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Monday, October 30, 2006

On November 13, Torontoians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Parkdale—High Park (Ward 13). Two candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Linda Coltman, David Garrick, Greg Hamara, Aleksander Oniszczak, Bill Saundercook (incumbent), and Frances Wdowczyk.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

The name Robert Cailliau may not ring a bell to the general public, but his invention is the reason why you are reading this: Dr. Cailliau together with his colleague Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, making the internet accessible so it could grow from an academic tool to a mass communication medium. Last January Dr. Cailliau retired from CERN, the European particle physics lab where the WWW emerged.

Wikinews offered the engineer a virtual beer from his native country Belgium, and conducted an e-mail interview with him (which started about three weeks ago) about the history and the future of the web and his life and work.

Wikinews: At the start of this interview, we would like to offer you a fresh pint on a terrace, but since this is an e-mail interview, we will limit ourselves to a virtual beer, which you can enjoy here.

Robert Cailliau: Yes, I myself once (at the 2nd international WWW Conference, Chicago) said that there is no such thing as a virtual beer: people will still want to sit together. Anyway, here we go.

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Monday, February 16, 2009

In the 1970s, she was one of the most popular female vocalists in France, and became well-known internationally. Anne Marie David, from Arles in the south of France, parlayed her initial success from playing Mary Magdalene in the French production of Jesus Christ Superstar into taking home the “grand prix” at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973. Her winning song, “Tu te reconnaîtras” (You will recognize yourself), became a Europe-wide hit that spring.

At the height of her popularity, David perfomed world tours, and even lived abroad in Turkey for a time. In 1979, she tried once again to win the Eurovision, and placed a respectable third. Her song “Je suis l’enfant soleil” (I’m a child of the sun) became similarly popular across France and in the Francophone nations.

As time went on, however, her place in the French music scene became less certain. Touring the world had taken a personal toll, and David decided to retire from music completely in 1987. However, with the help of her fan base, she was coaxed out of retirement in 2003 and is returning to a part of her life that she tried to leave, but never left her. Celebrating four decades in the music scene, David is looking forward to adventurous new projects and a newfound zest for life.

Anne Marie David corresponded with Wikinews’ Mike Halterman about her eventful career, her personal anecdotes regarding living abroad, her successes in past Eurovision contests and her grievances with the way the show is produced today. This is the second in a series of interviews with past Eurovision contestants, which will be published sporadically in the lead-up to mid-May’s next contest in Moscow.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Initial tests done on a six-year-old dairy cow in Fraser Valley, a farming community near Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada, are inconclusive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or “mad cow disease,” said Canada’s Food Inspection Agency.

Further tests are being conducted at Winnipeg’s National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease and results are expected on Sunday. Officials also say the cow did not enter the human food chain.

“Canada has a suite of internationally recognized safeguards that work together to provide high levels of human and animal health protection,” officials for the agency said in a statement.

If the results are positive, this will be Canada’s fifth case of the disease since 2003.

December 25, 2004

Officials in Mumbai, India, demolished over 6,000 shanties today in a push to eradicate the capital city’s slums. In total, 39,000 shanties have been flattened, displacing over 200,000 people, in the city’s biggest-ever demolition drive, which began in early December.

When complete, over 2 million people are expected to be displaced. After wiping out the least desirable shanties, next in line for demolition are the illegal ‘well-off’ shanties and neighborhoods, according to the legal and bureaucratic motions that have been executed toward cleaning up Mumbai’s appearance by lowering the dominance of shanties, which make up 62 percent of Mumbai’s housing.

“As far as eye can see, there are mounds of wood, tin and tarpaulin, the remains of 6,200 illegal homes, flattened by a heavy excavator running on tank-like tracks and giant motorised claws,” the Indian Express reported about today’s destruction. [1]

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that citizens would see a change within six months. “Every chief minister likes to be remembered, and I’m no exception,” said Deshmukh, who despite having an empty exchequer, also announced that Rs 31,000 crore will be spent on new roads, sea links and rail lines. [2]

Sunday, November 1, 2009

With two by-elections coming up in Australia, many minor parties and independents will be looking to gain a seat in the House of Representatives. Zahra Stardust (real name Marianna Leishman) is the candidate for the Australian Sex Party.

Wikinews reporter Patrick Gillett held an exclusive interview with Ms Stardust, candidate for the Bradfield electorate.

“In an area that claims 50 years of conservative representation from white, heterosexual, able-bodied, suited, male protagonists, the Australian Sex Party is excited to a provide modern outward looking female candidate with social justice credentials to restore a historical imbalance in the electorate’s policy focus”, the 26 year old human rights advocate, burlesque dancer and trapeze artist said in a press release.

The electorate was vacated by former opposition leader Brenden Nelson.

((Patrick Gillett)) Why do you want to get into parliament? / Why do you represent your party?

I am delighted and thrilled I am to be representing the Australian Sex Party, whose policies on sex, gender, human rights and equality are very close to my heart. We believe that the personal is political, and we’re serious about sex and the way that it directly affects individuals in areas of health, censorship, discrimination, workplace, education and equality.

Rarely do we hear politicians speaking in positive or open-minded terms about issues relating to sex, sexuality and gender. Much rhetoric in Australian politics in fact uses particularly moralising or religious discourses that are governed by heteronormative, patriarchal and hegemonic ideals. Indeed, our party needed an electoral commission ruling that it s’ name was not ‘obscene’. In this climate, we aim to disrupt, expose and eliminate the plethora of taboos and stigmas, shame and isolation around sex, sexuality, and gender, to advocate for wider equality and freedom from harm for all Australians.

((PG)) What would the three main policies you are taking into this by-election be? / How would you address these policies?

We’re proud to announce that the Australian Sex Party has policies in a diverse number of areas. We are concerned about child protection and education- we would like to convene a Royal Commission into child sex abuse in religious institutions, and assist develop global approaches to child pornography, whilst importantly, establishing a national sex education curriculum for children, an internet education scheme for parents, a uniform classification scheme for non-violent erotica, introducing R and X ratings for computer games, and return Internet censorship to parents and individuals.

One of our fundamental concerns is equality – including paid maternity leave, ensuring equal numbers of women in Parliament, legalisation of abortion, enacting more comprehensive federal anti-discrimination laws in line with the Australian Human Rights Commission recommendations, creating total equal rights in all areas of the law for gay, lesbian and transgender people, overturning discriminatory laws in the Northern Territory banning Indigenous people from possessing erotic media, and ensuring the sexual rights of the elderly and people with a disability.

((PG)) Sending asylum seekers to Indonesia: good or bad? / Is the Australian dollar’s near parrity with the UD dollar a sign that the Australian economy is healthy, the US economy in chaos or both? / How do you rate the governments economic stimulus package? / Should it be wound back? / Is Kevin Rudd a better Prime Minister than John Howard? / Is the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme an effective solution to climate change? Why? / Is there a better solution?

As a party in its infancy who is not yet in the House of Representatives, we are focusing predominantly on niche issues relating to sex and gender, in which we have expertise. We look forward to formulating policies on wider issues in the public discourse such climate change, the economy and refugee issues if and when the occasion arises. Currently we are seeking to raise awareness of important topics that are remain hidden or absent from the public political agenda.

However, we would make the following comments in response to your questions. For a country that prides itself on multiculturalism, we believe that instead of utilizing law and order rhetoric that stigmatises people who have every right under international law to seek asylum, we should see this instance as an opportunity to welcome the incredible cultural diversity asylum seekers can bring to our country, and to open up discussion about the root causes of refugee and immigration movements, such as climate change, civil war, famine and persecution. Despite being elected largely because of their compassion and empathy towards refugees and asylum seekers, Rudd’s ‘hard line’ approach is reminiscent of John Howard’s stance in this area and risks creating a disillusioned public. We urge the Rudd Government to call on Indonesia to sign and ratify the Refugee Convention if it continues to fund detention centres there, and press for asylum seekers to be processed on the mainland with view to Australia being a progressive role model in the international community, as opposed to maintaining its current detention policies which continue to seek attention from human rights bodies worldwide.

((PG)) Why should the electorate vote for you?

There is a lot of lip service paid currently paid by the major political parties to gender equality that is not followed through with substantive policy and law reform. We know that the vast numbers of Australians are tolerant, respectful, celebratory people, with their individual backgrounds, preferences and lives, and we hope to seek resonance with people in Bradfield electorate who care about social justice issues and injustices in areas of health, education, censorship, workplace relations and child protection. We hope to represent people in Bradfield who support the human rights, respect, dignity and equality of all people, no matter what gender, sexual preference, race, class, ability, or any other factor.

I have experience working with the United Nations Population Fund in Eritrea on sexual and reproductive health programs, with UNIFEM Australia on gender, development and discrimination, and with the Kimberley Land Council in the area of Native Title. I have worked at Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre with victims of sexual assault and domestic violence and campaigned with Amnesty International, Mahboba’s Promise and Oxfam Australia. I am a proud member of the Gay/Lesbian/Bi-sexual/ TIQ community and believe in equal rights for all members of the community.

We urge people to look at our website, which is absolutely overflowing with fabulous information, news articles, media releases, and videos from around the globe. We look forward to meeting with, hearing from and working with members of the Bradfield electorate about their experiences, desires and priorities in these areas and how we can best help make real political and social change, and provide nuanced representation for a beautifully diverse electorate.