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Saturday, November 9, 2013

With the 2014 Winter Paralympics set for March, Wikinews sought comment from U.S. Representative Jackie Speier, who serves California’s 14th congressional district about the event and how current U.S. policies impact people with disabilities. Elected to the U.S. House in 2008, she serves on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Armed Services Committee. For the first time ever, the Paralympics will be broadcast live in the U.S. on network television.

((Wikinews)) : Will “Obamacare” have a positive or negative impact on the lives of people with disabilities?

Jackie Speier: By-and-large the Affordable Care Act will have a significant and lasting beneficial impact on persons with disabilities […] Most importantly, pre-existing conditions will no longer prevent persons with disabilities from obtaining health insurance. Lifetime limits on medical expenses will be removed and preventive services will be free. All of these provisions of the law create health insurance that is highly supportive of good health outcomes for everyone, but in particular for those who have a disability.

((WN)) : Are there any Paralympic athletes or elite athletes with disabilities from your district that people should know more about?

Jackie Speier: There are currently two Paralympic athletes who train or live in my district that people will definitely hear more about in the coming years. One is a young woman named Allie Hyatt who trains in Judo with Willy Cahill, [whom] I have also trained with. Allie, who is visually impaired and just 15, has already won numerous awards and will participate in the Youth Olympic Games next year. She is sure to be a force in the Judo world for many, many years. Hyatt lives in San Francisco and Cahill is the founder and CEO of the Blind Judo Foundation.

Another great athlete is Mohamend Lahna who is training for the Rio Olympics in 2016 for the paratriathlon,” Speier continued. “He is from Morocco originally but lives now in San Mateo and trains daily at the College of San Mateo. He runs marathons with a prosthetic leg and has his sights set on winning several medals atworld and Olympic events in the future. Lahna has proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD), a birth defect that affects the hip and pelvis. He is married and has a 1-year-old child.

Wikinews also sought comment from other members of Congress, including John K. Delaney, Mike Honda, Kyrsten Sinema, Eric Swalwell, Raúl M. Grijalva and Ann Kirkpatrick but at publication time, had received no response.

Saturday, June 4, 2005

Partygaming Plc, the worlds largest online poker company, has announced that it intends to float on the London Stock Exchange by the end of this month. Although it has not yet set a price, analysts in The City are speculating that the flotation could value the firm at up to STG£5bn. Such a valuation would make the flotation the largest in four years.

The Gibraltar-based company, which owns the Partypoker brand, intends to sell 23% of the company in the flotation. If the company’s initial public offering is successful, the firm will enter the FTSE 100 Index (the top 100 firms on the exchange by value). Its value would be greater than that of both British Airways and Boots.

Partygaming Plc was founded in 1997 by Anurag Dikshit and has since grown at a huge rate – doubling profits in the past year alone to STG£371m. At peak times it attracts 70,000 simultaneous players.

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Journalist, counselor, painter, and US 2012 Presidential candidate Joe Schriner of Cleveland, Ohio took some time to discuss his campaign with Wikinews in an interview.

Schriner previously ran for president in 2000, 2004, and 2008, but failed to gain much traction in the races. He announced his candidacy for the 2012 race immediately following the 2008 election. Schriner refers to himself as the “Average Joe” candidate, and advocates a pro-life and pro-environmentalist platform. He has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles, and has published public policy papers exploring solutions to American issues.

Wikinews reporter William Saturn? talks with Schriner and discusses his campaign.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The day before Zimbabwe’s presidential runoff is to be held, President Robert Mugabe says he is open to discussion with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party that has decided to boycott what they and other African leaders have called a “sham election”.

On Wednesday, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had called for pre-election talks on forming a transitional authority. Mugabe, who had previously shown little interest in talks with the opposition, said at a campaign rally, “Should we emerge victorious … we will be magnanimous and say ‘let’s sit down and talk,’ and talk we shall.”

Earlier on Thursday, Tsvangirai said he would not participate in discussion after the election is held. “If the sham election goes ahead and Mugabe elects himself, how can I or the MDC negotiate with him?” Tsvangirai said in an interview with Britain’s The Times. “In essence, we’ll be negotiating with an illegitimate leader and we won’t do that.”

Mugabe left the offer for the MDC to either accept or reject, while warning against outside interference from the African Union. “The moment the outside world starts dictating, we will not proceed,” he said. Mugabe also said that violence had been committed by his ZANU-PF party as well as Tsvangirai’s party, and that the violence must stop.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga later clarified the president’s comments. “What the president is saying to the MDC is that ‘You are Zimbabweans. We want you to be part of this. We are willing to talk to you but let’s finish this first.” Matonga did not say how soon after the election the talks would take place.

Many southern African leaders have called for Zimbabwe to postpone the election, but Matonga says to do so would be illegal. “The president has said today that the election will go ahead because to postpone it would violate Zimbabwe’s laws and he won’t do that,” he said.

Tsvangirai had been the only candidate facing Mugabe in the run-off election, before he announced on Sunday that he was withdrawing due to the threat of government-sponsored violence and intimidation against his party. Despite his withdrawal, election officials say his name will remain on the ballot, as they assert he missed the deadline to pull out.

While Tsvangirai fled to the Dutch Embassy for safety, other opposition members fled to the South African Embassy. Many opposition members have questioned South African president Thabo Mbeki‘s unwillingness to denounce Mugabe. Meanwhile, they welcomed the words of former South African president Nelson Mandela, who yesterday spoke of Zimbabwe’s “tragic failure of leadership” at a London fundraiser.

Zimbabwe’s government dismissed Mandela’s remarks, calling them a result of pressure from Western nations like Britain and the United States. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said, “I am condemning all Westerners for putting pressure on Mandela,” while at the same time calling Mandela a “courageous” statesman. Meanwhile, Tsvangirai said his party appreciates Nelson Mandela’s criticism. “It is something we cherish,” he said.

During his campaign, Tsvangirai has been detained by police a total of five times, and his party’s second-in-command, Tendai Biti, was charged with treason and publishing false statements. Biti was today granted bail after paying 1 trillion Zimbabwean dollars (USD$100) and surrendering his passport and the title to his home. He also must report to police twice a week.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Scottish woman who set out before Christmas to purchase a turkey finally made it home on Monday, after being cut off by snow for a month. Kay Ure left the Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage on Cape Wrath, at the very northwest tip of Great Britain, in December. She was heading to Inverness on a shopping trip.

However on her return journey heavy snow and ice prevented her husband, John, from travelling the last 11 miles to pick her up. She was forced to wait a month in a friend’s caravan, before the weather improved and the couple could finally be reunited.

They were separated not just for Christmas and New Year, but also for Mr Ure’s 58th birthday. With no fresh supplies, he was reduced to celebrating with a tin of baked beans. He also ran out of coal, and had to feed the couple’s six springer spaniels on emergency army rations.

“It’s the first time we’ve been separated”, said Mr Ure in December. “We’ve been snowed in here for three weeks before, so we are well used to it and it’s quite nice to get a bit of peace and quiet.”

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

On Monday, Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan announced his retirement from international football after he was left out of the national team squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup upcoming in June.

Radja Nainggolan, who plays for Italian club AS Roma, posted on Twitter saying, “Very reluctantly my international career comes to an end…I’ve always done everything I could to represent my country[…] Being yourself can be bothering …From this day on I will be the first fan” ^{((nl))Dutch language: ?Met veel pijn in het hart maak ik een einde aan men internationale carriere… ik heb er altijd alles aangedaan om er bij te zijn en belgie te vertegenwoordigen[…] spijtig genoeg is ECHT zijn niet goed voor SOMMIGE… En vanaf vandaag zal ik de eerste supporter zijn}.

Nainggolan announced his decision soon after Roberto Martinez, Belgium team manager, shortlisted 28 players for the Russia World Cup. Martinez travelled to Rome to inform Nainggolan about his decision before announcing the shortlisted players. Nainggolan, who turned 30 earlier this month, scored two goals for AS Roma against English club Liverpool FC in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final. In 2017, Roma club supporters voted Nainggolan the club’s Player of the Season.

Explaining his decision to leave out Nainggolan, manager Martinez said, “It was a sad and difficult decision. He is a player with a lot of class and he was voted Roma’s best player, but I’ve made my decision for purely tactical reasons.” The Spaniard added, “We know that Radja has a very important role in his club and we cannot give him that role in our squad”.

Martinez is to finalise and submit a 23-man squad for the World Cup tournament on June 4, after his team plays against Portugal in a friendly scheduled for June 2 in the Belgian capital Brussels. After Nainggolan was left out of the squad, former Belgian international Philippe Albert said, “We must be the only country in the world to be making the trip without one of the best players in the world”.

Belgium is in Group G for the World Cup, along with England, Panama, and Tunisia. Belgium is currently world number three in the FIFA rankings.