Saturday, November 4, 2006
On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Don Valley East (Ward 33). One candidates responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Zane Caplan, Shelley Carroll (incumbent), Jim Conlon, Sarah Tsang-Fahey, and Anderson Tung.
For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Molten steel spilled out and killed 32 workers at the Qinghe Special Steel Corporation mill in the city of Tieling in Liaoning province, China.
The ladle containing 1,500-degree-Celsius liquid steel poured into an open room, where employees take breaks in-between shift changes, at 7:45 a.m. local time. At least 6 others were injured, one of them critically.
“It is the most serious accident to hit China’s steel industry since 1949,” said China’s deputy head of the State Administration of Work Safety, Sun Huashan.
At least 4 workers have been arrested after the accident. The manager of mill, an operator, technician and a supervisor of a workshop were all arrested and are being questioned as an investigation in launched into what caused the accident to occur.
Friday, March 30, 2018
St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office released on Monday audio recordings of calls to the emergency phone line 911 made during the March 20 school shooting at Great Mills High School (GMHS) in Maryland, United States. The sheriff’s office said the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In the shooting incident at GMHS on March 20, according to St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, Austin Wyatt Rollins, a student at the school, opened fire with a Glock pistol at 7:57 AM local time (1157 UTC); he shot 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey in the head and also wounded another student, identified as 14-year-old Desmond Barnes, with a single shot. Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill, assigned to the school as a school resource officer, confronted Rollins within three minutes of the first shot. Gaskill fired at Rollins, striking his handgun just as Rollins shot himself in the head. Rollins died later at hospital.
In one of the recordings released, Desmond Barnes made a report to the emergency line, “I was just shot in my school.” The dispatcher replied, “I’m sorry?” and Barnes repeated, “I was just shot at my school.” The dispatcher then asked, “What school are you at?” and an unidentified female voice interjected, “We’re at Great Mills High School. Were you shot sweetie?” to which Barnes responded, “Yes.” Barnes was released from hospital on March 21.
Jaelynn Willey initially survived her head wound. However, after two days on life support, her parents held a news conference announcing she was brain dead and they chose to discontinue her life support. Willey was declared dead late on the night of March 22.
The sheriff’s investigators said Willey and Rollins had been in “a prior relationship which recently ended” and she was not a randomly selected victim.
On Saturday, students from GMHS joined a wider demonstration in the United States called the “March for Our Lives” which was primarily inspired by February’s Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida.
Students, alumni and teachers from GMHS traveled north to Washington, D.C. to be a part of the march. Kayla Wells, a senior student, said when speaking to Time magazine, “It shouldn’t happen again. It shouldn’t happen to anyone[…] How did we become so desensitized to shootings happening?”
Marianne Beaulieu, who has been suffering from anxiety since the shooting, said to The Baltimore Sun, “I feel like I’m helping to make a change[…] We need to make Jaelynn’s death the last gun violence death in our schools ever.”
“I think our group consisted of about 250 people,” alumnus and organizer Emerson Schaeffer told WTTG television regarding the GMHS numbers in Washington.
“We will march for you, Jaelynn Willey. We will march for all the students of Great Mills who will forever be traumatized because of what happened on Tuesday” tweeted Jaclyn Corin, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Back in Great Mills, a coastal town in Saint Mary’s County about 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the United States capital, there was a gathering on Sunday in remembrance of Jaelynn Willey.
Monday, March 30, 2009
First becoming famous in her native Ukraine in the 1990s, long-haired self-described “Amazon” Ruslana gained international recognition for winning the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Wild Dances,” inspired by the musical traditions of the Hutsul people of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains.
In the five years since, Ruslana has decided to use her name and public status to represent a number of worthy causes, including human trafficking, renewable energy, and even the basic concept of democratic process, becoming a public face of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution and later serving in Parliament.
Currently, she is on an international publicity tour to promote her album Wild Energy, a project borne out of a science fiction novel that has come to symbolize her hopes for a newer, better, freer way of life for everyone in the world. She took time to respond to questions Wikinews’s Mike Halterman posed to her about her career in music and her other endeavors.
This is the fifth 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, May 15, 2009
American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) announced plans Friday to shut down about 1,100 of its dealerships, in an effort to evade bankruptcy and lower its expenditures.
GM’s move comes a day after Chrysler, another U.S. car maker, released a list of 789 dealerships that it was closing. Unlike Chrylser, GM will not publicly announce the dealerships that it intends to shut down. Instead, dealerships whose franchises won’t be renewed after October of next year will receive a private letter telling them of the decision.
At the moment, GM has 6,246 dealers in the U.S. It intends to reduce that number to 3,605 by the end of 2010. GM said the dealerships that were to be closed are “underperforming and very small sales volume U.S. dealers.”
“They’re dealerships that are in most cases hurting, losing money, and in danger of going out of business anyway,” said GM’s sales, service, and marketing vice president in a telephone conference. “It’s a move that people could argue should have been taken years ago but this leadership team had no choice but to do it today.”
The dealers that are to be closed represent 18% of the firm’s dealership network, but only 7% of GM’s 2008 revenue.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
American Sandy Allen, recognized as the tallest woman in the world, has died at age 53 at her nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana. She was 7 ft 7¼ in (232 cm) in height.
Even though she was officially named as the worlds tallest woman by the Guinness Book of World Records several websites list Yao Defen as the tallest. Yao’s official height is disputed, however.
Allen’s height was brought on by a tumor in her pituitary gland that caused it to release growth hormone uncontrollably. She had surgery at age 22.
In 1978 she appeared in the film Fellini’s Casanova. She also appeared in a TV movie called Side Show and in a Canadian/American documentary film called Being Different. New Zealand band Split Enz wrote the song “Hello Sandy Allen” about her.
Because of physical limitation, she spent her last years in a retirement center. The center, coincidentially, is where Edna Parker lives. Parker has been recognized as the oldest living person in the world at age 115.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A report published last week in the Toronto Star by Professor Michael Geist of Canada’s University of Ottawa claims a copyright case under the Class Proceedings Act of 1992 may see the country’s largest players in the music industry facing upwards of C$6 billion in penalties.
The case is being led by the family and estate of the late jazz musician Chet Baker; moving to take legal action against four major labels in the country, and their parent companies. The dispute centres around unpaid royalties and licensing fees for use of Baker’s music, and hundreds of thousands of other works. The suit was initially filed in August last year, but amended and reissued on October 6, two months later. At that point both the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) and Society for Reproduction Rights of Authors (SODRAC) were also named defendants.
January this year SODRAC and CMRRA switch sides, joining Baker et al. as plaintiffs against Sony BMG Music, EMI Music Canada, Universal Music Canada and Warner Music Canada. David A. Basskin, President and CEO of CMRRA, with a professional law background, stated in a sworn affidavit that his organisation made numerous attempts over the last 20 years to reduce what is known as the “pending list”, a list of works not correctly licensed for reproduction; a list of copyright infringements in the eyes of the Baker legal team.
The theoretical principle of the list is to allow timely commercial release while rights and apportionment of monies due are resolved. Basskin complains that it is “economically infeasible to implement the systems that would be needed to resolve the issues internally”. And, “[…] for their part, the record labels have generally been unwilling to take the steps that, in the view of CMRRA, would help to resolve the problem.”
The Baker action demands that the four named major labels pay for and submit to an independent audit of their books, “including the contents of the ‘Pending Lists'”. Seeking an assessment of gains made by the record companies in “failure or refusal to compensate the class members for their musical works”, additional demands are for either damages and profits per the law applicable in a class action, or statutory damages per the Copyright Act for copyright infringement.
| […] for their part, the record labels have generally been unwilling to take the steps that, in the view of CMRRA, would help to resolve the problem. | ||
This forms the basis for Professor Geist’s six billion dollar calculation along with Basskin’s sworn testimony that the pending lists cover over 300,000 items; with each item counted as an infringement, the minimum statutory damages per case are CA$500, the maximum $20,000.
Basskin’s affidavit on behalf of CMRRA goes into detail on the history leading up to the current situation and class action lawsuit; a previous compulsory license scheme, with poor recordkeeping requirements, and which, had a decline in real terms to one of the lowest fees in the world, was eventually abolished and the mechanical license system introduced. The CMRRA went on to become a significant representative of music publishers and copyright holders, and the pending list an instrument to deal with situations where mechanical rights were as-yet not completely negotiated. Basskin’s affidavit claiming the list grew and circumstances worsened as time progressed.
The Mechanical Licensing Agreement (MLA) between the “majors'” industry body, an attached exhibit to the affidavit, is set to expire December 31, 2012; this is between CMRRA and the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). With the original MLA expiring at end September 1990, CMRRA negotiated more detailed terms and a “code of conduct”. Subsequent agreements were drawn up in 1998, 2004, 2006, and 2008.
Basskin asserts that the named record company defendants are the “major” labels in Canada and states they “are also responsible for creating, maintaining and administering the so-called “Pending Lists” that are the subject of the current litigation”; that, specific to publishing, divisions of the four represent the “‘major’ music publishers active in Canada”. Yet the number of music publishers they represent has decreased over time due to consolidation and defection from the CRIA.
Geist summarizes the record company strategy as “exploit now, pay later if at all”. This despite the CMRRA and SODRAC being required to give lists of all collections they represented to record labels, and for record labels to supply copies of material being released to permit assessment of content that either group may represent interested parties for. Where actual Mechanical License Agreements are in place, Basskin implies their terms are particularly broad and preclude any party exercising their legal right to decline to license.
Specific to the current Mechanical Licensing Agreement (MLA) between the CMRRA and the CRIA; a “label is required to provide an updated cumulative Pending List to CMRRA with each quarterly payment of royalties under the MLA.” The CMRRA is required to review the list and collect where appropriate royalties and interest due. Basskin describes his first encounter with pending lists, having never heard of them before 1989, thus:
| […I]n the early years of my tenure, CRMMA received Pending Lists from the record labels in the form of paper printouts of information. The information contained on these lists varied from record label to record label, [… i]n fact, within a few days after my arrival at CMRRA, I recall my predecessor, Paul Berry, directing my attention to a large stack of paper, about two feet high. and informing me that it was PolyGram’s most recent Pending List. Prior to that introduction I had never heard of Pending Lists. |
Alain Lauzon, General Manager of Canada’s Society for Reproduction Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SODRAC) submitted his followup affidavit January 28, 2009 to be attached to the case and identify the society as a plaintiff. As such, he up-front states “I have knowledge of the matters set out herein.” Lauzon, a qualified Chartered Accountant with an IT specialisation, joined SODRAC in 2002 with “over 20 years of business experience.” He is responsible for “negotiation and administration of industry-wide agreements for the licensing of music reproduction and distribution”; licensing of radio and online music services use is within his remit.
Lauzon makes it clear that Baker’s estate, other rightsholders enjoined to the case, SODRAC, and CMRRA, have reached an agreed settlement; they wish to move forward with a class proceeding against the four main members of the CRIA. He requests that the court recognise this in relation to the initially accepted case from August 2008.
| The responsibility to obtain mechanical licenses for recordings manufactured and/or released in Canada falls with the Canadian labels by law, by industry custom, and by contractual agreement. | ||
The preamble of the affidavit continues to express strong agreement with that of David Basskin from CMRRA. Lauzon concurs regarding growing use of “pending lists” and that “[…] record labels have generally been unwilling to take the steps that would help to resolve the Pending List problem.”
With his background as an authority, Lauzon states with confidence that SODRAC represents “approximately 10 to 15% of all musical works that are reproduced on sound recordings sold in Canada.” For Quebec the figure is more than 50%.
Lauzon agrees that the four named record company defendants are the “major” labels in Canada, and that smaller independent labels will usually work with them or an independent distribution company; and Basskin’s statement that “[t]he responsibility to obtain mechanical licenses for recordings manufactured and/or released in Canada falls with the Canadian labels by law, by industry custom, and by contractual agreement.”
Wikinews attempted to contact people at the four named defendant CRIA-member record labels. The recipient of an email that Wikinews sent to Warner Brothers Canada forwarded our initial correspondence to Hogarth PR; the other three majors failed to respond in a timely fashion. Don Hogarth responded to Wikinewsie Brian McNeil, and, without addressing any of the submitted questions, recommended a blog entry by Barry Sookman as, what he claimed is, a more accurate representation of the facts of the case.
| I am aware of another viewpoint that provides a reasonably deep explanation of the facts, at www.barrysookman.com. If you check the bio on his site, you’ll see that he is very qualified to speak on these issues. This may answer some of your questions. I hope that helps. |
Sookman is a lobbyist at the Canadian Parliament who works in the employ of the the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). Hogarth gave no indication or disclosure of this; his direction to the blog is to a posting with numerous factual inaccuracies, misdirecting statements, or possibly even lies; if not lies, Sookman is undoubtedly not careful or “very qualified” in the way he speaks on the issue.
Sookman’s blog post opens with a blast at Professor Geist: “his attacks use exaggeration, misleading information and half truths to achieve his obvious ends”. Sookman attempts to dismiss any newsworthiness in Geist’s article;
| [… A]s if something new has happened with the case. In fact, the case was started in August 2008 (not October 2008 as asserted by Prof. Geist). It also hasn’t only been going on “for the past year”, as he claims. Chet Baker isn’t “about to add a new claim to fame”. Despite having started over a year and a half ago, the class action case hasn’t even been certified yet. So why the fervour to publicise the case now? |
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Should the court use admitted unpaid amounts, or maximum statutory damages – as the record industry normally seeks against filesharers?
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As the extracted [see right] stamp, date, and signature, shows, the court accepted amendments to the case and its submission, as Professor Geist asserts, on October 6. The previously mentioned submissions by the heads of CMRRA and SODRAC were indeed actions within the past year; that of SODRAC’s Alain Louzon being January 28 this year.
Sookman continues his attack on Professor Geist, omitting that the reverse appears the case; analysis of his blog’s sitemap reveals he wrote a 44-page attack on Professor Geist in February 2008, accusing him of manipulating the media and using influence on Facebook to oppose copyright reform favourable to the CRIA. In the more current post he states:
| Prof. Geist tries to taint the recording industry as blatant copyright infringers, without ever delving into the industry wide accepted custom for clearing mechanical rights. The pending list system, which has been around for decades, represents an agreed upon industry wide consensus that songwriters, music publishers (who represent songwriters) and the recording industry use and rely on to ensure that music gets released and to the market efficiently and the proper copyright owners get compensated. |
This characterisation of the pending list only matches court records in that it “has been around for decades”. CMRRA’s Basskin, a lawyer and industry insider, goes into great detail on the major labels resisting twenty years of collective societies fighting, and failing, to negotiate a situation where the labels take adequate measures to mechanically license works and pay due fees, royalties, and accrued interest.
What Sookman clearly overlooks is that, without factoring in any interest amounts, the dollar value of the pending list is increasing, as shown with the following two tables for mid-2008.
As is clear, there is an increase of C$1,101,987.83 in a three-month period. Should this rate of increase in the value of the pending list continue and Sony’s unvalued pending list be factored in, the CRIA’s four major labels will have an outstanding debt of at least C$73 million by end-2012 when the association’s Mechanical Licensing Agreement runs out.
Read An Opinion On:
Submitted by: Shruthi Naidu
The locality of Kharadi in Pune which had been a nondescript village in times bygone has now emerged as the biggest contender for the position of the IT hub of the country. The locality has the Special Economic Zone which houses some of the biggest names in the IT and ITEs industries. The EON Free Zone has made a marked difference in the future of the area as more and more establishments and residential areas are cropping up to support the needs of the old and new settlers of the land.
Reasons Cited
The main reason that contributed to the growth of the area was, as mentioned before, the Special Economic zone called the EON Free Zone. The special economic zone has attracted national and global giants such as Barclays, Symantec, EATON Technologies, Polaris Software lab, Infobeans, TATA Communications, Vodafone India Services and Citigroup.
With the establishment of these industries, there has been a deluge of people who have come here to work with these companies. It should not be surprising to see the prices of land going up and the people to be still buying. It is a necessity and will not be denied at any cost.If you start counting the reasons to invest in the zone of Kharadi, you will be surprised to find so many options available near hand. At the present scenario, this place can be defined as the best place in the zone of appreciation race in the zone of real estate market zone.
Upcoming Hospitality Secto
As there is a need for permanent residences for the long term employees of the organizations, so there is a need to accommodate the visitors to the city and by that meaning the companies. It is not always possible for the companies to have guest houses to accommodate their guests and visitors. This gave rise to the need for hotels. The hotels are available to suit every budget and amenities suitable to all are also available. Prices of land around these areas have gone up as a result of this. There are restaurants and stores that cater to the people living in these localities.
Changing Price trends
The above reasons have changed the land prices to a great extent, where they had been Rs.4900 per square foot, in the duration of October to December, for buying a property, the price has spruced up to Rs.5200 per square foot, on average from January till date. The change has been a startling 6.1% growth, according to a reliable property dealers website. Similarly, there has been a growth of 1.9% in the prices of a 3BHK rental property, from Rs.15600 in October to December, to Rs.15900 from January till date, from the same source. This clearly signifies the surge in the demand of the properties in these areas.
Highly positive growth outlook
The simple statistical data analysis has clearly stated the upward move of the Kharadi localitys real estate prices and with good reason. The land is surrounded by beautiful hills and with the largely untouched lands in the vicinity, it is cleaner and perfect place to live.
About the Author: Shruthi Naidu is a business journalist from South India.She closely follows the trends on Apartments in India and real estate industry.For knowing more about Kharadi properties visit
commonfloor.com/properties-for-sale-in-kharadi/cfri-51b98eeabc2aa
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Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=1896810&ca=Real+Estate}
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The Sector 15A locality in Noida, India, which is considered an elite enclave of rich industrialists, bureaucrats and professionals was in for a shock when Anant Gupta, son of Adobe India CEO Naresh Gupta was abducted in broad daylight by two unidentified men on Monday.
The Noida police was subsequently notified but they were unable to locate the motor-cycle used by the kidnappers as no one was able to take down the registration number of the vehicle. A number of raiding teams have been formed by the police to track down the offenders.
Naresh Gupta, who was in the United States at the time of the incident has implored the media to stop covering this issue so as to avoid sensationalising and prevent any harm to his son.
The kidnapping sent shockwaves throughout the cities of Noida and New Delhi. Some say this is an indicator of the rising crime rate in a city like Noida which was previously considered relatively safe and peaceful.