Saturday, August 5, 2017

The United Kingdom’s Prince Philip, 96, performed his last solo official royal public engagement, before retiring from his official duties as the consort of Queen Elizabeth II after 65 years of service, with a Captain General’s parade of the Royal Marines at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.

As the Captain General, he took the royal salute and inspected the soldiers to mark the end of the 1664 Global Challenge. He told the soldiers humorously “You all should be locked up” after they completed a 2,678 kilometer (1664 mile) trek in support of the Royal Marines Charity. 

Buckingham Palace announced Philip’s retirement plan in May. Philip succeeded King George VI — Elizabeth’s father — as Captain General of marines in 1953, the year after she succeeded him as monarch. On the announcement in May, Prime Minister Theresa May offered her well wishes and gratitude to Prince Philip, 95 years old at the time.

Lady Myra Butter, an acquaintance of Philip’s for more than eight decades, said on BBC Radio 4 program Today, of Philip’s future after retirement, “I’m sure that he won’t disappear, he will be greatly missed by everybody. He’s been such a stable character in all our lives — he’s always there and he’s always been there for the Queen and I think we’re very, very lucky to have him.”

Serving longer than any other British consort, Philip has made 22,219 solo public engagements as consort, 637 solo overseas visits, 5,496 speeches, and 14 books. He currently supports or belongs to more than 780 organisations.

Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, is a nephew of late King Constantine I of Greece, and was born on the Greek island of Corfu. Philip is a former naval officer and courted Elizabeth during his service in the Royal Navy. He married her in 1947 in Westminster Abbey. This November will be their 70th wedding anniversary. Elizabeth described Philip as “my strength and stay”.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Muslim groups from across the world are criticising the organisers of the 2012 Olympics in London after it was revealed that the games will take place over Ramadan. The most holy month in the Muslim calendar, which will take place from the 21 July to 20 August in 2012, involves fasting during daylight hours and will affect an estimated 3,000 athletes.

Joanna Manning Cooper, spokesman for the games said: “We did know about it when we submitted our bid and we have always believed that we could find ways to accommodate it.”Nevertheless, this will come as a huge embarrassment for the organisers who have tried to ensure the event involve all of Britain’s ethnic communities.A quarter of the athletes who took part in the 2004 Athens Olympics were from predominantly Muslim countries and the fast will put any athletes involved at a clear disadvantage.

The chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Massoud Shadjared said: “This is going to disadvantage the athletes and alienate the Asian communities by saying they don’t matter. It’s not only going to affect the participants, it’s going to affect all the people who want to watch the games.”

The president of the National Olympic Committee of Turkey, Togay Bayalti, said: “This will be difficult for Muslim athletes. They don’t have to observe Ramadan if they are doing sport and travelling but they will have to decide whether it is important to them. “It would be nice for the friendship of the Games if they had chosen a different date.”

The games will run from the 27 July to 12 August to coincide with the British Summer holidays. The summer holidays are a six week period running from mid July to early September. During this time, public transportation is generally less crowded and it will be easier to find the 70,000 volunteers needed to keep the games running. The International Olympics Committee has specified that the games must take place between July 15 to August 31. Giselle Davies, IOC spokesperson said, “We give a window to the five bid cities. The host city selects the dates within that window.”

The organisers are working with the Muslim Council of Great Britain to find ways around the problem.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

A Nigerian airplane crashed in the city of Port Harcourt yesterday, resulting in several minor injuries.

The plane was supposed to be taking part in a mock rescue exercise, and was carrying 30 members from the National Emergency Management Agency and other emergency workers, when it slid off the runway and into some bushes after landing at Port Harcourt International Airport.

The rescue workers on the ground, intended to participate in the emergency drill, instead had to deal with a real emergency; however, only a few people on board the aircraft sustained minor wounds.

A spokeswoman for the police, Rita Inoma-Abbey, commented today that “[n]o life was lost, but the aircraft was severely damaged.”

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Dan McCreary is running for the Progressive Conservative in the Ontario provincial election, in the Brant riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Friday, March 17, 2006

Nelson Boys College was closed today because of an outbreak of gastro-enteritis in its boarding houses.

About 40% of the school’s boarding students have been hit with what is thought to be the highly contagious and violent stomach bug, Norovirus.

The principal, Salvi Garguilo, says the boys are being well cared for at the school, helped by Nelson Hospital.

They will stay isolated until they are no longer contagious.

Nelson College will reopen on Monday.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A 200-pound pet chimpanzee has been shot and killed by police in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States after it got loose from its cage and attacked a woman.

The chimp has been identified as ‘Travis’ and his owner as Sandra Herold. Travis was said to have gotten out of control, escaped from his cage and attacked a friend of Herold’s on Monday around 4:00 p.m. EST (UTC-5). When police arrived on scene they shot Travis four times, killing him, but not before Travis injured two police officers.

The unidentified 55-year-old woman is reported to be a friend of Herold who was visiting her when Travis escaped. She is said to have suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to nearby Stamford Hospital with multiple bite wounds and cuts. She is listed in critical condition.

This is not Travis’ first encounter with the police. In 2003, a police officer sedated him with tranquilizer darts after he said Travis escaped from Herold’s SUV. However, The Advocate reports that in that incident, Travis was locked out of the SUV and walked to the other side to try another door when an officer shot him.

Travis’ owners, Sandra and her husband Jay, have lived in their home on Rimmon Road in Stamford for several years. WABC-TV in New York City reports that the Herolds’ were well known in the neighborhood. For years, Travis would even ride around with Jay in his tow truck and the cars he towed.

Friday, March 9, 2012

On Super Tuesday, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, known more commonly as ‘Joe the Plumber’, won the U.S. Republican Party primary for Ohio’s 9th congressional district, which represents Toledo. He defeated real estate agent Steve Kraus, 51 percent to 48 percent, and will now face incumbent Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, who has held the seat since 1983.

Wurzelbacher received notice during the 2008 presidential election, when he asked a question about taxes to future president Barack Obama. Obama, who at the time was the Democratic Party presidential nominee, famously responded, “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” After this, Republican presidential nominee John McCain used Wurzelbacher as a representation of the average American worker, and attacked Obama’s response as socialist.

Following the exchange, students from the University of Massachusetts tried to draft Wurzelbacher to run against Kaptur in the 2010 congressional race, calling on him to “Plunge the crap out of Washington.” He initially expressed interest, but at that time did not run. In 2011, though, he announced his candidacy for 2012.

In the Republican primary, Wurzelbacher out-raised his opponent $60,000 to $10,000 and benefited from the endorsement of former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. Wurzelbacher said of partisanship, “Democrat, Republican…it’s something that the media uses to try to divide us as Americans…I’m not working for the Republican Party or Republicans, I’m working for the American people, and that includes all of us.”

In the Democratic primary, Kaptur defeated Representative Dennis Kucinich, who challenged her after his district was redrawn. Kaptur argues that Wurzelbacher is “going to have his own issues dealing with the electorate as he moves forward…I think the nature of the District is quite different than his value set.”

Wurzelbacher concedes that he lives in a largely Democratic and pro-Union community, but says the people are “all really good friends of mine…we agree on a lot of things, and ultimately what it comes down to [is] we want jobs, we want security, we want stability.”