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Friday, January 22, 2010

A tornado struck Huntsville, Alabama on Thursday, causing widespread damage and injuring around six people. Packing winds estimated at 150 miles per hour, the twister ranked as EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

The tornado occurred at 5:30 P.M., amidst a flurry of severe weather reports in northern Alabama and Tennessee, bringing down trees and power lines.

As many as 10,000 people were left without power, and debris was strewn throughout the hardest-hit areas. “I’m shocked. I lived in this neighborhood all my life. I have never seen this kind of damage,” said Amanda Nelson, a resident of Huntsville.

David McCullough was at his home home when the tornado hit. He said, “I could not hear the train, but could hear my house shake. I also hear^[sic] my neighbor’s roof pounding against my house.”

Although tornadoes in January are rare, they can strike at any time of the year. According to Governor Bob Riley, “The tornado that hit Huntsville last night is a reminder that severe weather can strike anywhere and at anytime.”

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Eleven-year-old Iranian refugee boy, Shayan Badraie, who suffered psychological injuries during his time spent inside Australia’s immigration detention centres, will receive a Federal Government payout of AU$400,000 in compensation. The government will also pay his family’s legal bill of more than $1 million.

Between 2000 and 2002 the Badraie family were incarcerated behind the razorwire of the (now mothballed) Woomera Detention Facility, a remote desert camp in outback South Australia – and later sent to the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney. In 2001, video footage of his condition was smuggled out of Villawood, inciting national debate over Prime Minister John Howard’s controversial policy of detaining children.

Badraie’s family lawyer, Rebecca Gilsenan, said the family are “looking forward to living a normal life in the community. The settlement will enable the treatment he needs to somehow rectify the damage done in the detention centres. The fact the Government has settled the case indicates a serious concern on their part they were going to be found guilty of negligence,” Gilsenan told reporters.

Shayan, his father and stepmother arrived in Australia in 2000, and were sent immediately to the notorious Woomera desert camp. During his 17 months incarceration, Shayan stopped drinking, eating and speaking.

“He witnessed a series of incredibly traumatic and violent events, the sort of events no adult or no child should be exposed to,” Gilsenan said. “Within a year of being detained at the detention centre… he had developed psychiatric illness to the point of diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and later depression,” she said.

The court heard evidence from former senior immigration official Philippa Godwin that detention could damage the mental health of refugees – directly contradicting the Government’s claims the centres were safe. Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said: “Children should never have been put in detention and money will never undo the damage and pain.”

The Department of Immigration said the agreement was “no admission of guilt”. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says she does not believe a $400,000 is a backdown. Vanstone said an offer was made to the Badraie family’s lawyer some time ago but they turned it down.

Compared with similar countries, Australia has some of the toughest policies in the world against refugee arrivals. Policies include immediate mandatory detention of boat arrivals, the detention of workers and students who overstay their visas are sent to detention camps under harsh conditions. Immigration detainees often languish in limbo with some up to six years while their cases are being heard. These camps have been condemned by many international human rights groups.

Greens senator Kerry Nettle says “hundreds of children have been mentally scarred by their time in immigration detention and further claims are planned.” She blames the Federal Government’s policy of mandatory detention.

“The Government has accepted the responsibility for the health consequences of their policy of mandatory detention,” Senator Nettle said. “There is a raft of children, we are talking hundreds of children, and adults, who have had their mental health significantly impacted by the policy of mandatory detention.”

She rejected that the Federal Government deserve congratulations over settlement: “To have gone through these proceedings, and spent the amount of money they have spent, to put Shayan’s mother in the witness box for two weeks, is not an indication of a willingness and public accountability by the Government to accept responsibility for their actions,” Senator Nettle said.

Lawyer Rebecca Gilsenan says the landmark case may pave the way for more litigation by other refugee families. It is the first time the Department has conceded that a child has been psychologically harmed in its detention.

Gilsenan says the outcome sets a precedent for other detainees. “The problems that Shayan experienced were systemic problems rather than ones that were just specific to him, although the particular treatment that he received was disgraceful,” she said. “So it’s quite possible that there are other children or even adults out there who lived in a similar environment during that time in immigration detention and possibly have similar problems.”

She says she hopes the systemic problems highlighted in the case will now be addressed. “I can only hope that the Government takes notice of this and doesn’t continue to spend taxpayer money on having to compensate people for treating them in a disgraceful way in immigration detention.”

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

A new video on popular internet video site YouTube has raised a question: Is it fake or real?

The movie entitled Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out that was released on the 18th of January shows a woman who is going to get married within hours, but instead she cuts off all her hair.

First, the woman, named Jodie, who has just got her hair done at the hairdressers’, comes back to a hotel room where three bridesmaids are doing last-minute preparations. She runs in and falls to the ground screaming that her hair is ugly. They try to comfort her, but that isn’t enough for the so called “Bridezilla”: she cuts off her hair with a pair of scissors while the bridesmaids watch, taping it all on video camera.

The video, which is still on the main page of YouTube, has been watched over 2 million times. The person who posted the video, wigoutgirl, claims to be 25 and from Canada. It is speculated that the video was shot in a Toronto, Ontario hotel room.

Some YouTube users are saying that it is fake, some say it’s real.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

An email accidentally sent to Jeff Crouse of the Anti-Advertising Agency recently brought the controversial techniques of the advertising firm Kluger Agency under fire.

“I’m writing because we feel you may be a good company to participate in a brand integration campaign within the actual lyrics of one of the worlds most famous recording artists upcoming song/album,” the email read, offering to place Jeff Crouse‘s fake brand, Double Happiness Jeans, into the songs of popular artists. It was posted on his blog along with a reply that mocked Kluger and brought ridicule and criticism against Adam Kugler and his agency. According to Crouse, Kluger emailed him once again to claim it had been an automated email, and later requested that Crouse remove the post and comments criticizing himself and his agency, threatening a $150,000 lawsuit against Crouse for defamation.

Kluger Agency is known for advertising brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Mercedes-Benz, and Nike by inserting the brand names in the songs of popular artists like Mariah Carey, Black Eyed Peas, Fall Out Boy, Pink, Lady GaGa and Ludacris. Kluger, founded in 2006, represents over 170 corporations and focuses on well-known record labels.

Kluger and his PR team have come forward defending the advertising techniques, stating that they do not have songs made just for the products in question and do not infringe on artistic integrity. “Now, we don’t want an artist to write a song specifically to promote a brand, we just feel that if it’s a product that’s admired by the artist and fits his/her image, we now have the capability of leveling out the playing field and making things financially beneficial for all parties involved,” he was quoted saying to Wired.

However, the agency’s website shows video examples of its product placement, with brand images and names often being repeated, pointed at, praised, or being the basis of the song. The website also advertises that “a successful ‘brand-dropping’ campaign will imprint [the] brand name and product into your market’s subconscious”.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Wikinews interviewed author Marc Headley about his new book Blown for Good, and asked him about life inside the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base“, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California. Headley joined the organization at age seven when his mother became a member, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

AUSTRALIA —Following hospitalisation for pancreatitis and ongoing speculation about his leadership, Mark Latham has resigned from his roles as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and also the Federal Member for Werriwa. He cited as reasons the media harassment, and a desire to put his family and health first.

Mr Latham became leader of the ALP just over a year ago, on 2 December, 2003, leading the party during the October 2004 federal election. He was hospitalised in the run-up to that election, also for treatment of pancreatitis. Following the defeat of his party, his leadership increasingly came under question.

He fell ill a second time almost simultaneously with last year’s Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. His failure to issue a statement on the tsunami drew criticism from the media and calls for his resignation from within his own party, even after it was revealed that he had been incapacitated at the time.

Mr Latham’s resignation sidesteps the possibility of a leadership challenge by other members of the party and leaves no clear successor.