Wednesday, July 6, 2005

London is to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

The announcement was made today by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge following four rounds of voting, penultimately shortlisting London and Paris. 116 members of the IOC in Singapore voted throughout the rounds from a pool of cities comprising of Paris, Madrid, London, New York, and Moscow.

The final tally was 54 votes for London, and 50 for Paris. The voting came after all five cities made their final presentations to the assembled members.

The news was met with screams of joy from the 15,000 people who had gathered in Trafalgar Square in London, while jeers and boos rang out across Paris, as rain began to fall in the French capital.

Former Olympic runner Sebastian Coe, who led the British bid, told BBC Radio Five Live afterwards: “I’m in a state of shock. The whole team has made a fantastic effort. This shows that the United Kingdom is a special place for sport, passionate about sport.”

This is the first time the Games will be staged in London since 1948, while this marks the third failure by Paris to host the Olympics. London has hosted the Games twice before, making it the first city ever to host them three times.

The official announcement was given by the IOC at 12:46 BST today, after much speculation. The 2012 London Olympics are widely anticipated to bring about a revival of both sporting culture in England, and the much maligned Docklands area of London, where most main sporting venues will be constructed.

Present, physically or by video link, were several dignitaries of the participating countries, including the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Queen Sofía of Spain, and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

Tony Blair is quoted to have said via a recorded video message “Our vision is to see millions of young people participate in sport and improve their lives. London has the power to make this happen.”

Also present with the British campaign team were world famous soccer player David Beckham, athletes Denise Lewis and Sir Steven Redgrave, and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, who brought with her a message from Queen Elizabeth II:

“I’ve been impressed by the way everyone has united behind London’s bid. As a country we share a passion for sport.”

French President Jacques Chriac was also present, along with actress Catherine Deneuve and singer Johnny Hallyday, both French.

“The heart of Paris and the heart of France are beating in unison in the hope of becoming Olympic host in 2012…you can put your trust and faith in France, you can trust the French, you can trust us,” he said.

America’s assembly consisted of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and bid leader Dan Doctoroff, focusing on New York’s multicultural make up and readiness. Mr. Bloomberg chose to remind the Committee of New York’s recovery after the September 11 attacks.

“In our city’s darkest hour, we asked ourselves, can we recover? …New Yorkers stood up then and said, ‘Yes, we can recover, we will rebuild and we must continue to welcome everyone.’ That spirit will be given to your Games.”

U.S. President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton spoke in a recorded video message.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his case in a live video clip, urging the Committee to take advantage of a “unique and truly historic opportunity”, and to select Moscow for the games in 2012.

“Moscow is a meeting place of cultures. Moscow is perfectly suited to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he said.

Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from Spain and Queen Sofía argued in favour of Madrid.

“The whole Spanish royal family is convinced that Madrid fully meets the conditions to offer to the world the best Olympic Games,” said Queen Sofía.

Questions from the IOC regarding threats from the Basque extremist group ETA drew the following response:

“Absolute security is assured…It’s our main priority. Those who have tried to attack our candidacy will see that this is something that is doomed to disappear in Madrid and all of Spain.”

Thursday, May 6, 2021

On Saturday, in the round 5 of Australia’s Sunshine Coast Rugby Union, Maroochydore picked up their first win of the season with a 27 points to 15 win over University of the Sunshine Coast.

“Definitely as a club we needed a win,” said Maroochydore coach Ben Radmall. “The first couple of weeks you know they’re tough on the field there and we had a pretty bad loss to Wynnum last week which we sort of expecting to win. So it’s good to get the monkey off the back now. As you can tell the boys are pretty excited but you know we’ve still got a lot to improve on that’s what’s exciting, I guess.”

Maroochydore took a 10 point lead into half time having scored one converted try and a penalty goal. They did not lose the lead despite conceding three tries.

“I think the boys probably just realized that they were in the fight,” Radmall said. “They had a bit of belief in that second half which was excellent.”

University coach Brand Tronc lamented key messages not sinking in during the game.

“We tried to play a different style, it doesn’t suit us.” Tronc said. “We just got to turn up and do the work. We just got to be prepared to go in the trenches with teams. We can’t have it all our own way. [The] boys [have] just got to battle harden themselves and be ready for what teams throw at us.”

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

ENGLAND — UK Health Secretary John Reid has proposed widespread legislative and health care changes in a new white paper on public health released Tuesday. Titled “Choosing Health”, the paper details government plans to restrict smoking in public places, limit ‘junk food‘ advertisements to children, make available “lifestyle trainers”, campaign against sexually transmitted diseases and tobacco, and improve food labelling.

The white paper comes after extensive public comment that involved 150,000 people.

Smoking would be restricted in enclosed public spaces, restaurants, workplaces, and some pubs. The ban would be enacted gradually, affecting government and NHS buildings in 2006, enclosed public places in 2007, and private property in 2008. Permanent exemption would be granted to pubs that do not serve prepared food — though not at the bar — as well as private clubs, a decision that has provoked some to call the measure incomplete. Up to 90% of pubs are expected to be affected. The Scottish executive proposed a complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places last week, and Ireland has already banned smoking in pubs and restaurants.

Food advertisements targeted to children would be banned until 9pm, under the White Paper’s proposals. The restriction is a measure to tackle rising rates of childhood obesity. The government also intends to develop voluntary standards on food and drink advertisements to children with industry, only threatening legislation if an acceptable standard is not reached by 2007. Additionally, low income families would receive vouchers for fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, and infant formula. School lunches would also be held to stricter nutritional standards. Reid has warned that unless childhood obesity is tackled, “we face the prospect of children having shorter life expectancy than their parents”.

Food labelling would also be improved, with a “traffic light” system implemented. Packaged food would be evaluated based on its fat, sugar, and salt content.

The paper is unusual for suggesting a more holistic approach to health care, offering for the first time “lifestyle trainers.” The National Health Service would be funding with an additional £1bn to make people’s overall lives healthier, which is expected to save £30bn in preventable illness.

The paper additionally makes mention of reducing accidents, which affected 2.7m people last year and is a leading cause of child death, curb binge drinking, and reduce substance abuse among youths.

The paper has been criticized by many parties. The Tory Shadow Health Secretary has criticized the Labour government’s comprehensiveness and creation of a “new nanny state approach”. He has additionally described it as “gimmicks”. The Liberal Democrats have accused the government of not being comprehensive enough. It has also been criticized by the British Medical Association as being implemented too slowly, saying “When lives need saving, doctors act immediately”.

Mr. Reid has argued against the nanny state label, saying “In a free society, men and women ultimately have the right within the law to choose their own lifestyle, even when it may damage their own health. But people do not have the right to damage the health of others, or to impose an intolerable degree of inconvenience or nuisance on others … This is a sensible solution which balances the protection of the majority with the personal freedom of the minority in England”.

The full white paper “Choosing Health” can be read here.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

A man shot a faculty physician as well as his own mother before killing himself at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The shooting occurred on the eighth floor of the Nelson Building, the hospital’s main building. Baltimore police found the suspected shooter, who had been barricaded inside his mother’s hospital room for several hours before killing himself and his mother.

At around 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 UTC), an unnamed doctor was shot in the chest at a patient area of the Nelson Building’s thoracic center. All major hospital facilities were placed under a lockdown, and some medical personnel were evacuated from the Nelson Building. The doctor was sent to surgery at the hospital, and police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said that the doctor will likely survive the incident. He was not aware of any connections between the suspect and the doctor, who was in critical condition.

A nurse at the hospital told The Baltimore Sun that the shooter was dissatisfied with how his mother had been treated and even said that he was going to jump out of a window. The nurse said that, upon hearing gunshots, she ran.

Earlier, Baltimore area police said that they were “in the process of a tactical operation” to capture the gunman, who was holed up on the eighth floor. A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that it had been assisting local police in the incident. A Johns Hopkins spokesperson had previously said that authorities had taken the shooter into custody, but police said that the report was incorrect.

The suspect, who had not taken any hostages, was described as a black man in his thirties. After a standoff lasting for three hours, law enforcement officers moved into his mother’s hospital room, and found both him and his mother dead from gunshot wounds to their heads. The suspect was first identified as 50-year-old Warren Davis, and his mother as Jean Davis. Police later said that “Warren Davis” was an alias and that his real name was not known.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld, who said that the department is “treating this case as a murder-suicide,” said that no officers reported hearing the shots that killed the two. Police had previously said that the gunman had been shot and killed by police, but police later said that that report was incorrect.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Former member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Tommy Sheridan and his wife are to be tried for perjury.

The charges stem from Tommy and Gail Sheridan’s successful £200,000 defamation suit against British tabloid newspaper The News of the World in 2006, during which the judge said that conflicting evidence meant some witnesses were perjuring themselves. This led to an investigation by Lothian and Borders Police. The newspaper had accused Tommy Sheridan of having an affair.

Sheridan established the Scottish Socialist Alliance in 1996, which became the Scottish Socialist Party and stood in the 1999 elections to the newly re-established Scottish Parliament. Sheridan was elected as MSP for Glasgow. He was re-elected in 2003 but the party split in 2006 — with some members giving evidence against Sheridan in his court case — and Sheridan and another MSP, Rosemary Byrne, formed a new party, Solidarity. However, this party — and the remaining Scottish Socialists — lost all their seats in the 2007 election.

After leaving Holyrood, Sheridan hosted a chat show at the Edinburgh fringe and had a talk radio show before joining the latest series of Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother. He is now studying law at the University of Strathclyde.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Ghana’s electoral commission announced on Wednesday that a run-off election must be held for the Ghanaian presidency. The commission said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won 49.13% of the vote, slightly more than the other main candidate, John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who obtained 47.92%. However, neither candidate reached the 50% mark needed to declare an outright winner.

Six other candidates were also present on the ballot, stealing enough votes to prevent either candidate from winning half of the vote. The third-party candidate receiving the most votes was businessman Paa Kwesi Nduom representing the Convention People’s Party (CPP), who took 1.3% of the vote.

Out of some 8.6 million votes cast, more than 200,000, or 2.4% of the full total, were rejected, which also may have helped prevent either candidate from reaching 50%. Overall voter turnout in the election was 69.52%.

The presidential candidates are vying to replace the incumbent president John Kufuor, who will be stepping down in January of next year after serving a maximum of two terms.

The electoral commission did not announce results of the simultaneous parliamentary elections, but preliminary results suggest that the NDC obtained no less than 115 seats, out of a total of 230 in the parliament. It is probable that the NPP will lose the large parliamentary majority it had enjoyed.

The run-off election is scheduled for the 28th of December.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Saskatoon Health Region in Saskatchewan, Canada recently discovered a fax machine problem which had not relayed almost 1,500 X-rays, Computed tomography (CT) and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, ultrasounds, and other medical imaging test results to doctors.

The fax machine is part of the automated Radiology Information System. An audit revealed that medical diagnostic tests involving results dating back a decade have been affected by the broken fax machine.

On May 6, a doctor called the health region officials seeking follow up on a patient’s report. Staff who delved into it, found that the report was not sent from the system.

Now, two weeks later, this same patient has still not been contacted by the health region.

“It has taken some time to work with the patient’s physician. That was important — to get more information and more detail because we want that patient’s physician to be involved in the discussion with the patient,” Dr. David Poulin, vice-president of medical affairs for The Saskatoon Health Region, said. “This is a system error and that’s just what it was — an error. This doesn’t reflect in any way on the quality of work regional staff have done and continue to do.”

An internal review revealed that, of 2.2 million diagnostic tests performed, at least 1,380 had not been sent out by the malfunctioning fax machine.

The health region will embark on contacting each of the 1,380 patients and their physicians to make sure that the results have been received and if any health care was compromised.

Patients can also contact the health region via a newly set up hotline to make enquiries.

“We think it would actually be good practice if physician offices could have a system to check whether they have received important reports,” said Poulin, “The common practice appears to be in many doctors’ offices, particularly family physician offices, that they don’t respond to the report until it arrives. So, they basically are waiting for the report to arrive in their office by fax and it’s at that point that they look at it and decide what action to take.”

City Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital and Royal University Hospital were the three city hospitals affected. Saskatoon has a population of roughly 233,923, and the hospitals also serve the surrounding rural areas.

Ironically the faulty fax machine was discovered the same week that provincial medical officials began to review approximately 70,000 radiology tests conducted in Yorkton. Officials there doubt the competence of the physician who first interpreted the radiology results.