Sunday, April 2, 2006

Washington, D.C. — The Japanese Cherry Blossoms have again bloomed around the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. and a city along with thousands of visitors mark the beginning of Spring with their arrival. The accompanying National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual celebration, commemorating the March 27, 1912, gift to the city of 3,000 Japanese cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo. Mayor Ozaki donated the trees in an effort to enhance the growing friendship between the United States and Japan and also celebrate the continued close relationship between the two peoples.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Alaskan U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, who turned 85 yesterday, narrowly lost his re-election bid to Mark Begich, the Democratic Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska.

Meanwhile, as Alaska’s counting of the November 4 election is almost complete, Democratic challenger for the US House of Representatives, Ethan Berkowitz, conceded to incumbent Don Young, the Republican Party nominee.

With this result, the Democrats are two seats away (assuming that independents Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman continue to caucus with them) from a filibuster-proof supermajority in the United States Senate, with two races (Minnesota and Georgia) as yet uncalled. That would allow the Democrats to invoke cloture, limiting filibusters to a further 30 hours, an ability last attained in the 95th Congress of 1977-79.

Stevens is entitled to request a recount at his campaign’s expense, and has not yet made a statement. After the completion of counting yesterday, Begich had defeated Stevens by 3,724 votes, a margin of over one percent. 2,500 special absentee and postal ballots remain to be counted on November 25.

Begich released a statement on his win saying, “I am humbled and honored to serve Alaska in the United States Senate. It’s been an incredible journey getting to this point, and I appreciate the support and commitment of the thousands of Alaskans who have brought us to this day.”

Young won his race by 16,280 votes, a margin of five percent.

Stevens recently became a convicted felon on seven counts for lying on Senate disclosure forms about accepting $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from VECO, an oil services company. He has asked President George W. Bush not to grant him a presidential pardon.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Vail, Colorado, United States — Yesterday, Wikinews sat down with Australian blind Paralympic skier Melissa Perrine who was participating in a national team training camp in Vail, Colorado.

((Wikinews)) This is Melissa Perrine. And are you like Jess Gallagher and just here training and not competing?

Melissa Perrine: I’m not competing right now.

((WN)) And you competed in 2010 in Vancouver?

MP: I did. Yeah.

((WN)) And who was your guide?

MP: Andy Bor.

((WN)) Why a male guide? He’s got to have different skis, and he can’t turn exactly the same way.

MP: I think that with me it was just that Andy was the fittest person that was with the team when I came along. He used to be an assistant coach with the team before I started with him.

((WN)) And you guys have a good relationship?

MP: Yeah!

((WN)) Like a husband and wife relationship without the sex?

MP: No, not at all. (laughs) Older brother maybe. Good relationship though. We get along really well.

((WN)) So have you ever lost communications on the course in an embarrassing moment?

MP: We ski courses without communications. (unintelligible)

((WN)) You’re a B3 then?

MP: I’m a B2.

((WN)) So you can see even less than Jessica Gallagher.

MP: Yes.

((WN)) How do you ski down a course when you can’t even see it?

MP: Andy!

((WN)) You just said you had no communications!

MP: Oh, I just have to be a lot closer to him.

((WN)) So if he’s close enough you can overcome that issue?

MP: Yeah.

((WN)) Why are you doing skiing?

MP: Why? I enjoy it.

((WN)) You enjoy going fast?

MP: I love going fast. I like the challenge of it.

((WN)) Even though you can’t see how fast you’re going.

MP: Oh yes. It’s really good. It’s enjoyable. It’s a challenge. I love the sport, I love the atmosphere.

((WN)) I’ve asked the standing skiers, who’s the craziest Paralympic skiers? Is it the ones who are on the sit skis, the blind ones or the ones missing limbs?

MP: I probably think it’s the sit skiers who are a bit nuts. I think we all think the other categories are a bit mental. I wouldn’t jump on a sit ski and go down the course. Or put the blindfold on and do the same thing.

((WN)) B1 with the black goggles. Is your eye sight degenerative?

MP: No, I’m pretty stable.

((WN)) Not going to become a B1 any time soon?

MP: Oh God, I hope not. No, I’m pretty stable so I don’t envision getting much blinder than I am now unless something goes wrong.

((WN)) And you’re trying for Sochi?

MP: Definitely.

((WN)) And you think your chances are really good?

MP: I think I’ve got a decent chance. I just have to keep training like I have been.

((WN)) Win a medal this time?

MP: I’d like to. That’s the intention. (laughs)

((WN)) Do you like the media attention you’ve gotten? Do you wish there was more for yourself and winter sports, or of women athletes in general?

MP: I think that promoting women in sport and the winter games is more important than promoting myself. I’m quite happy to stay in the background, but if I can do something to promote the sport, or promote women in the sport, especially because we’ve got such a small amount of women competing in skiing, especially in blind skiing. I think that’s more important overall.

((WN)) Most skiers are men?

MP: There’s more men competing in skiing, far more. The standards are a bit higher with the males than with the females.

((WN)) The classification system for everyone else is functional ability, and you guys are a medical classification. Do you think you get a fair shake in terms of classification? Are you happy with the classification?

MP: I think I’m happy with it, the way it’s set out. With vision impairment I’m a B2, against other B2s. It may be the same category, but we have different disabilities, so there’s not much more they can do. I think it’s as fair as they possibly can.

((WN)) You like the point system? You’re okay with it? Competing against B1s and B3s even though you’re a B2?

MP: The factors even all that out. The way they’ve got it at the moment, I don’t have any issues with them, the blind categories.

((WN)) What was it that got you skiing in the first place?

MP: An accident, basically. Complete by chance. A friend of mine in the Department of Recreation used to run skiing camps in the South West Sydney region, and she had a spare spot at one of the camps. Knew that I was vision impaired, and: “Do you want to come along?” “Yeah, why, not, give it a go.” This was back when I was about twelve, thirteen. I went, and I loved it. Went back again, and again, and again. And for the first five or six years I just skied for like a week a season sort of thing, like, you’re on a camp. Fell in love with the sport; my skiing and the mountain atmosphere, I love it, and then, when I finished my HSC, I decided to take myself off to Canada, and skiing Kimberley, the disabled race program that was run by the ex-Australian who coaches Steve Boba, and I’d heard about it through Disabled Winter Sports Australia. And I thought I’d spend some time in Canada, which is for skiing, and had a year off between school and uni, so… first time I ran through a race course actually. It was pretty awesome. So I went back again the next year, and Steve [Boba] recommended me to Steve [Graham], and he watched me skiing in September in the South Island, and invited me on a camp with the Australian team, and I trained for Vancouver, and I qualified, and I said “sure, why not?” And here I am!

((WN)) So you liked Vancouver?

MP: It was just an amazing experience. I came into Vancouver… I had quite a bad accident on a downhill course in Sestriere about seven weeks out from the games, and I fractured my pelvis. So, I was coming into Vancouver with an injury and I had only just recovered and was in quite a lot of pain. So it was an amazing experience and I was quite glad I did it, but wish for a different outcome.

((WN)) So you are more optimistic about Sochi then?

MP: Yes.

((WN)) One of the things about skiing is that it’s really expensive to do. How do you afford to ski given how expensive it is? And the fact that you need a guide who’s got his own expenses.

MP: I’m lucky enough to rank quite high in the world at the moment, so due to my ranking I’m awarded a certain amount of funding from the Australian Sports Commission, which covers my equipment and expenses, and the team picks up training costs and travel costs. All I’ve got to pay for is food and my own equipment, which is good, so I’ve managed to do it a budget.

((WN)) What do you do outside of skiing, because you look kind of young? And you being not like, 30 or 40?

MP: I’m 24. I’m a student still.

((WN)) Which university?

MP: University of Western Sydney. It’s my third university degree. I’ve completed two others prior to this one that I’m doing now.

((WN)) Which degree? That you’re currently pursuing.

MP: Currently, physiotherapy.

((WN)) Because of your experience with sport?

MP: Not really, except that my experience with sport certainly helped my interest and kind of fueled a direction to take in the physiotherapy field when I’m finished my degree, but more the medical side of injury, rehabilitation that got me interested in physiotherapy to begin with, burns rehabilitation and things like that.

((WN)) You view yourself a full-time student as opposed to a full-time professional skier.

MP: Not really. I’m a student when uni’s on and when uni’s finished I’m a skier. The way that the term structure is in Australia it gives me all this time to ski. The uni starts at the end of February and goes to the beginning of June, and then we’ve got a six or seven week break until beginning or mid-August, and uni starts again then, and we go up to mid way through November, and then we’ve got a break again. Skiing fits in very nicely to that.

((WN)) What’s the route for qualification to Sochi for you.

MP: Just maintaining my points. At the moment I’ve qualified. I just need to maintain my points, keep my points under, and then I qualify for the Australian team.

((WN)) So there’s a chance they could say no?

MP: If I’m skiing really badly. An injury.

((WN)) Or if you’re like those Australian swimmers who had the guns…

MP: I’ve no sign of picking up a gun any time soon. Giving a blind girl a gun is not a good idea. (laughs)

((WN)) It just seemed to us that Sochi was so far away on out hand, and yet seemed to be in everybody’s mind. It’s on their program. Sixteen months away?

MP: Yes, something like that. Sixteen. I think it’s been on our mind ever since Vancouver was over and done with. Next season, that was that, it was like: “what are our goals for the next four years?” And it was, “What are our goals for the next three years and two years?” And subsequently, next season, it’s Sochi. What we need to work on, what we need to accomplish for then, to be as ready as possible.

((WN)) What is your favourite event of all the skiing ones? You like the downhill because it’s fast? Or you like Giant Slalom because it’s technically challenging? Or…

MP: I prefer the speed events. The downhill; frightens me but I do love the adrenalin. I’m always keen to do a downhill. But I think Super G might just be my favourite.

((WN)) Do you do any other adrenalin junkie type stuff? Do you go bungee jumping? Jumping out of airplanes? Snowboarding?

MP: I don’t snowboard, no. I have jumped out of a plane. I thought that was fun but downhill has got more adrenalin than jumping out of a plane, I found. I do mixed martial arts and judo. That’s my other passion.

((WN)) Have you thought of qualifying for the Summer [Para]lympics in judo?

MP: As far as I know, Australia doesn’t have a judo program for the Paralympics. But, if I ever get good enough, then sure.

((WN)) They sent one.

MP: They’ve sent one, and he’s amazing. He beats up blind guys, able bodieds, quite constantly. I’ve seen video of him fight, and he’s very very good. If I ever reach that level, then sure, it’s something I’d look into it.

((WN)) Does judo help with your skiing?

MP: Yes, it increases my agility and balance, and strength, for sure.

((WN)) I want to let you get back to changing. Thank you very much.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

What you are about to read is an American life as lived by renowned author Edmund White. His life has been a crossroads, the fulcrum of high-brow Classicism and low-brow Brett Easton Ellisism. It is not for the faint. He has been the toast of the literary elite in New York, London and Paris, befriending artistic luminaries such as Salman Rushdie and Sir Ian McKellen while writing about a family where he was jealous his sister was having sex with his father as he fought off his mother’s amorous pursuit.

The fact is, Edmund White exists. His life exists. To the casual reader, they may find it disquieting that someone like his father existed in 1950’s America and that White’s work is the progeny of his intimate effort to understand his own experience.

Wikinews reporter David Shankbone understood that an interview with Edmund White, who is professor of creative writing at Princeton University, who wrote the seminal biography of Jean Genet, and who no longer can keep track of how many sex partners he has encountered, meant nothing would be off limits. Nothing was. Late in the interview they were joined by his partner Michael Caroll, who discussed White’s enduring feud with influential writer and activist Larry Kramer.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Officials from France’s aviation accident investigation agency, the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), announced on Tuesday that they had recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of Air France Flight 447. It was located and brought to the surface by a Remora 6000 unmanned submarine, then taken aboard the Île de Sein, one of the vessels taking part in the recovery and salvage efforts.

This came two days after an announcement on Sunday that the crash-survivable memory unit of the flight data recorder (FDR) of the aircraft had been located and brought to the surface. The chassis of the FDR was located on April 27, with the memory unit missing. It was found a short distance from the chassis. It was also brought to the surface by the Remora 6000.

With the recovery of both recorders, which are reported to be “in good condition”, French officials hope to determine what caused the Airbus A330-200 to crash into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, when it departed Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport before it was lost 600 miles (965 km) off the coast of Brazil en route to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport with 228 passengers and crew on board.

	If you were to throw a computer into the ocean, imagine how all the parts would eventually split and you have the corrosive effects of seawater and the depths involved.

The leading theory at the moment is that the crew received incorrect air speed readings from the aircraft’s pitot tubes, devices which measure how fast the aircraft is traveling. Experts say the tubes may have become iced over, causing the crash. The plane’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) sent out 24 messages over a four-minute long period stating numerous problems and warnings, including incorrect air speed warnings occurring aboard the aircraft, just prior to it going down.

However, chief operating officer of the International Bureau of Aviation, Phil Seymour, speaking to CNN, believes the memory unit will not be of much use to investigators saying because of the depth it was located at, “If you were to throw a computer into the ocean, imagine how all the parts would eventually split and you have the corrosive effects of seawater and the depths involved.” Seymour believes the wreckage will help reveal what happened as more is recovered.

“It may be that the more wreckage they find will help them to piece it all together, which bit by bit could help them build a picture of what caused the plane to come down,” he added.

A BEA spokesperson had agreed with that possibility a few days earlier when speaking to the Associated Press about the recovery of the flight data recorder. “We can’t say in advance that we’re going to be able to read it until it’s been opened,” the spokesperson said. As

The wreckage of the Airbus A330-200, was found back on April 8 at a depth of 3,800 and 4,000 meters (2,070 to 2,190 fathoms or 12,467 feet and 13,123 feet), by a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, using a Remus robotic submarine and its side-scan sonar. After the wreckage was found, another Remus robot submarine with cameras was sent down to the site, where it filmed bodies in the wreckage. The location of the recorders were localized within 2 square miles (5 square kilometers) of the flight’s last position last year.

In March, a French judge placed the European aircraft maker Airbus and Air France under investigation for possible involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2009 crash. Both are paying the cost of the search which is estimated to be $12.7 million (nine million euro). The crash is the deadliest in Air France’s history.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

This week, Wikinews interviewed Spanish Paralympic sport shooter Paulo Fontán Torreiro. Late last month, Galician Fontán competed at the Alicante hosted 2013 IPC European Shooting Championship, where he finished twenty-third in the R4 10-meter air rifle standing event, and fortieth in the R5 10-meter air rifle prone event.

((Wikinews)) : So you competed at the IPC European Shooting Championships last month? How did you do? Are you happy with the result?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Compitió en el pasado Campeonato de Europa de Tiro? ¿Qué tal le fue? ¿Satisfecho por el resultado?}

Paulo Fontán Torreiro: Yes, I competed in the European Championship in Alicante. It was my first important event and I felt very nervous, I wanted to perform well. Despite improving my previous scores and achieving the minimum qualifying score for next year’s World Championship, I think I could have done better.

^{((es))Spanish language: Si he competido en el cto de Europa de Alicante. Era mi primer campeonato de tanta importancia y me noté bastante nervioso, con ganas de hacerlo bien. Aunque he mejorado mis marcas anteriores y he conseguido las marcas mínimas para tener la posibilidad de participar en el campeonato del mundo del año que viene, si es cierto que considero que lo debí haber hecho algo mejor.}

((WN)) : What do you think you need to improve to possibly compete at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and get a medal?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Qué cree que necesita mejorar para poder competir en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Rio en 2016 y ganar una medalla?}

Paulo Fontán: Basically I would need to be able to train more constantly, obtain financial resources to participate in international events, and have a bit of luck on the day of the competition.

^{((es))Spanish language: Fundamentalmente necesitaría poder entrenar con más constancia, conseguir recursos económicos para poder participar en competiciones internacionales y despues tener algo de suerte el día de la competición.}

((WN)) : What are the biggest challenges you face on the road to the Rio Games? Money? Good competition? The support network to travel and compete at the highest level? Disability access at training venues?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Cuáles son los mayores desafíos a los que se enfrenta en el camino a los Juegos de Rio? ¿Presupuesto? ¿Buenos rivales para aumentar su nivel? ¿Una red de apoyo para viajar y competir al máximo nivel? ¿Acceso para discapacitados en lugares de entrenamiento?}

Paulo Fontán: All that are included in the questions. In order to train effectively, you need adequate facilities, and that’s not the norm here. And to increase my level, I would need to compete against good rivals, basically at international events. For that, I require money and support, something that’s not too available.

^{((es))Spanish language: Pues todos los que aparecen en las preguntas. Para entrenar con garantías hace falta contar con instalaciones adecuadas, y no es lo habitual. Y para mejorar mi nivel necesitaría competir con buenos rivales (basicamente en competiciones internacionales) y para ello hace falta dinero y apoyos, algo que escasea.}

((WN)) : Why did you chose to compete in shooting? Why not compete in another sport?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Por qué eligió competir en tiro? ¿Por qué no otro deporte?}

Paulo Fontán: I first tried other sports but finally focused on shooting because it fits my capabilities better, I’m not bad at it, and there is a very agreeable atmosphere at the competitions.

^{((es))Spanish language: Probé primero otros deportes pero finalmente me he centrado en el tiro porque se ajusta mejor a mis capacidades, no se me da mal y he respirado un ambiente muy agradable en las competiciones.}

((WN)) : Who are your role models in shooting? Are there any shooters you particularly admire?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Quién es su modelo a seguir en tiro? ¿Existen tiradores/as a los que particularmente admire?}

Paulo Fontán: I must thank the support Juan Saavedra has given me since I started, and which he keeps giving me when I need it. I would like to mention Marciano Vázquez, the Spanish national team coach, too for his advice and trust in me when he called me up for the European Championship: I hope to return his trust with some future triumph.

^{((es))Spanish language: Tengo que agradecer el apoyo que siempre me ha brindado Juan Saavedra desde que empecé, y que me sigue brindando cuando lo necesito. Citar también a Marciano Vázquez, seleccionador nacional de Tiro Olímpico, por sus consejos y por su confianza en mi persona a la hora de convocarme para el cto de Europa; espero poder devolverle la confianza con algún éxito futuro.}

((WN)) : What is the sport shooting culture like in Spain? Are people generally supportive when you tell them what sport you compete in?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Cómo es recibido este deporte culturalmente en España? ¿La gente le apoya cuando dice que es tirador?}

Paulo Fontán: I don’t think it’s very well known, and there could be some rejection because of the “pegar tiros” part, but that’s out of ignorance since it is mainly a mental sport, a sport requiring focus.

^{((es))Spanish language: Creo que no es muy conocido y quizá pueda haber cierto rechazo por eso de “pegar tiros” pero es fruto del desconocimiento ya que fundamentaolmente es un deporte mental, de concentración.}

((WN)) : Do you think the classification system in shooting is fair? Do you think it should be changed?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Piensa que el sistema de clasificación en tiro es justo? ¿Piensa que se debería cambiar?}

Paulo Fontán: I’ve only been doing this for three years and haven’t had time to analyze it deeply so as to have an opinion about it.

^{((es))Spanish language: Llevo sólo tres años y no he tenido tiempo de analizarlo en profundidad como para tener una opinión al respecto.}

((WN)) : Would you recommend the sport to other people with disabilities? What are reasons they should or should not take up the sport?^{((es))Spanish language: ¿Recomendaría este deporte a otras personas con discapacidad? ¿Cuáles son las razones por las que deberían -o no deberían- practicar este deporte?}

Paulo Fontán: Yes, I would recommend it, and I would because it is a sport which can be practiced by a wide array of different disabilities, and for a long time. The biggest problem is the high initial investment, the lack of adequate facilities or the cost of travelling to competitions since there are not many places that allow people with disabilities to participate.

^{((es))Spanish language: Si lo recomendaría, y lo recomiendo porque es un deporte que se pude practicas por una gran diversidad de discapacidades diferentes, y durante mucho tiempo. El mayor problema es la elevada inversión inical, la ausencia de infraestructuras adecuadas o el coste de los desplazamientos a las competiciones (ya que no hay muchas en las que permitan participar a personas con discapacidad).}

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