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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Police have said that an explosion in a hotel garage in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, that sparked an evacuation of a large area was an act of vandalism. What was initially thought to be an explosion, at around 7:30am local time, forced police to shut off a major entrance into the area prompted the Clarion Inn, a two-story hotel, and surrounding buildings to be evacuated. A bomb squad were called to the scene, and an armored robot was sent into the garage to examine the scene.

Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant John Romero said that investigators were treating the incident as an act of vandalism, and said that detectives will be examining surveillance footage of the garage. He confirmed that a caller had reported an explosion in the area. Officers who responded did not initially find anything suspicious, but a short time later a Port Police officer on patrol discovered a Lincoln Navigator with its windows blown out in an underground garage. The Los Angeles Fire Department also responded to the call.

“On closer inspection and using their training, bomb squad is confident the damage was caused by something other than a bomb. Based on what we know now, they’re scaling the operation way back,” he said. “There’s any variety of things that can sound like a bomb or a blast, particularly in a subterranean environment. The danger has passed.” He refused to speculate as to what may have caused the damage, or, if it was not a bomb, where the noise had come from. He added: “Now that the robots have gone forward and had a good look, we are confidant there was not an explosion. There was a hole blown in the door, and the glass was blown out so, now we have to find out who did it.”

A witness, the owner of a diner two blocks away from the hotel, said that he heard a loud sound while preparing the day’s menu. He said: “I was cooking my food and I heard something like ‘boom’! I said, ‘What happened?’ And I checked everything in the kitchen but saw nothing. An hour later I went outside and saw a lot of police.” Romero added that the vehicle had shown signs of an explosion and that no one in the hotel was killed or injured. At 8:20 a.m. the police issued a citywide tactical alert and surrounding streets were closed to the public. Police have said that there is shattered glass surrounding the vehicle and one of the doors exhibits evidence that an explosion had taken place. Romero added: “We still want to be very careful how to proceed. Something did happen to the car. Now they have to figure out what happened and who did it.”

Monday, September 7, 2015

The US economy added 173,000 jobs in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. The unemployment rate fell from 5.3 to 5.1 percent, the lowest since April 2008.

Although August job gains were lower than most economists forecast, job growth numbers for June and July were revised upwards by a combined 44,000. Average job gains over the past three months stand at 221,000, compared to March-May’s 189,000 monthly average. Over the past twelve months, job growth has averaged 247,000 per month.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent, or 8 cents, marking the largest increase in earnings in seven months. Hourly earnings had risen by 6 cents in July. Wages have risen by 2.2 percent over the past year.

Job growth in August was primarily concentrated in the health care and social assistance, financial activities, and professional and business services sectors. Those three areas of the economy added a combined 108,000 jobs. Food service and drinking places employment increased by 26,000 over the month, and other economic sectors saw employment hold steady. Manufacturing, on the other hand, saw employment decline by 17,000 in August. A stronger dollar and worldwide economic weakness make US exports less desirable, leading to a flattening in manufacturing employment so far this year after steadily rising in the early years of the US economic recovery.

The solid overall job gains led analysts to slightly raise expectations for a decision by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this month. Investors raised the likelihood of a September rate increase from 26 percent before the jobs report to 30 percent, and stocks dropped by over one percent on Friday. “The payrolls data is certainly good enough to allow for a Fed rate hike in September,” said Deutsche Bank’s head of currency strategy, Alan Ruskin. “The big question is still whether financial market volatility will scupper the plans.”

“This is the first time the market has looked at a Fed meeting and really has no idea what the Fed is going to do,” said Mark Kepner, a New Jersey equity trader with Themis Trading. “Right now you’re looking at the overall uncertainty and that’s what’s hanging on the market. I don’t think this number in and of itself changes how somebody’s going to vote.”

Monday, February 18, 2008

Television producer and owner of the anti-Scientology website www.xenutv.com (XenuTV), Mark Bunker, also known as Wise Beard Man, chatted online with Wikinews for nearly three hours. More than 120 people followed the interview live (many from Project Chanology), which makes this exclusive Wikinews interview our most attended IRC interview to date.

Bunker started XenuTV in 1999 and began to make videos that he provided for the Lisa McPherson Trust. Bunker has been a critic of the Church of Scientology since 1997.

In 2006, he won a Regional Emmy Award after he and KUSI-TV news reporter Lena Lewis produced a documentary news video on the issues with the United States – Mexico border with San Diego, California.

Friday, November 7, 2014Albuquerque, New Mexico —Online entertainment is a booming market, and plenty of players are making their play; back in March of this year The Walt Disney Company bought the multi-channel network Maker Studios. What is web entertainment, and the arts therein? And, who are the people venturing into this field? Wikinews interviewed Mario Lucero and Isabel Ruiz, the founders of Heaven Sent Gaming, a small entertainment team. This group has been responsible for several publications, within several different media formats; one successful example was aywv, a gaming news website, which was #1 in Gaming on YouTube in 2009, from September to November; Heaven Sent Gaming was also the subject of a referential book, released in 2014, entitled Internet Legends – Heaven Sent Gaming.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Boston, Massachusetts —After being postponed a week because of weather, on Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1, Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, Massachusetts, held public auditions for their 2005 performance slots. Thirty-two performance and musical acts got the coveted slots at one of the city’s popular tourist destinations. Benefits of performing in the Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market area include exposure and tips from passersby.

Although the auditions were open to the public, few people seemed to find the location for the tryouts, since they were held on the second floor of Quincy Market because of the weather. Were it not raining, they would have been held outside.

Acts vying for performance slots included Dan Foley, who has juggled chairs at the marketplace for several seasons, jugglers, and a contortionist. Musicians included The Vegas Valentinos, a loud rock and roll act reminiscient of Elvis; Apple Crisp, a father and son with a keyboard and a vibraphone; a few guitar/harmonica combinations; and Tom Bianchi, a familiar site among Boston street performers.

The emcee between musical acts tried to steal the show with bad jokes. Luckily, audience members steeled themselves and braved his jokes to listen to Toby Tobas’ steel drums.

The judges selected performers earlier this week. Entertainment will begin on Memorial Day weekend.

According to the Boston Herald, the selected acts are:

Monday, September 5, 2005

Australia‘s Federal Minister for Health, Tony Abbott, has made a number of comments about the previous New South Wales Australian Liberal Party leader, John Brogden, who recently attempted suicide, which have been widely thought to be inappropriate.

Abbott is reported to have made comments such as “If we did that, we would be as dead as the former Liberal leader’s political prospects” and “Whenever you hear that David Clarke is doing bad things, you know he is really doing a great job”, referring to the factional leader claimed to have led the campaign against Brogden. The comments were made at a party function approximately twelve hours after Brogden’s suicide attempt. Abbott is also reported to have said “I just want to make it clear I have never told an inappropriate joke, I’ve never pinched a woman on the backside and I never make inappropriate gestures to women” at a Kenthurst Liberal Party branch meeting, in reference to Brogden’s reported behaviour at a function approximately two months ago.

There have been calls for Abbott to resign or be sacked by Prime Minister John Howard from some sectors, such as persons involved in mental health care, as well as the Federal Opposition. They claim that the comments show that Abbott is not mindful of mental health issues when they should be foremost in his mind.

The comments were first raised with Abbott by the ABC Insiders program yesterday. He confirmed that he had made the remarks and offered to apologize “if anyone is upset”, and later that day made such an apology. The extent of the apology was criticised in the House of Representatives in Federal Parliament that day, with Julia Gillard, the Shadow Health Minister, calling it “half-arsed” during debate on a motion to censure the minister for his comments. The motion was rejected as the Liberal/National coalition form Government federally.

There is suspicion that the tipoff about Abbott’s comments was made by a member of the left-wing faction of the Liberal party, of which Brogden was a member, as a form of payback against members of the right-wing faction, of which Tony Abbott is a member. The Liberal right are said to have been involved in the campaign against Brogden.