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Thursday, April 24, 2008

On April 22, President Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia, a micronation located in Nevada, announced that his country hosted its first ever official state visit the day before.

Grand Duke Paul of the Grand Duchy of Greifenberg, another micronation, arrived in Molossia at 9:39 AM MST (Molossian Standard Time) on Monday. He spent much of the day with President Baugh discussing the current state of the intermicronational community, as well as the League of Small Nations, a near dormant organization dedicated to the prosperity of all land-claiming micronations.

Besides the meeting itself, President Baugh took Grand Duke Paul to nearby Virginia City, Nevada for lunch. Following this, both returned to Molossia where the meeting continued. The visit officially ended late in the afternoon. Some time later, Grand Duke Paul returned to Molossia for an informal dinner. He returned to his country the next day.

The Republic of Molossia and Grand Duchy of Greifenberg are not recognized by any major countries or international organizations. However, both are by other micronations.

In March, Wikinews held an interview with President Baugh.

Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Bucharest, Romania — The city centre of Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is set to get a major facelift due to a real estate project called Esplanada (The Esplanade), which will be constructed by TriGranit Development Corporation. The total investment in the project will be greater than 800 million euro and aims to build a modern commercial pedestrian area in downtown Bucharest, with several shopping malls, office buildings, hotels and dwellings. It will be the largest real estate program in Romania since the fall of Communism in 1989.

Bucharest is currently looking at possibilities to improve its appearance and rebrand itself as a lively, creative and vibrant city. Many initiatives have sprung up to improve the city, including the organisation of CowParade later this year. Additionally, the old town centre will be restored. Due to Romania’s current economic boom, several other major construction projects are taking place.

Bucharest City Hall has blocked traffic in the city center due both to the old town restoration and to the Esplanada project.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Indian authorities today declared an intent to force web companies to screen content for “offensive” and “blasphemous material”. The move follows failed talks yesterday with Facebook, Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft.

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal says “My aim is that insulting material never gets uploaded”, and that web firms “will have to give us the data, where these images are being uploaded and who is doing it.” The government’s planned new policy is in response to web-based firms informing him they could not prevent such material being uploaded. “They have given it to me in writing that they will not do anything until we get an order from the court,” even though “At a meeting on 4 November, we showed them some of the photos and they too agreed that the photos were offensive,” said Sibal. The disputed material was first discussed three months ago.

Sibal calls the situation “unacceptable” and disputes the firms’ defence of being merely “platforms” for others to add material. He claims they showed their “intention was not to cooperate”. Facebook promised ongoing dialogue in a statement and “[recognise] the government’s interest in minimising the amount of abusive content”. They also promised to “remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep material that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity off the service.”

Google say they remove material breaching their policies and to comply with local legislation. “But when content is legal and doesn’t violate our policies, we won’t remove it just because it’s controversial, as we believe that people’s differing views, so long as they’re legal, should be respected and protected,” the company added.

“We have to take care of the sensibilities of our people, we have to protect their sensibilities. Our cultural ethos is very important to us,” Sibal said today. A response from web firms of “we throw up our hands, we can’t do anything about this” would not be tolerated.

Although some reports suggest the spat has been triggered by critiques of powerful politician Sonia Gandhi, Sibal claims the firms have previously hesitated to respond to requests for details of “terrorists”. All the material the government wishes to censor is “absolutely illegal, defamatory, pornographic or other similar kind of material” says Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Material in question includes cartoons of Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and material mocking religion including an image depicting pigs in Mecca.

Indian computer security expert Vijay Mukhi rubbished the suggestions. “The idea of prescreening is impossible. How will they do it?… There is no technology currently that determines whether content is ‘defamatory’ or ‘offensive’,” he told Reuters. This sentiment was broadly echoed by large numbers on Twitter; the tag #IdiotKapilSibal was among the nation’s Twitter users’ most-used today. Twitter and Facebook were the organising points earlier this year for an anti-graft campaign that saw thousands protesting and new laws passed.

Internet companies insist too much material flows through the web to make such screening plausible. Sibal says the firms are applying US standards which do not take Indian needs into account.

Research in Motion last year resisted Indian security demands for access to encrypted BlackBerry communications. The government gave up that request but did manage to gain limited access to some BlackBerry communications. Skype and Google were told then that local servers would be mandatory, allowing the government to inspect emails.

About 100 million of India’s 1.2 billion people are online. There are 28 million Indian Facebook profiles. Google says it has received 68 content removal requests from Indian officials this year, and there have also been concerns Google Earth could be used to plan militant attacks.

India’s new moves follow criticism of the United Kingdom earlier this year. The UK proposed social media restrictions following riots while the Foreign Secretary simultaneously criticised other nations using social media controls to limit protest.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Sweden’s first royal wedding since 1976 took place Saturday when Crown Princess Victoria, 32, married her long-time boyfriend and former personal trainer, Daniel Westling, 36. The ceremony took place at Stockholm Cathedral.

Over 1,200 guests, including many rulers, politicians, royals and other dignitaries from across the world, attended the wedding, which cost an estimated 20 million Swedish kronor. Victoria wore a wedding dress with five-metre long train designed by Pär Engsheden. She wore the same crown that her mother, Queen Silvia, wore on her wedding day 34 years previously, also on June 19. Victoria’s father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, walked Victoria down the aisle, which was deemed untraditional by many. In Sweden, the bride and groom usually walk down the aisle together, emphasising the country’s views on equality. Victoria met with Daniel half-way to the altar, where they exchanged brief kisses, and, to the sounds of the wedding march, made their way to the the silver altar. She was followed by ten bridesmaids. The couple both had tears in their eyes as they said their vows, and apart from fumbling when they exchanged rings, the ceremony went smoothly.

Following the ceremony, the couple headed a fast-paced procession through central Stockholm on a horse-drawn carriage, flanked by police and security. Up to 500,000 people are thought to have lined the streets. They then boarded the Vasaorden, the same royal barge Victoria’s parents used in their wedding, and traveled through Stockholm’s waters, accompanied by flyover of 18 fighter jets near the end of the procession. A wedding banquet followed in the in the Hall of State of the Royal Palace.

Controversy has surrounded the engagement and wedding between the Crown Princess and Westling, a “commoner”. Victoria met Westling as she was recovering from bulemia in 2002. He owned a chain of gymnasiums and was brought in to help bring Victoria back to full health. Westling was raised in a middle-class family in Ockelbo, in central Sweden. His father managed a social services centre, and his mother worked in a post office. When the relationship was made public, Westling was mocked as an outsider and the king was reportedly horrified at the thought of his daughter marrying a “commoner”, even though he did so when he married Silvia. Last year, Westling underwent transplant surgery for a congenital kidney disorder. The Swedish public have been assured that he will be able to have children and that his illness will not be passed on to his offspring.

Westling underwent years of training to prepare for his new role in the royal family, including lessons in etiquette, elocution, and multi-lingual small talk; and a makeover that saw his hair being cropped short, and his plain-looking glasses and clothes being replaced by designer-wear.

Upon marrying the Crown Princess, Westling took his wife’s ducal title and is granted the style “His Royal Highness”. He is now known as HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. He also has his own coat-of-arms and monogram. When Victoria assumes the throne and becomes Queen, Daniel will not become King, but assume a supportive role, similar to that of Prince Phillip, the husband of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Thursday, May 4, 2006

Scientists warn that Mount Merapi, or “The Mountain of Fire,” a large Indonesian volcano on the island of Java is likely to erupt. Molten lava and shallow volcanic earthquakes were recorded on Wednesday, as well as further tremors on Thursday morning.

Mount Merapi is the most active of 130 volcanoes in Indonesia. It is a strato-volcano with an active summit lava dome. It has small eruptions every 3-4 years and larger eruptions every 10-15 years. It has produced more pyroclastic flows, popularly known as heat cloud and magma, than any other volcano in the world. The last fatal eruption happened in 1994, killing 60. During the eruption in 1930, 1,300 people died. Historians say that Mount Merapi has been erupting for 10,000 years.

Mount Merapi is considered very sacred by the locals. According to the local folk-lore the volcano’s eruption is the result of spirits being angered by not receiving sufficient offerings or by a disrespectful attitude among the people in slopes. 27,000 locals in 3 villages could be affected by this eruption. Scientists gave a warning of eruption a fortnight back and asked for immediate evacuation. The nearest city is Yogyakarta. The awesome sight of the erupting volcano has attracted many tourists and locals.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

At least fourteen people have died after a chartered bus crashed in The Bronx, New York. According to authorities, the tour bus accident also injured eighteen other people, amongst which five were critically injured.

The vehicle was travelling from Mohegan Sun in Connecticut to the village of Uncasville, also located in Connecticut. When the crash occurred on Interstate 95 at approximately 0535 EST (1035 UTC) on Sunday, there were at least thirty-one passengers present.

40-year-old Ophadell Williams, the driver of the bus, reported to the police that the vehicle came into contact with a semi-trailer truck, which was veering across the interstate. He said that he attempted to move out of the way of this vehicle, causing the bus itself to swerve, overturn and scrape the side of a railing for one hundred yards before impacting with a highway sign’s upholding bar.

Captain James Ellson, of the fire service, described the scene as “a pile of humans, either still in their seats or on the floor, wrapped in the metal”. Jose Hernandez, one of the survivors of the bus crash, said that “[w]e tried to help people, but there was twisted metal in the way”.

The semi-trailer truck driver failed to stop after the accident. Police are currently attempting to detect this driver. Raymond Kelly, the current New York City Police Commissioner, stated that the truck was moving on a lane to the bus’ nearside, although whether the vehicles came into contact with each other or not is yet to be confirmed. Both vehicles were travelling at “a significant rate of speed”, according to Kelly.