Friday, May 4, 2018

On Tuesday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in contacted the United Nations and requested U.N. supervision of the decommissioning of Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, a subterranean tunnel network beneath Mount Mantap where all six of North Korea’s nuclear tests took place. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly said during April 27’s session of the 2018 Inter-korea summit he would invite journalists and other experts from other countries to witness the site’s closure.

A statement issued by the Blue House, the South Korean presidential residence, said President Moon phoned U.N. Secretary General António Guterres to request the United Nations confirm the shutdown, and Guterres responded, while that specific request had to go through the Security Council he would assign someone at the U.N. to work with South Korea. Moon’s office also reported Kim Jong Un saying he would invite experts from the United States and other countries to view the site as it was closed.

On April 27, Kim and Moon met at a border village called Panmunjom to discuss relations between their two countries. They emerged with the Panmunjom Declaration, calling for removal of all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula. According to Moon’s spokesperson, Kim told Moon, “If we maintain frequent meetings and build trust with the United States and receive promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would be need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?”International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials, in remarks to NBC News, said the IAEA is willing to assist with the decommissioning of Punggye-ri.

Director Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies described the closure as “of limited value, but it’s not meaningless. […] I would compare it to the blowing up of the cooling tower at Yongbyon in 2008.”

Last week, Chinese geologists published a report saying the tunnels of Punggye-ri are likely to have partially collapsed after last September’s nuclear test, itself of seismic magnitude 6.3 and triggering subsequent earthquakes. Kim said this was not the case: “Some say that we are terminating facilities that are not functioning, but you will see that we have two more tunnels that are bigger than the existing ones and that they are in good condition,” again reported through Moon’s spokesperson.

“This is a small but welcome step. But, as always, we must take North Korea’s actions with appropriate caution,” said former United States diplomat Mintaro Oba. “We can’t rule out that Kim Jong Un wants to be seen as a maverick. He has a clear taste for bold moves that surprise the international community, something that sets him apart from his father.”

“If reports are true that the tunnels have collapsed,” said Duyeon Kim of the Korean Peninsula Future Forum think tank, “then the test site would be useless for future nuclear tests anyway, so it would just be a symbolic gesture to close it down[…] It’s not a serious or sincere gesture to denuclearize.” He also observed, “Advanced nuclear states don’t need to conduct explosive tests after a certain point, so Pyongyang might be trying to show it is a part of that nuclear club.”

Officially, the Korean War, which began in 1950, never ended. There was a cease-fire in 1953 but no formal peace treaty. At the April 27 summit, the leaders discussed nuclear disarmament, the reuniting of families separated by the partition, and general relations between the two countries.

Kim also announced plans to reverse a 2015 change to North Korea’s time zone. The country’s clocks are currently set 30 minutes ahead of South Korea’s. “I feel sad to see that there are two clocks hung on the wall of the Peace House, one for Seoul time and the other for Pyongyang time,” Moon’s spokesperson reported Kim said during the talks. “Since it is us who changed the time standard, we will return to the original one.”

Kim Jong Un and United States President Donald Trump have spoken of meeting in a few weeks, but no date or location has been firmly announced. President Moon plans to visit Pyongyang in person in the fall.

A compilation of brief news reports for Friday, December 12, 2008.

Bank of America has announced that it is planning to cut anywhere between 30,000 and 35,000 jobs over the next three years. This comes after the completion of its takeover of the company Merril Lynch.

The job reductions could affect around 11% of the combined workforce of both companies, which amounts to about 308,000 people. The cuts are aimed at saving US$7 billion of annual costs.

Sources

• “Bank of America cuts 30,000 jobs” — BBC News, December 12, 2008
• “Bank of America to cut up to 35,000 jobs” — NewsDaily, December 11, 2008

Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, has told the parliament that African Union (AU) peacekeepers stationed in the east African country of Somalia want to leave the country by the end of the year.

They have requested that Ethiopian troops that are planning to leave the country at the end of the year to help them withdraw from Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu. There are some 3,200 troops from Uganda and Burundi covering sites in that city.

The withdrawal of the armed forces, however, could leave the area vulnerable to an insugent assault.

Sources

• “AU troops leaving Somalia – Meles” — BBC News, December 11, 2008
• “Ethiopia says AU peacekeepers want to quit Somalia” — stv.tv, December 11, 2008

The aeroplane manufacturer Boeing has announced that there will be another delay in the launch of its 787 “Dreamliner” aircraft. The postponement has been blamed on production problems and strikes by machinists.

The aeroplane’s first flight has been put off until the second quarter of 2009, and will not start shipping until a year later. This is the 787’s fourth delay, and the aircraft is already two years behind schedule.

Boeing suggests that its financial outlook for 2009 will affected by the postponement.

Sources

• “Boeing postpones Dreamliner again” — BBC News, December 11, 2008
• “Another 787 delay announced” — NWCN.com, December 11, 2008

Sunday, April 24, 2011

An EF4 tornado struck near St. Louis, Missouri Friday night, forcing the closure of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and damaging over 2,700 buildings in St. Louis County. The National Weather Service also confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down in neighboring St. Charles County and an EF2 touched down in Pontoon Beach, Illinois.

The city of Bridgeton, in North St. Louis County, was hit by the EF4 tornado. According to the National Weather Service, it was the most powerful tornado to touch down in the St. Louis region since 1967, with winds ranging from 166 and 200 miles (267 and 322 kilometres) per hour. Aftereffects of that tornado were also reported in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

One official estimated that anywhere from 50 to 200 homes in the Maryland Heights and Bridgeton areas incurred damage, but early numbers released by St. Louis County indicate that over 2,000 buildings in those two cities had suffered “noticeable damage,” which does not include minor damage. Around 30,000 people in the region did not have power Saturday, out of a total of 47,000 affected residents.

Authorities with search and rescue dogs went door-to-door Saturday, looking for possibly trapped residents. Aerial imagery was being used in damage assessment. Area residents unaffected by the tornado were assisting those that lost their homes, reported St. Louis television station KSDK.

The Harmann Estates neighborhood of Bridgeton was heavily damaged during the storm, with many residences losing roofs and siding. Officials have already condemned some of the subdivision’s homes. St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley reported 25 homes in Bridgeton and Berkeley, Missouri as being completely destroyed and an additional 35 as uninhabitable.

Granite City, Illinois was struck by the EF2 tornado, while New Melle, Missouri was hit by the EF1. Fourteen New Melle homes sustained minor damage, while four were heavily damaged.

The storm also caused the temporary shutdown of two major St. Louis highways. Portions of Interstate 70 and Interstate 270 were closed Friday night due to fallen power lines and storm debris. Both blocked sections have since reopened, but officials said it would take a few days to remove all the debris, which they pushed onto the roadsides.

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, which is immediately west of Berkeley, suffered heavy damage Friday night from the same tornado, and was forced to halt all regular operations Saturday while crews worked to clear the affected terminals. Eight flights had been forced to land in Kansas City, Missouri Friday night due to the tornado. About 500 people were in Lambert Airport when the tornado hit. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson said other US airports were not affected by Lambert’s shutdown. Lambert is not an airline hub and is significantly less busy than it was ten years ago.

In a Saturday press conference, Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, Lambert’s director, said the airfield and Terminal 2 were “fully functional,” but the main terminal’s Concourse C had been severely impacted by the storm. That terminal, which sustained the heaviest damage, serves Air Tran, American Airlines, Cape Air, and Frontier Airlines. The total cost of repairs at Lambert is expected to be in the millions of dollars, but Hamm-Niebruegge said the airport does not yet have a good estimate.

One passenger of a waiting plane at Lambert told KSDK that heavy winds pushed the aircraft about 20 feet (6.1 metres) while it was still attached to the gate. Two other planes on the tarmac were unable to return to the airport, so passengers were bused back. Five planes—four operated by American and one by Southwest Airlines—suffered damage, and some will undergo major repairs.

Some travelers inside the airport received medical attention for minor injuries caused by flying glass. A handful of people were transported to a local hospital for additional treatment, but all were later released. “We get to the terminal and lights were out, glass everywhere, blood everywhere from people had been cut,” recalled one witness. Another person at the airport reported, “The ceiling was falling. The glass was hitting us in the face. Hail and rain were coming in. The wind was blowing debris all over the place. It was like being in a horror movie. Grown men were crying.”

On Saturday, it was evident that Concourse C would not be open for some time, said Mayor of St. Louis Francis Slay. A large section of its roof was missing and around half of its windows had been blown out by the high winds. Debris and water from the storm were present inside the airport as crews worked to restore power and assess damage to the terminal. Missing windows had been boarded up, ruined carpet had been removed, and the control tower was functional by Saturday afternoon. The power was back on by 7:40 p.m. CDT (00:40 UTC) that evening.

The airport resumed outgoing flight services Sunday, although several incoming flights landed at Lambert Saturday evening. Slay said the airport will be running at 70 percent capacity until mid-week, depending on the availability of airline crew members and planes. Airlines using Concourse C will have their operations temporarily relocated, he added. On Sunday, Southwest was operating at normal capacity, while AirTran moved to Concourse B and canceled four of its eleven scheduled flights. A spokesperson for American said the airline would have planes ready for normal Monday operations. American had previously canceled all St. Louis flights scheduled for Sunday.

On Saturday afternoon, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon arrived at Lambert and visited areas devastated by the tornado. He originally planned to tour Maryland Heights, Bridgeton, and Berkeley, but Nixon was only able to tour Berkeley due to an approaching line of storms. While in St. Louis, the governor said 750 Missouri homes had been damaged by Friday’s tornadoes and that federal assistance was forthcoming. Nixon reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was involved in assessing storm damage, as well as that US President Barack Obama had already contacted him, promising relief funds. US Representative Lacy Clay, said Saturday that he would brief Obama on the situation.

The state declared the affected areas of St. Louis County a disaster area. No one has reported serious injuries or deaths as a result of the storm, although some people were treated for minor injuries. “It was horrific and for that much damage to been done, to have no loss of life, is truly a blessing,” Slay said.

Saturday, October 7, 2006

The city of Bratsk in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, received a new turbine for its famous 4,500 megawatt hydroelectric plant founded in the mid-1950s on the Angara river. In future this new unit will cause an efficiency rise up to 255MW for each turbine.

Currently, the Bratsk Power Station operates 18 hydro-turbines, each with capacity of 250MW, produced by the Leningrad Metal Works (“LMZ”) in the 1960s. The plant is the second level of the Angara Hydroelectric Stations cascade. Since its full commissioning in 1967, the station was the world’s single biggest power producer until Canada’s Churchill Falls in 1971. Annually the station produces 22.6 billion kWh.

The precious 80 tonne cargo was transported to Pulkovo International airport of Saint-Petersburg where it was loaded on Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan to made all the way to Bratsk by air. On October 4, 2006 it landed in the Bratsk airport. In two days the unit 16 replacement arrived to the assemble place on the Angara river.

Sergey Emdin, CEO of IrkutskEnergo JSC, noted the press that the Bratsk plant reconstruction project includes not only the economical, but the ecological aspect by reducing carbon dioxide emission for 6 million tonnes for the period of 2008-2012.

In 2006 and 2007 the old plant is scheduled to receive two more working wheels – by one for each year respectively, and in 2008 and 2009 another four – by two for each year.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The year 2007 marks the meeting of the major representatives of the watch and jewelry industry at BaselWorld Show, Basel, Switzerland. The Show will take place in the period of April 12 – 19, 2007. The international event is to attract over 2000 companies from 45 countries and about 90,000 visitors.

At present day the luxury goods business holds quite strong positions in the world industry and is still developing at high rates due to appropriate economic climate. Thus, BaselWorld is perceived by watch and jewelry producers and their partners as favorable new grounds for their further development.

BaselWorld is organized annually by MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd with a purpose to provide new business opportunities for the participants who are expected to exhibit their latest products in the exhibition area of about 160,000 m2. Visitors come to BaselWorld to keep aware of the current trends of watch and jewelry making, while retailers and wholesalers discover new partners and strengthen their links with well-established ones.

The exhibition is divided into product sectors presented in the six exhibition halls, among them there are the Hall of Universe and the Hall of Elements. This year the management of the Show has taken care of updating and redecorating the design of the halls.

All the participants of the event will be able to expand their business contacts beyond the fair in the BaselWorld Village located nearby. The ‘village’ comprises special facilities for partners to discuss their matters in informal atmosphere.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

In the United States of America and other parts of the word, as Christmas and the holidays draw near, shippers have released information on shipping deadlines. Remember to always clearly label and address your holiday packages.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Defying government warnings against further demonstrations, as many as twenty-thousand Chinese protesters turned out for a second weekend of anti-Japan demonstrations in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Tianjin.

In Shanghai, a crowd broke many windows at the Japanese consulate, according to Kyodo News. The crowd also busted up a Japanese restaurant and set its sign on fire. The protesters then attacked a convenience store, according to the Los Angeles Times.

At the Japanese consulate, the crowd chanted “jia ru, jia ru” asking the police to “join us”. The police did not arrest the protesters, and stood by watching as the demonstration proceeded. The police permitted the protesters to throw eggs and rocks. Although the police provided at one point a sign which read “March route this way,” state-controlled media denied that the protesters had been given permission for their demonstration.

Southwest of Shanghai, in the city of Hangzhou, an estimated ten thousand protesters demonstrated against Japan, repeating recent demands for a boycott of Japanese products.

“Chinese people are angry,” student protester Michael Teng told Associated Press. “We will play along with Japan and smile nicely at them, but they have to know they have a large, angry neighbor,” Teng said.

In Beijing, Tiananmen Square was largely quiet as security tightened in anticipation of tomorrow’s visit by Japan’s foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura. Hundreds of police are guarding both Tiananmen Square and the Japanese embassy.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday seeking to reassure Japanese citizens and businesses operating in China.

“The Chinese government has attached great importance to the situation and has kept on urging the public to express their appeals in a calm, sane, law-abiding and orderly manner and to avoid extreme activities,” Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan said in a press release issued on Friday.

As the protests continued in China, Japan lodged a “strong protest” against China.

“We cannot but say that the security system in Shanghai is insufficient,” Machimura told reporters.

Despite the protests, Machimura announced that he is not cancelling plans to meet with China’s foreign minister Li Zhaoxing on Sunday to discuss Sino-Japanese relations.

“China has been increasing its regional economic and political influence,” Robert Broadfoot, managing director of Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. told Bloomberg from Hong Kong. “Japan doesn’t want to have its position in the region dictated by China. Japan is adopting a more assertive policy, and China is trying to block it,” Broadfoot said.

On Friday, the Japanese government warned its citizens in China to keep a low profile during the protests.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Esteban Ruiz Santiago, 26, appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida this Monday. Santiago stands accused of a shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday at 12:55 p.m. local time (1755 UTC) at the lower level baggage claim area in Terminal 2 of the airport. The incident killed five people and injured six, with roughly another 40 people injured in the crowd while hastily evacuating from the scene.

Police drove Santiago from the Broward County main jail to the court building in the morning. At the hearing, Santiago attended handcuffed and also cuffed at the ankles, guarded by at least eight police officers. The Magistrate, Judge Alicia Valle, questioned Santiago on his finances. The prosecutor also sought a detention order for public safety and flight risk. The hearing took about 20 minutes. The Judge ordered Santiago a public defender, and set a detention hearing for January 17, and the arraignment hearing for January 23. After the hearing, the police returned Santiago to the Broward County main jail.

At the hearing, Santiago had admitted to earning US$2,100 a month as a security guard in Alaska, while only having about US$10 of savings in a bank, and no other property. The Judge also informed Santiago of the penalties that may be imposed on him in the case he was convicted.

On Friday, authorities said, Santiago arrived from Anchorage, Alaska with only one baggage item — a suitcase with an unloaded Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. Upon arriving at the airport, he picked up the suitcase at the baggage claim carousel and loaded it in a nearby bathroom. Then he walked out and started shooting people, at random according to a witness. People started to run and hide, and Santiago continued to shoot. Then Santiago stopped shooting, witnesses claiming he ran out of ammunition. The police arrested him. He did not resist the arrest.

According to officials, Santiago received a mental health evaluation in November, after he traveled to an FBI office and walked in alleging his head was controlled by the government and he heard voices urging him to watch ISIS propaganda. At the time of that incident he left his infant son and a gun in a car, and the infant was given to mother’s care. His gun was seized at the time of that incident, but Santiago was given it back on December 8.

Santiago traveled from Anchorage, Alaska to Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale Airport on a Delta Airlines flight. Investigations were ongoing to determine the motivation for the incident. No evidence was found of Santiago communicating with any other individual in relation to the incident; he seemed to be acting alone. In an interview, Santiago admitted to having planned the shooting in advance when purchasing the airline ticket. According to CNN, Esteban Santiago previously belonged to the Alaska Army National Guard, including a ten-month stint in Iraq where he was given a combat action badge. According to Santiago’s family, his mental health issues started after his ten-month tour in Iraq, after which he began to tell them about auditory hallucinations.

All flights to and from Fort Lauderdale Airport were suspended by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) until Saturday morning, and roads in and out of the airport closed.

Santiago was born in New Jersey. He spent his childhood in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated US territory in the northeastern Caribbean Sea.

At the time of the incident, it was legal in the US to transport guns in a hard-sided and locked container by air. In Florida, it was also legal to carry a gun in an airport terminal without removing the gun from its case.

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Liberal candidate Dr. Eric Hoskins is standing for election in the riding of Haldimand—Norfolk.

Wikinews contacted Dr. Eric Hoskins, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowing candidates to impart their full message to our readers, uninterrupted.

For more information, visit the campaign’s official website, listed below.