Friday, June 3, 2011

On Monday night, two Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan died in separate incidents. This brings the total death toll to 26 for Australians fighting in the ‘war against terrorism’. These events have sparked renewed debates about the role Australians play in this region. Greens leader Bob Brown has called for the return of all troops by the end of this year.

Lieutenant Marcus Case (27) died in a Chinook helicopter crash at the Tarin Kwot base in the Zabul Province. Any connection to the Taliban in this incident has been ruled out by Australian defence force officials.

Lance-Corporal Andrew Gordon Jones (25) was shot down by a man who has been described as a “rogue Afghan officer”. Defence Chief, Angus Houston, has confirmed that this man is now the subject of an extensive man-hunt.

The Australian media have questioned if the soldiers are making any difference, when Lance-Corporal Jones died at the hands of someone he was supposed to be mentoring. Prime Minster Julia Gillard stated that Australian soldiers still play a vital role in training hundreds of members of the Afghan Fourth Brigade and does not believe their job has been completed yet.

Australia joined the ‘war on terrorism’ as part of the US led Operation Enduring Freedom. The US, Australia, and New Zealand pledged their alliance of mutual defence when the ANZUS treaty was enacted in 1952. When the United States invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, it was the first time it was invoked. Australia currently has around 1,500 defence personnel in Afghanistan as part of Operation Slipper.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Rico Daniels is a British TV presenter living in France who is known for his two television series — The Salvager — whilst he still lived in the UK and then Le Salvager after he moved to France. Rico has been in a variety of jobs but his passion is now his profession – he turns unwanted ‘junk’ into unusual pieces of furniture. Rico’s creations and the methods used to fabricate them are the subject of the Salvager shows.

Rico spoke to Wikinews in January about his inspiration and early life, future plans, other hobbies and more. Read on for the full exclusive interview, published for the first time:

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

On Monday, Lucy Allan MP (Member of Parliament) called for a public inquiry into an alleged child sexual exploitation ring in Telford, Shropshire, England, which may have been operating for 40 years and had as many as a thousand girls as victims. This came in direct response to an investigative report by the Sunday Mirror the previous day. Allan wants an independent inquiry, similar that for the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, which came to light in 2012 and had a similar scale and duration.

The Mirror alleges that hundreds of girls were raped, beaten, drugged and sold for sex. Victims were as young as 11 and at least three were killed. Details of negligence and outright misconduct by the authorities, including local council staff, the police and social workers, are also contained in the exposé.

“There must now be an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford so that our community can have absolute confidence in the authorities,” Allan said. “The IICSA will not investigate whether any of the authorities in Telford should be accountable. That is why we must have an independent inquiry into what happened in Telford; such an inquiry is outside the current scope of the IICSA.”

IICSA is the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which plans to look into the Telford situation, according to the BBC. In 2013, Operation Chalice saw the breakup of a child sex grooming ring in Telford with seven men of South Asian origin convicted. However, if the Mirror’s report is accurate, it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the alleged failings by authorities include social workers being aware of abuse without a police investigation for up to a decade; classifying underage girls as prostitutes instead of victims; not keeping records of alleged perpetrators out of fear it could look like racism; police not investigating despite five reports being filed. The Mirror also said the authorities actively tried to obstruct their investigation.

“Child sexual exploitation [CSE] is a vile, evil crime. It’s an issue right across the UK and has been for a long time. Telford will be covered by the national CSE review. We welcome this. All agencies continue to work very closely together and this remains our top priority,” said a spokesperson for Telford and Wrekin Council according to Russia Today. “Our approach to CSE is now very different from 10-20 years ago. We have learned lots of lessons and are constantly on the lookout for indicators of CSE so that we can pass information on to police and bring these evil criminals to justice. Indeed, further cases are now coming to court.”

Thursday, October 18, 2007

It can be difficult to be John Reed.

Christopher Hitchens called him a “Bin Ladenist” and Cathy Young editorialized in The Boston Globe that he “blames the victims of terrorism” when he puts out a novel like Snowball’s Chance, a biting send-up of George Orwell‘s Animal Farm which he was inspired to write after the terrorist attacks on September 11. “The clear references to 9/11 in the apocalyptic ending can only bring Orwell’s name into disrepute in the U.S.,” wrote William Hamilton, the British literary executor of the Orwell estate. That process had already begun: it was revealed Orwell gave the British Foreign Office a list of people he suspected of being “crypto-Communists and fellow travelers,” labeling some of them as Jews and homosexuals. “I really wanted to explode that book,” Reed told The New York Times. “I wanted to completely undermine it.”

Is this man who wants to blow up the classic literary canon taught to children in schools a menace, or a messiah? David Shankbone went to interview him for Wikinews and found that, as often is the case, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Reed is electrified by the changes that surround him that channel through a lens of inspiration wrought by his children. “The kids have made me a better writer,” Reed said. In his new untitled work, which he calls a “new play by William Shakespeare,” he takes lines from The Bard‘s classics to form an original tragedy. He began it in 2003, but only with the birth of his children could he finish it. “I didn’t understand the characters who had children. I didn’t really understand them. And once I had had kids, I could approach them differently.”

Taking the old to make it new is a theme in his work and in his world view. Reed foresees new narrative forms being born, Biblical epics that will be played out across print and electronic mediums. He is pulled forward by revolutions of the past, a search for a spiritual sensibility, and a desire to locate himself in the process.

Below is David Shankbone’s conversation with novelist John Reed.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

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Sunday, March 29, 2009

John Comparetto, a retired New York City Police Department lieutenant, was held at gunpoint on Friday morning by an armed nineteen year old in a hotel bathroom who demanded Comparetto’s money and cellphone.

Comparetto handed over both to the thief. When the criminal took off with the money, Comparetto drew his gun from an ankle holster and immediately chased after the robber. Comparetto asked the hotel desk clerk which way the suspect went, and told the clerk to alert officers at a police convention that a fellow policeman was “in need of assistance”.

A police officer’s convention was being held at the Holiday Inn near Harrisburg Friday for 300 narcotics police officers in attendance from Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The teen departed the scene in a taxi cab outside the hotel.

Comparetto said, “I stopped the cab at gunpoint. Ten other cops came running out and we arrested probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania.”

Jerome Marquis Blanchett is being held at Dauphin County Prison following his arrest.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Severe thunderstorms impacted the northeast United States today, producing sporadic power outages and weather conditions ranging from heavy rainfall to large hail. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) received dozens of damage reports; trees, tree limbs, electrical wires and utility poles were downed throughout portions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

Severe weather advisories were posted during the morning and early afternoon, and are now expiring as the storms pull out of the area.

According to the SPC, hailstones occasionally approached one inch in diameter. Strong winds were also present, and there were reports of dog kennels being blown across a highway in Pope County, Pennsylvania. However, no deaths or injuries occurred.

The National Weather Service said a funnel cloud was reported in Livingston Manor, New York at about 1:55 pm this afternoon, prompting the brief issuance of a tornado warning.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Eric Bogosian is one of America’s great multi-dimensional talents. “There’s sort of three different careers, and any one of them could exist by itself, on its own two feet. There was that solo stuff, and then I started writing plays in the late seventies.” Although his work has spanned genres, most readers will recognize Bogosian for his acting, which has included a memorable performance in Woody Allen‘s Deconstructing Harry to co-writing and starring in the Oliver Stone movie Talk Radio (based upon his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play) to playing the bad guy in Under Siege 2 to his current role in Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Captain Danny Ross. They may not know, however, that he had collaborated with Frank Zappa on a album, worked with Sonic Youth, and was a voice on Mike Judge‘s Beavis & Butthead Do America. He started one of New York City’s largest dance companies, The Kitchen, which is still in existence. He starred alongside Val Kilmer in Wonderland and his play Talk Radio was recently revived on Broadway with Liev Schreiber in the role Bogosian wrote and made famous.

Currently at work on his third novel, tentatively titled The Artist, Bogosian spoke with David Shankbone about the craft of writing and his life as a creative.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Police have arrested Lord Levy, chief fundraiser to the Labour Party and close associate of Tony Blair. Lord Levy was arrested by the Specialist Crime Directorate of London’s Metropolitan police as part of an on-going investigation into the cash-for-peerages row which has troubled the Labour government since the start of the year. He was bailed on Wednesday afternoon without charge pending further enquiries.

In a statement, Lord Levy said the arrest was “totally unnecessary”. A spokesman also said: “He has not been charged and does not expect to be, as he has committed no offence.”

The cash-for-peerages affair erupted earlier this year, after an independent body reported that Tony Blair had sold peerages (the title of Lord) to businessmen in exchange for secret donations to the Labour Party. This potentially breaks the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act of 1925 which was originally introduced after Prime Minister Lloyd George was caught selling peerages for personal funds.

The ruling Labour Party admitted soon after that it had borrowed over £14 million before the last general election in 2005. The opposition Conservative Party also admitted it had been loaned £16 million by wealthy businessmen. It’s believed that as chief fundraiser, Lord Levy arranged the Labour Party’s loans.

All political parties deny any wrong-doing, although the arrest of one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies is going to provide yet more scandal for the already troubled party.

Downing Street has so far declined to comment on what they call a “party matter” and Levy himself has accused the police of “over-reacting”. Some politicians have commented that the situation could be very serious for Mr. Blair.