarian, Turkish, Belgian and Brazilian Grand Prix have given McLaren a two-point lead over Renault, ensuring that both teams will fight hard for every point in the final races.

The race commenced with an incident between David Coulthard and Antonio Pizzonio touching wheels, forcing the latter’s Williams-BMW into his teammate Mark Webber’s car, putting all three of them out of the race (Webber eventually did manage to rejoin after lengthy repairs). The incident necessitated the deployment of the safety car until the track was cleared. Following the restart, Giancarlo Fisichella repassed reigning seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher almost immediately, although Schumacher ultimately regained the position during the first pitstop round.

Montoya was never challenged for the race lead, and was not required to assist his teammate as Alonso’s third place ensured that a win for Raikonnen would have made no difference regarding the outcome of the world championship. McLaren’s one-two finish was their first such result since the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix.

Despite pre-race concerns about rain, the race remained dry.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

A judge in the High Court in Aberdeen, Scotland has criticised the care doctors gave to baby Alexis Matheson. Lord Uist made the comments while sentencing Mark Simpson, who was yesterday convicted of murdering the six-week-old girl.

Simpson, 29, will serve at least twenty years of his life sentence after he attacked Alexis — the child of his then-girlfriend Ilona Sheach, who he blamed for Alexis’s wounds — over the course of a month. The child suffered broken ribs and brain damage. Lord Uist said staff at Woodside Medical Group might have been able to prevent the death but failed to realise the baby was being hurt deliberately.

Sheach had initially been unable to get an appointment at Aberdeen-based Woodside for her daughter; instead, Dr Mohammed Athar spoke on the phone with Sheach and prescribed three drugs without seeing the infant. When she did see a doctor the following week despite being, said Lord Uist, “seriously concerned” for Alexis’s health, the doctor she saw — Linda Mackay — believed Sheach’s explanation the baby was constipated. She felt Alexis’s blood-red eyes were due to straining; a consultant neurosurgeon testified at trial that this did not explain the subconjunctival haemorrhages in the eyes.

That consultant felt a referral to a paediatrician would have been approrpiate. A consultant paediatrician told the court if Dr Mckay had phoned one Alexis would have been urgently hospitalised. These circumstances have led to calls for legislative changes, according to The Scotsman, which compared the death to the recent Baby P case in neighbouring England. Lord Uist also made this comparison, saying “Scottish health authorities have to treat this case with a similar degree of importance and urgency” to “[t]he Baby P case down south”.

Lord Uist was “very disturbed” that “nothing was done” following Dr Mackay’s assessment. He also criticised the delay in seeing a doctor, saying “[i]t is my opinion the appointments system operated at this surgery may require urgent review so as to ensure children requiring urgent attention receive it by being seen by a doctor.”

He continued “[w]hether the death of baby Alexis could have been prevented had she been so referred is a matter which, in my opinion, merits a very full inquiry. The training of GPs, and also health visitors, to detect signs of non-accidental injury may be a matter that requires further consideration.”

The same day as these comments, Crown Office announced that a fatal accident inquiry will occur. “These are very serious criticisms by Lord Uist of the way the health services operated,” said Scottish Conservatives health spokesman Murdo Fraser. “Clearly, there were serious failings in relation to this baby’s treatment and lessons have to be learned from this case.”

The health board stated “NHS Grampian and the Woodside Medical Practice would like to extend their condolences to Alexis’s family. We understand that Lord Uist has issued a statement that it is critical of perceived failings in the care given to Alexis. We will consider these comments very carefully.”

The Scottish Government has also taken note. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family of Alexis Matheson,” according to a spokeswoman. “We continue to monitor the situation very closely, and will await the findings of the fatal accident inquiry. Following this we will work with the health board to determine any necessary changes and ensure that any lessons are learned.”

Monday, September 24, 2007

Martin Hyde is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Ottawa West-Nepean riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Note that he did not answer the question “Of the decisions made by Ontario’s 38th Legislative Assembly, which was the most beneficial to your electoral district? To the province as a whole? Which was least beneficial, or even harmful, to this riding? To the province as a whole?”

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.

Sunday, November 7, 2010 Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards won the NASCAR Nationwide Series 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge held yesterday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kyle Busch came in second for Joe Gibbs Racing, and Brad Keselowski finished third to win his title after leading through the season. Busch’s teammate Joey Logano started from 10th place on the starting grid, but finished 4th in front of Martin Truex, Jr. Jason Leffler (Braun Racing) and Reed Sorenson (Braun Racing) finished behind Truex, Jr. in 6th and 7th. Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, and Steve Wallace rounded out the top ten finishers in the race. Pole position winner James Buescher finished 37th, after being involved in an accident on lap 44.

In the Drivers’ championship, Keselowski clinched the championship with 5,314 points, 465 ahead of Edwards, and 695 ahead of Busch in third. Justin Allgaier was scored fourth, Menard was sixth, and Harvick was seventh, after finishing eighth. Trevor Bayne and Leffler was ninth and tenth. Keselowski now cannot be beaten with only two races to go. “My whole family made so many sacrifices along the way and I’m surrounded by great people. I’m happy and blessed to have this whole team around me. Almost had a win here today and wanted it to work out,” he said after the race.

Afterward, Edwards commented, “I had to do everything I could. I got the best restart I could and it ended up giving us the race. I knew if I gave him an inch he would beat us.” Busch followed in the press conference and said “Carl Edwards jumped the restart by about three lengths before the restart mark.” He was then asked if he should have brought it up to NASCAR, but he answered, “Does it fucking matter? Race is over. Carl Edwards is in victory lane. Nothing you can do about it. Our car was fast in the beginning but didn’t have the speed it took at the end of the race. I don’t know if it was under the hood or through the corners. It was disappointing finishing second but whatever.”