Author: Admin

Monday, November 26, 2007

In the 18 months since Andrea Muizelaar was crowned winner of the reality TV series Canada’s Next Top Model, her life has been a complete whirlwind. From working in a dollar store in her hometown of Whitby, Ontario, to modeling haute couture in Toronto, she had reached her dream of becoming a true Top Model.

But at what cost? Unknown to casual television viewers, Muizelaar had been enveloped in the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which inevitably became too much for her to bear. She gave up modeling and moved back to Whitby, where she sought treatment for her disorder, re-entered college, and now works at a bank. Where is she now? Happy and healthy, she says.

Recently Andrea Muizelaar sat down with Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman in a candid interview that stretched to nearly two hours, as she told all about her hopes and aspirations, her battle with anorexia, and just what really happened on Canada’s Next Top Model.

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, July 4, 2011

Officials announced that a treasure containing sacks of diamonds and gold coins as well as golden idols, jewelry and other riches has been discovered in the secret subterranean vaults of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, in the southwestern state of Kerala, India. Estimates of its worth have been rising and it is now thought to be worth US$20 billion.

The Hindu temple was built in the 16th century by the kings of the then Kingdom of Travancore to serve as a royal chapel for the rulers of Travancore. The six vaults containing the treasure have been undisturbed for over a century. Assessment of the treasure began on June 27 after a lawyer concerned about the security of the treasure petitioned India’s Supreme Court, which then appointed a seven-member panel of experts to inventory the treasure. The panel does not have the power to determine to whom the treasure will belong. Estimates of the treasure’s worth are rising, provoking a heated debate as to how the treasure will be used in a country that has 450 million poverty-stricken people.

The chief minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, announced on Sunday the treasure would remain with the temple, and security matters would be decided in consultation with the Travancore Royal Family, the temple management, and the temple priest.

“The gold was offered to the lord. It is the property of the temple. The government will protect the wealth at the temple,” Oommen Chandy said. Meanwhile, hundreds of armed police have been deployed around the temple to protect the treasure.

However, the view that the treasure should remain at the temple has been disputed. Among the dissenters is eminent jurist V R Krishna Iyer, who said the treasure should be put in a national trust for the peoples’ benefit. “God’s wealth belongs to the people, not to the king. It’s meaningless to say that it belongs to Hindus or any particular religious community,” said Iyer. “A mechanism should be devised to ensure that the benefits of it reach the poor and the needy and not the rich.”

Five of the six vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple have been inventoried.

On Saturday, reports leaked to the press revealed that the treasure, including a golden idol of Mahavishnu and a golden ‘anki’, were found in one of the vaults, estimated to weigh 30 kilograms, along with precious stones, silver, two coconut shells of pure gold and another golden idol as well as other jewels and valuable coins. The panel hopes to find more treasure when the sixth and final vault is opened, but the attempt was suspended on Monday because the iron door inside presented “technical problems” requiring further consultation before opening. This vault is thought to contain the bulk of the wealth.

Keralan officials in a preliminary estimate said that the treasure was worth over US$11.2 billion; those estimates have now risen to US$20 billion. Historians say that the temple’s location on a site through which passed lucrative trade routes support the higher evaluations.

“Traders, who used to come from other parts of the country and abroad for buying spices and other commodities, used to make handsome offerings to the deity for not only his blessings but also to please the then rulers,” said P.J. Cherian, the director of Kerala Council for Historic Research

Some suggest that the profit from the sale of the treasure would be enough to wipe out the entire public debt of Kerala and fund future Kerala projects such as seaports, airports and highways.

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

On Saturday, the US president Joe Biden recognised the killing and deportation of ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to modern day Turkey during World War One as a ‘genocide’, becoming the first US president to do so.

In a statement on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, Biden said “[t]he American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today […] We remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring.” He also said, “we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.”

When running for last year’s US presidential election, Biden promised in a tweet to “support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide”. He also previously supported a 2019 resolution in the United States House of Representatives that recognised the ‘genocide’ as such. Another resolution passed by the United States Senate April 9, 2019 promised “to commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance” and “reject efforts” to “associate the United States Government with denial of the Armenian Genocide”.

While Ronald Reagan referred in passing to the “Armenian genocide” in 1981, no US president has done so since. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump called it “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century”. Turkey does not recognise the killings as a ‘genocide’.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in a tweet “[t]he US has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to protecting human rights and universal values”, and in a letter his thanks for Biden’s “principled position” as “a powerful step on the way to acknowledging the truth”. Director of the Armenian National Committee of America Aram Hamparian called Biden’s recognition “profoundly meaningful for our families”.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry rejected Biden’s terminology, saying in a statement they “reject and denounce in the strongest terms the statement of the President of the US regarding the events of 1915 made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups”. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu tweeted “[w]ords cannot change or rewrite history. We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past.”

An anonymous source informed the AP, in a phone call on Friday, Biden told Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdo?an he was planning on releasing the statement; the US President’s Executive Office confirmed plans of US and Turkey to find “effective management of disagreements” and, according to NBC News, a “constructive bilateral relationship”.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

An estimated 10,000 conscientious objectors chose to withhold some or all of their U.S. income taxes due Monday, April 17, in protest to the use of US military power in Iraq. Some plan to instead donate their required tax to charity.

The Internal Revenue Service does not distinguish tax resistors from any other person behind on their taxes, and will apply the same fines and interest used against the other Americans who do not pay their taxes on time. Legal action is possible for extreme cases, but more commonly the IRS uses wage or bank account garnishing.

The tax protestors are well aware of these risks, yet refuse to pay on principle. Jim Allen, who served in the Army for 20 years and now teaches at St. Louis University, acknowledges that he will likely end up paying more due to the fines than he is refusing to pay today. “I am not opposed to paying taxes, but I am when such a large percent is going to pay for war. Sooner or later, they’re going to get their money, but until that happens, I’m going to continue protesting. This is too important not to.” Allen and his wife withheld $1300 – or 42% of what the couple owes the IRS, estimating this to be the proportion of his taxes that would otherwise go to military spending.

Other protestors simply refuse to file at all. Becky Pierce of Boston fills out a 1040 to determine her tax, but then donates that amount to charity without filing. Pierce says she follows in the footsteps of American protesters like Henry David Thoreau, a protester of the Mexican-American War who went to jail rather than pay taxes. “You need to have control of your money,” Pierce says. “I’m a self-employed carpenter. No one is reporting what I make. That’s why I can go unnoticed.”

Monday, August 27, 2007

The number of horses confirmed to be infected with Equine Influenza in Australia has risen to 47, all in the state of New South Wales. So far none of those confirmed infected have been thoroughbred race horses.

The NSW government has confirmed infections at the federal government’s quarantine facility at Eastern Creek and Centennial Park in Sydney; at Cattai and Wilberforce in North-Western Sydney; and in Moonbi, Parkes, Berry and Wyong in regional NSW.

It is also feared that the outbreak may have spread to Warwick in Queensland where three horses from NSW showed flu-like symptoms during an equestrian event. Initial samples were tested in a laboratory in Brisbane revealing the three animals had been carrying the flu. Further testing will be conducted on samples from the horses in Victoria, although results are not expected until later this week. All 300 horses at the event have been quarantined.

There are also three suspected cases of the virus infecting thoroughbreds at Randwich racecourse in Sydney, if the horses test positive to the flu they will be the first thoroughbreds to be infected with the virus.

The Federal Agriculture Minister, Peter McGauran told ABC Radio this morning that while the source of the outbreak was not known, it is likely that the outbreak may have been caused by an equestrian event held in Maitland on the 18th and 19th of August.

“Everyone’s been assuming it was the Centennial Park horses that travelled and infected horses in different parts of regional NSW,” he said.

“It would appear at this stage that almost all, if not every horse affected has passed through a Maitland horse event on the weekend of the 18th and 19th, or come in contact with a Maitland horse.”

Agriculture Minister of NSW, Ian Macdonald told reporters “It’s early days yet, but a number of horses that attended an event at the property on that weekend are showing clinical signs of equine influenza”.

“The NSW Chief Vet, Bruce Christie, has advised me that we need to locate and examine every single horse that entered and left the property.”

At this stage it appears the Australia wide ban on horse movements which expires on Wednesday may have to be extended, at least in NSW and Queensland.

Friday, January 1, 2021

After an active year of original content published on the English-language Wikinews, we take a look back at some of the two dozen-plus original reports from our contributors during 2020.