Thursday, May 13, 2010

Wikinews reporter Iain Macdonald has performed an interview with Dr Isabella Margara, a London-based member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). In the interview Margara sets out the communist response to current events in Greece as well as discussing the viability of a communist economy for the nation. She also hit back at Petros Tzomakas, a member of another Greek far-left party which criticised KKE in a previous interview.

The interview comes amid tensions in cash-strapped Greece, where the government is introducing controversial austerity measures to try to ease the nation’s debt-problem. An international rescue package has been prepared by European Union member states and the International Monetary Fund – should Greece require a bailout; protests have been held against government attempts to manage the economic situation.

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Today, authorities released the official cause of death of eight-year-old Guatemalan boy Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, who died in the custody of United States Customs and Border Protection(CBP) on Christmas Eve. Findings showed CAUSE OF DEATH. Alonzo-Gomex was the second child in the recent wave of Central American migrants to die while being held by U.S. border patrol in December 2018.

Shortly after Alonzo-Gomez’ death, CBP issued a statement saying an agent first noticed he was ill on Monday and he was sent to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Medical staff initially believed he had a cold, though they later detected a fever. They prescribed a common antibiotic and painkiller, amoxicillin and Ibuprofen, and released him back to border patrol. When he worsened and began to vomit later that day, he was returned to the hospital, where he died around midnight.

The chairman-elect of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressman Joaquin Castro, released Alonzo-Gomez’ name. “While the CBP notified Congress within 24 hours as mandated by law, we must ensure that we treat migrants and asylum-seekers with human dignity and provide the necessary medical care to anyone in the custody of the United States government,” he told the press in a statement.

Alonzo-Gomez arrived at the U.S. border crossing near El Paso, Texas with his father on December 18. The two were detained together. One CBP official said the two had been held at a checkpoint between Las Cruces and Alamogordo because of overcrowding at the El Paso facility. The cells there are very small, designed to hold single adults for periods of hours during processing. CBP officers say they provided the two with food, water, access to showers, and checked on them many times. Court orders dictate that CBP can hold children for no more than 72 hours, so border authorities tend to move them from facility to facility. Alonzo-Gomez had been in custody at various facilities for about 130 hours at the time of his death.

On December 8, seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin, also from Guatemala and also traveling with her father, died in New Mexico after two days in U.S. custody. Her cause of death is given as dehydration and shock. According to CBP, the girl was already starved and dehydrated before entering their custody, but her family says she was healthy. Maquin’s remains have been returned to Guatemala and are scheduled to be transported to her home community, Raxruha. A subsequent congressional oversight trip raised concerns about whether the detained migrants are provided with proper medical care. Since Maquin’s death, CBP has been required to report the death of anyone in its custody to Congress within 24 hours.

According to medical professionals who spoke to The Washington Post, after Maquin’s death, Customs and Border Protection performed medical exams of the approximately 700 children in its custody, announcing it would take anyone sick or injured to a hospital for further observation. It is not clear how many children were taken to hospitals.

The El Paso area has seen a great upsurge recently in the number of people seeking asylum in the United States and the facilities that would have been used to house them have been overwhelmed. The Trump administration has characterized this as a “caravan” of migrants from Central America and claims that many people who pass their initial screening don’t show up subsequent hearings. In fact, most of them do go to court, though then only about 20% are found to meet the criteria to remain in the United States.

These events come as U.S. President Donald Trump is negotiating with Congress over budgetary funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border designed to prevent illegal immigration, which was one of his key campaign promises.

The foreign ministry of Guatemala has called for a full investigation of Alonzo-Gomez’s death and access to his medical records.

[edit]

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

“Localization of ‘SEMI Safety Guideline'”, executed by Safety and Health Technology Center of Taiwan (SAHTECH) and supervised by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), was announced today in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

This localization included several fields on health and safety of semiconductor manufacturing, certification testing on electrical devices, evaluations on fire or natural diseases, and environmental issues on semiconductor manufacturing devices, etc.. Companies and manufacturers from the semiconductor industry also paid more attentions on this guideline because issues on carbon-savings, earthquakes, fire diseases, and environment-efficiencies were included into this guideline.

On the other side of the incoming trade show of 2008 SecuTech Expo, scheduled after 2 weeks at Taipei World Trade Center, not only main fields on security devices, information security, and fire & disease preventions, the digital monitoring will be a hot topic in security industry. For applications on fire & disease preventions, because its issues contained industrial applications and ESH (Environmental, Safety & Health) managements, if a company want to decrease the ratio of fire disease or earthquake, companies from safety and related industries should pay more attentions on disease preventions.

Monday, November 28, 2005

SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered.

This long-anticipated flight was originally expected to be launched in January 2005, however a series of setbacks forced a series of delays, with the flight most recently scheduled to be in early 2006. It was intended to be launched from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The maiden voyage was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite and a Space Services Incorporated space burial payload.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Ralph Scala was sentenced Saturday for 49 counts of mischief, criminal harassment, and uttering threats during seven years of neighbourhood bullying in Toronto, Ontario.

Scala, aged 36, slashed tires, smashed windows, and intimidated and insulted his neighbours.

“I had to go and calm her down when she found her property littered with dog refuse, dead squirrels, cats, mice and even a skunk deliberately left behind to frighten her,” said Maria Bolotta, daughter of Carmela Canino, an 87 year old widow. Canino shared a semi-detached house with Scala.

“It became impossible for me to spend quality time with her or to enjoy her property with her because of the horrible skeletons, fake camera, pitchforks, and tombs bearing her name that we had to face when we went outside.” continued Bolotta.

Bolotta recounted finding 22 sharpened bicycle spokes jabbed into the lawn while she was out with the lawn mower.

Justice Kathleen Caldwell’s sentencing of Scala was followed by a three year probation, counseling, and 200 hours of community service. Additionally he must pay the neighbourhood victims restitution and stay away from the neighbourhood and its residents.

His father, Felice Scala aged 62, faces four charges related to his son’s crimes and will appear in court in June.