Friday, January 26, 2007

Despite pleas from Big Day Out promoters to leave the national flag of Australia at home, many of the 55,000 music lovers have turned up to the Sydney event covered in it.

Co-promoter Ken West caused a stir when the flag was “banned” from this year’s Big Day Out in Sydney after organisers branded it a “gang colour” and symbol of hate. Organizers of the rock festival had planned to confiscate any flag or bandanna bearing the national symbol at the gate. The organizers defended their action claiming Sydney was “a hot bed of racism.” They had already moved the event from the traditional time, Australia Day, to avoid these “nationalistic overtones.” The Prime Minister John Howard responded by declaring that the Big Day Out should have been cancelled unless organisers reversed their decision to ban the flag.

After widespread outrage on talkback radio, and condemnation of their action by the Prime Minister and state Premiers, Australians have literally worn their hearts on their sleeves by draping the Aussie flag over their shoulders or wearing t-shirts, tattoos or bikinis with it printed on it. Event organisers allowed hundreds of fans to bring Australian flags to the event, backing down on their earlier call to leave the emblem at home.

Melissa-Rose Heap, 18-years-old, of Kogarah, said she and her friends had fashioned the Australian flag into dresses after the banning controversy.

“We made them into dresses because they said we weren’t allowed to, and that’s not right,” she said. “They shouldn’t be able to tell anyone that we can’t be proud of Australia.”

Sunday, December 2, 2007

The 20th annual World AIDS Day was December 1, 2007. The theme selected by the World AIDS Campaign is “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise” as it will be through 2010. The day was marked by thousands of events around the world.

“It is now time for bold leadership at all levels in order to turn the tide of HIV,” said Felicita Hikuam, Global Programmes Manager, World AIDS Campaign. An estimated 33.2 million people around the world—one in every 200—are living with HIV, and approximately 6,800 people are infected with HIV and 5,700 people die of AIDS-related illnesses every day.

“The trend is encouraging but still for every person receiving treatment four others are newly infected,” said Nelson Mandela, speaking at a concert in Johannesburg, South Africa. “If we are to stop the Aids epidemic from expanding, we need to break the cycle of new HIV infections. All of us working together with government, communities and civil society can make the difference that is needed,” he continued.

As many as 50,000 people attended the concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was telecast around the world. It was organized by Nelson Mandela’s 46664 AIDS campaign and featured performances by artists such as Peter Gabriel, Ludacris, Razorlight, the Goo Goo Dolls and Annie Lennox.File:20050702-Nelson Mandela Live8 Edinburgh.jpg

At a fundraiser in the town of Midrand, in the province Gauteng, near Johannesburg on Friday, singer Annie Lennox had strong words for the South African government’s AIDS policies.

“AIDS, as Madiba [Mandela] has said, is a human rights issue and should be treated as such in order to avoid this genocide that is affecting millions and millions of people around the world,” said Lennox in a speech. Lennox has previously been critical of the South African government’s position on suggesting some AIDS medications were toxic. “It is unacceptable that treatment has not been made available to those who need it most,” said Lennox.

The rock band Queen, which lost its lead singer Freddie Mercury to AIDS, released a new song entitled, Say It’s Not True, to coincide with World Aids Day. It has been made available as a free download from the band’s website. “By making the song available for free, we hope to help Nelson Mandela with his campaign to get across the message that no-one is safe from infection,” said Queen drummer Roger Taylor. “We have to be aware, we have to protect ourselves and those we love.”

In China, people distributed AIDS prevention brochures in the streets and promoted safe sex in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In Changsha, official warning signs were put on hotel bedstands. The government announced on Friday an allocation of CNY860 million for AIDS prevention and control. According to official reports, there are estimated to be 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in China.

Also in China, the Miss World 2007 was in Sanya on World AIDS Day. The pageant presented a special tribute to the fight against AIDS, with a televised speech from former South African President Nelson Mandela, along with traditional dancers from South Africa who joined the contestants in a special song.

Friday, United States President George W. Bush urged the United States Congress to double the 2003 Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to US$30 billion over the next five years. “Above all, we rededicate ourselves to a great purpose: We will turn the tide against HIV/AIDS—once and for all,” he said.

“I’m pleased to announce that Laura and I will travel to sub-Sahara Africa early next year,” Bush said. Sub-Saharan Africa suffered nearly three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths during 2006 and is home to two-thirds of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Friday, October 19, 2007

The 7th Taipei International Hardware & DIY Show, organized by Kaigo Taiwan (The representative of Koelnmesse in Taiwan) and Koelnmesse GmbH, started on October 18-20 at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 3. This show has 183 participants using 300 booths to exhibit accessories and tools on esoteric fabricating, home-living applications, and security.

With people in Taiwan valuing on the quality of home-living, the organizer set a pre-show pavilion of “2008 Taipei Home & Lifestyle Fair” and invited B&Q & HomeBox holding DIY workshops for visitors.

This exhibition is conjuncted with industry and applications, and pursuing with three main topics of “Quality, Innovation and Competitiveness”. International factories such as Hitachi, Rexon, Ryobi participated this show for the export opportunity in the hardware industry.

After the “Product Certificates and Testing” pavilion in TAITRONICS Autumn, Bureau of Standards, Metrology & Inspection, M.O.E.A., R.O.C. (Taiwan) and DIY in Europe magazine were invited for speeches focused on certifications on hardware & DIY products and environment issues in EU.

• Spoty Enterprise Co., Ltd.

• Double Dynasty Co., Ltd.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

U.S. Prohibition Party presidential nominee Phil Collins took some time to answer a few questions about his 2020 presidential campaign from Wikinews accredited reporter William S. Saturn.

Collins is currently chairman of the Prohibition Party. Previously, he served as a trustee of Libertyville Township (Illinois) and as chairman of the Prohibition Party of Illinois. After moving to Nevada, he ran for Mayor of Las Vegas in 2019, and finished in second place overall.  He was not the Prohibition Party’s first choice for the 2020 presidential nomination. In November 2018, the party nominated a ticket of Bill Bayes for President and C.L. Gammon for Vice President. Bayes withdrew in March 2019. Gammon assumed the presidential nomination and the party nominated Collins for Vice President the next month. Gammon withdrew due to health reasons around August 2019 and Collins took over as the presidential nominee. The party picked anti-alcohol activist Billy Joe Parker as Collins’s new running mate.  Parker spoke to Wikinews back in July.

After securing the Prohibition Party presidential nomination, Collins sought the nominations of the American Independent Party (AIP) and the Reform Party for ballot access in California and Florida, respectively. Despite winning the AIP California Presidential Primary in March, Collins lost the nomination to businessman Rocky De La Fuente in August. He also fell short of De La Fuente for the Reform Party presidential nomination in June. Nevertheless, the Prohibition Party has attained ballot access in Colorado, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Vermont.  The last presidential election in which the party appeared on at least four state ballots was in 1984 with nominee Earl Dodge.

The Prohibition Party is the third oldest existing political party in the US, having been established in 1869. It reached its height of popularity during the late nineteenth century. As its name suggests, the party supported the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which banned the sale of alcohol, and resulted in the period known as Prohibition (1919–33).  Since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the party has declined.  It stays afloat, in part due to the George L. Pennock Trust established in 1939, which pays the party’s operating expenses. It continues to nominate candidates for president as well.  Wikinews has previously interviewed two of those nominees: 2004 and 2008 presidential nominee Gene Amondson and 2016 presidential nominee James (Jim) Hedges.  Collins makes it three.

With Wikinews, Collins discusses his background, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on his campaign, presidential nominations, gridlock, climate change, foreign policy, and race relations.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

The following is the fourth edition of a monthly series chronicling the 2020 United States presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

This month’s spotlight on the campaign trail: a bat attacks the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, the American Independent Party picks a ticket amid controversy, and Birthers resurface to question the eligibility of the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Note: All dollar figures are in AU$ unless otherwise stated.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and federal Treasurer Peter Costello unveiled the project to build world’s largest solar plant on October 25.

The $420 million plant will sit on 900 ha of land and produce 154 megawatts. It will use mirrored panels to concentrate light.

It is expected to reach full capacity in 2013.

The Victorian Government will contribute $50 million to the plant. The Federal government will contribute $75 million out of its $500 million low emissions technology demonstration fund (LETDF).

LETDF is also contibuting $50 million towards a $360 million pilot for a brown coal drying and a post-combustion carbon dioxide capture and storage project at the International Powers’ Hazelwood facility in Gippsland.