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Friday, February 17, 2006

MPs at the British Parliament have voted by large majority of 200 to bring in legislation banning smoking in all pubs, clubs and workplaces in a landmark free vote. The ban is expected to come into force from summer 2007.

The originally proposed fine of £200 was raised to £2500 for failing to stop people smoking in banned areas in the late stages of the parliamentary process. Other fines include a fixed penalty notice of £50 for lighting up in banned areas and spot fines of £200 for failing to display no smoking signs in banned areas.

Smoking may also be banned in “substantially enclosed” venues such as railway stations and football stadiums; this may also include cars carrying passengers but no decision has been taken on this as yet. Ministers will finalise precise regulations after a three month consultation.

The vote was politically fraught, as the Labour Party in government had proposed a ‘compromise’ bill, in line with their election manifesto, which would allow pubs not serving food to be exempt from the ban. With many Labour MPs threatening to rebel against this compromise however, in favour of a full ban, Labour granted its members a free vote. MPs then voted for the full ban by a margin of 453 votes to 125,­ a majority of 328.

MPs then debated a last-minute amendment to exempt private members clubs, which was also rejected, by 384 votes to 184,­ a majority of 200. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, voted for a complete ban along with his health secretary, Patricia Hewitt.

The ban will bring England in line with Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, which will all be introducing a full smoking ban for pubs and clubs. The bill also gives ministers powers to increase the age for purchasing cigarettes from 16 to 18 which ministers will begin the consultation process upon shortly.

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.

Monday, February 18, 2008

There were 8 games played in the National Hockey League on February 17, 2008, including the top two teams in the West, the Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars, going head to head.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

With two federal by-elections coming up in Australia, many minor parties and independents will be looking to gain a seat in the House of Representatives. Goronwy Price is a candidate representing the Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy party.

Mr Price is an environmentalist, adventurer and businessman from the Sydney suburb of Cremorne.

“In 1975 I founded the adventure travel company World Expeditions and built it to be the world’s largest adventure organisation. I am currently Managing Director of Learningportal.com a successful software company I founded in 1997. We export software around the world.,” Mr Price said.

Wikinews reporter Patrick Gillett held an exclusive email interview with Mr Price, candidate for the Division of Bradfield.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards, who qualified on the pole position, won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2010 Kobalt Tools 500 held on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, United States. This became his first Sprint Cup win of the season. Throughout the course of the race there were five cautions and fourteen lead changes among five different drivers.

With 47 laps remaining in the 312 lap race, Denny Hamlin was first, but Edwards passed him one lap later. Edwards maintained the lead to win the race, while Hamlin made a pit stop because of a possible shortage of fuel. Ryan Newman took second, ahead of Logano in third. Greg Biffle managed the fourth position, after starting fourth on the grid. Jimmie Johnson, from the Hendrick Motorsports team, clinched the fifth position, after leading none of the laps during the race. Kevin Harvick followed Johnson in sixth, while Matt Kenseth could only manage seventh.

Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top ten finishers in the race. Hamlin, the current Drivers’ championship leader, led 190 laps and finished twelfth. Following the race, Hamlin commented, “It’s pretty disappointing. We were in a good position there heading into next week. We just have to outrace them next week. We had a good car today and it didn’t work out strategy wise. We did what we had to do today we just didn’t have it at the end. It’s frustrating. We had a car that could win and that is something we’ve never had here. We’ll just go there next week and try to win the race. I don’t know if we were trying to be smart or conservative there are really short.” “I was sitting pretty,” Hamlin continued. “I have to leave Phoenix in Phoenix. I can’t control it. I did everything I could do today and it didn’t work out. It could have been a lot worse. We could have lost the points lead and we didn’t. We’ve had the best car in this Chase and might not win it. The full-court press will be on next week.”

Going into the final race of the season, Hamlin remained the Drivers’ championship leader with 6462 points, fifteen points ahead of Johnson in second, and 46 ahead of Harvick in third. This is the closest that the championship has been since the Chase format was introduced. The Manufacturers’ ?hampionship standings are led by Chevrolet with 255, 42 points ahead of Toyota and 88 ahead of Ford. Johnson commented, “We had to work whatever magic we could at the end and now we have a points race heading to Miami. I know what my mindset is. I hope the pressure of being on Denny’s heels wears on him this week. One race winner take all, it’s going to be a hell of a show.”

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Today, a controversial decision was taken by referee Chris Foy in a recent match between Sunderland Association Football Club and Chelsea Football Club in the U.K. to send off Chelsea’s Robben after “excessive celebrations”. The decision was taken after Robben proceeded to embrace fans beyond the barriers of the club, which was seen by the referee to be a breach of safety regulations, as well as FIFA policy.

As consensus, ex-match officials watching the game agreed the decision was thought to lack common sense. However, the policy of restricting player celebrations was introduced into FIFA policy last year after safety concerns from various match officials. FIFA rules state several situations in which celebrations may lead to booking;

• If, In the opinion of the referee, a player makes gestures which are provocative, derisory or inflammatory.
• If the player climbs on to a perimeter fence to celebrate a goal being scored.
• If the player removes his shirt over his head or covers his head with his shirt.

However, the rule which BSkyB stated in the pre match commentary was more relevant, because the aforementioned rules were not in any way broken; referring to the fact that perimeter fences were only common in Spanish football. The guideline stated that “leaving the field to celebrate a goal is not a cautionable offense in itself but it is essential that players return to the field as soon as possible“.

Despite the justification of the referee’s call, both Robben himself, and commentator Andy Gray questioned the common sense nature of the decision, noting that quick thinking and spontaneous decision should be something a referee focuses on, rather than the implicit enforcement of minor rules.

In response to the decision, Andy Gray noted;

“I can’t believe it, celebration is a natural thing to do.. all he was doing was simply celebrating after a job well done with his fans. It wasn’t like he was actually inciting fans because it was his own side. This really is the most silly call I have ever seen a referee make in my history of commentating.“

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A man has died after being involved in a robbery of his shop in West Yorkshire, England. Four youngsters, described as wearing hooded jumpers and tracksuit trousers, raided the Cowcliffe Convenience Store in the town of Huddersfield at approximately 2030 GMT on Saturday.

63-year-old Gurmail Singh sustained head injuries as a result of the robbery. Six witnesses attempted to prevent the youths from exiting the shop but failed, and the teenagers managed to escape with confectionary, cigarettes and money. One witness claimed to see a hammer in posession of one of the offenders, however it is unknown if this was used in the attack.

Singh was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary but died there at approximately 0330 GMT on Sunday. West Yorkshire Police have now launched an investigation into the death of Gurmail Singh. A post-mortem examination is scheduled to take place on Monday to attempt to discover how the shop-owner was killed. West Yorkshire Police are now appealing for witnesses or anyone who has information in relation to this incident to contact them.

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Due to the damage by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding, a number of colleges and universities in the New Orleans metropolitan area will not be able to hold classes for the fall 2005 semester. It is estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 students have been displaced. [1]. In response, institutions across the United States and Canada are offering late registration for displaced students so that their academic progress is not unduly delayed. Some are offering free or reduced admission to displaced students. At some universities, especially state universities, this offer is limited to residents of the area.