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Thursday, August 27, 2015

Austrian police today found an estimated 20–50 decomposing corpses in an apparently abandoned lorry.

Roadworkers who spotted the vehicle, which had been there since yesterday at least, alerted police. Responding officers found it full of corpses. The lorry is on the so-called “Eastern Motorway”, the A4, close to the Hungarian border. It was on the hard shoulder between Neusiedl and Parndorf, closer to Parndorf.

The victims are thought to have suffocated. Police are seeking the driver. The Krone published an image of a non-articulated food lorry on the hard shoulder, which they report is the vehicle in question. The photo shows a pool of dark liquid on the ground beside the vehicle.

Video from a passing motorist shows at least one helicopter on-scene. The truck, which has pictures of meat on the side, shows branding for Slovakian food firm Hyza. Earlier today the company’s website sported an apparent anti-immigration graphic, which has since been removed.

Wikinews got in touch with Hyza. “We are truly sorry about [the] tragedy” they told us in a statement. They said they have checked GPS trackers on their fleet and all their vehicles remain in Slovakia. The statement says the lorry in question was one of 21 Hyza vehicles sold on last year. It was then sold again and exported to Hungary, where it is now registered. Hyza told us the new owners have not changed the branding on the vehicle. According to the Bild newspaper, Agrofert — the parent company of Hyza — said in a statement the new owners were required to do so.

Hyza says they will “actively cooperate with Slovak police”, and “express [their] sincere condolences to the bereaved families.”

Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner called it “a dark day” and called for European Union-wide measures to protect immigrant refugees and tackle human traffickers. Neighbouring Hungary is constructing a border fence across its entire frontier with Serbia. Yesterday alone saw a record 3,241 attempts to enter Hungary illegally, according to authorities there.

Conflict in Syria and other parts of the world has led refugees to Europe. Once inside, they can move freely inside the Schengen Area, which covers most of the EU.

Austrian police earlier this week arrested three motorists suspected of people smuggling. One driver is accused of moving 34 people, ten of them children, into Austria from Serbia. The group were left by the roadside near Bruck an der Leitha and reported struggling to breathe in the van.

Monday, April 11, 2011

A passenger was killed Monday evening after a fire started in a washroom aboard a train near Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordshire, England. Emergency services were called to the London Midland train, where they found the body of a female passenger who had suffered burns.

British Transport Police confirmed one female individual was killed in the blaze. A spokesperson said: “The deceased woman has injuries consistent with burns, no other person is believed to have been involved in the incident. Officers from the fire and ambulance services are on the scene.”

The fire has caused serious disruption to trains on the West Coast Main Line. A spokesperson for Network Rail said they were attempting to reopen two of the four tracks on the line as London Midland scrambled to organise a replacement bus service.

London Midland said no-one else was injured in the incident. “The fire appeared to have been in the toilet,” a spokesperson said. “A passenger reported the fire to a conductor. All the other passengers got off safely.”

Monday, November 7, 2005

Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec has been reported as the first casualty of recent rioting in France. The 61-year old man was beaten by a hooded rioter last week and had been in a coma since the attack.

The uprising was set off by the death of two teenagers who were allegedly chased by police and hid in an electric power station where they were electrocuted.

The French riots have further intensified over the past few days and are now said to have spread to nearly every city in the country.

The French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, announced on Monday plans to allow the nation’s regions to impose curfews. Mr. de Villepin appeared the day before on television with an appeal to end the violence.

The president, Jacques Chirac, ended his silence on the rioting on Saturday, when he spoke to the press. “Those who want to sow violence or fear will be caught, tried and punished,” he said. “But we also understand very well that we must move towards respect for each individual, justice and equality of opportunity. We are all completely determined to go down this road and pursue the efforts that are already under way in this domain.”

The Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, called for a radical overhaul of the French social model that he said, “in every aspect, needs to be fundamentally rebuilt.” On the same day, various people [1] [2] discovered that UMP, the political party of Nicolas Sarkozy had bought the Google AdWords ‘banlieue’ (suburbs) to advertise their own website on google.fr.

Arrests in the rioting total nearly 1200 following the deaths of two youths on October 27. The unrest, which started in a Paris suburb, has spread to over 270 towns across France. More than 4300 cars have been torched across the country, and 2 schools were burned.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Officials announced that a treasure containing sacks of diamonds and gold coins as well as golden idols, jewelry and other riches has been discovered in the secret subterranean vaults of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, in the southwestern state of Kerala, India. Estimates of its worth have been rising and it is now thought to be worth US$20 billion.

The Hindu temple was built in the 16th century by the kings of the then Kingdom of Travancore to serve as a royal chapel for the rulers of Travancore. The six vaults containing the treasure have been undisturbed for over a century. Assessment of the treasure began on June 27 after a lawyer concerned about the security of the treasure petitioned India’s Supreme Court, which then appointed a seven-member panel of experts to inventory the treasure. The panel does not have the power to determine to whom the treasure will belong. Estimates of the treasure’s worth are rising, provoking a heated debate as to how the treasure will be used in a country that has 450 million poverty-stricken people.

The chief minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, announced on Sunday the treasure would remain with the temple, and security matters would be decided in consultation with the Travancore Royal Family, the temple management, and the temple priest.

“The gold was offered to the lord. It is the property of the temple. The government will protect the wealth at the temple,” Oommen Chandy said. Meanwhile, hundreds of armed police have been deployed around the temple to protect the treasure.

However, the view that the treasure should remain at the temple has been disputed. Among the dissenters is eminent jurist V R Krishna Iyer, who said the treasure should be put in a national trust for the peoples’ benefit. “God’s wealth belongs to the people, not to the king. It’s meaningless to say that it belongs to Hindus or any particular religious community,” said Iyer. “A mechanism should be devised to ensure that the benefits of it reach the poor and the needy and not the rich.”

Five of the six vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple have been inventoried.

On Saturday, reports leaked to the press revealed that the treasure, including a golden idol of Mahavishnu and a golden ‘anki’, were found in one of the vaults, estimated to weigh 30 kilograms, along with precious stones, silver, two coconut shells of pure gold and another golden idol as well as other jewels and valuable coins. The panel hopes to find more treasure when the sixth and final vault is opened, but the attempt was suspended on Monday because the iron door inside presented “technical problems” requiring further consultation before opening. This vault is thought to contain the bulk of the wealth.

Keralan officials in a preliminary estimate said that the treasure was worth over US$11.2 billion; those estimates have now risen to US$20 billion. Historians say that the temple’s location on a site through which passed lucrative trade routes support the higher evaluations.

“Traders, who used to come from other parts of the country and abroad for buying spices and other commodities, used to make handsome offerings to the deity for not only his blessings but also to please the then rulers,” said P.J. Cherian, the director of Kerala Council for Historic Research

Some suggest that the profit from the sale of the treasure would be enough to wipe out the entire public debt of Kerala and fund future Kerala projects such as seaports, airports and highways.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Retired West Virginia engineer Lowell Jackson “Jack” Fellure won the presidential nomination of the Prohibition Party yesterday at the party’s National Convention in Cullman, Alabama. He won on the second ballot, defeating Thompson Township tax accessor James Hedges of Pennsylvania, who initially ran unopposed. Party Chairman Toby Davis of Mississippi received the vice presidential nomination.

The Prohibition Party is the third oldest existing political party in the United States, having been established in 1869. It reached its height of popularity during the late 19th century. As its name suggests, the party heavily supported the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which banned the sale of alcohol, and resulted in the US period known as Prohibition (1919–33). The party has declined since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, but has continued to nominate candidates for the presidential election.

Fellure, 79, has run for president in every election since 1988, though usually as a Republican. This run marks his first as a member of the Prohibition Party. On his campaign website, he cites the Authorized 1611 King James Bible as his presidential platform, and calls for the teaching of the Bible in public schools, criminalization of homosexuality, and the elimination of abortion, the liquor industry and pornography. On economics, he supports reducing taxes and balancing the federal budget.

Hedges, the first Prohibition Party member elected to public office since 1959, announced his campaign in February 2010, and was the only candidate until last month. According to Vice Chairman June Griffin: “While Jim has contributed valuable resources to this Party…his positions regarding Environmentalism and passivity toward war forced me to vote for Jack Fellure. As well, his insistence on a moratorium on the building of nuclear plants caused much unrest among the membership. Yet he prevailed to install this plank.”

The ten voting Prohibition Party convention delegates and a few guests met for the National Convention, which began on Monday at the Holiday Inn Express in Cullman. Tuesday featured a short greeting from Cullman Mayor Max Townson, followed by addresses from Libertarian consultant Stephen P. Gordon, Ballot Access News publisher Richard Winger, and Eunie Smith of the Eagle Forum.

Gordon, who previously worked as the e-Campaign manager for the 2008 Bob Barr presidential campaign, jokingly commented that his speech “stunk”. He opened his address with the joke that “the way to pick out the libertarian at a Prohibition Party function is that I’m the one wearing the Jerry Garcia tie.” He discussed how third party candidates could utilize new media to their advantage, but avoided any ideological topics.

Winger, an expert on election law, discussed ballot access and the history of the Prohibition Party. He notably explained how the party had cost the Republicans presidential victories in the elections of 1884 and 1916, which forestalled the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment by Republicans, who wanted to do away with the alcohol issue. Gordon later commented that Winger’s speech was well-received by the audience.

After Winger’s speech, the convention broke for lunch. Afterwards, Smith, the widow of former Congressman Albert L. Smith, Jr., focused on immigration and education in her address. When asked about the Eagle Forum’s participation in the fight against alcohol, she commented that the group was focused on more pressing issues such as gambling.

After the nomination, some party members traveled to the grave of Sidney Catts in Florida. Catts, who died in 1936, was the first and only state governor elected from the Prohibition Party.

The party will now begin ballot access drives in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, New Jersey, Utah, Colorado, Tennessee and Arkansas. In 2008, the late Gene Amondson appeared on the ballot in Colorado, Florida and Louisiana and picked up a total of 653 votes.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Yesterday in UEFA Euro 2016, Italy defeated Sweden 1–0 and assured their advancement to the knock-out stage. Croatia vs Czech Republic resulted in a 2–2 draw and Spain defeated Turkey 3–0 as Álvaro Morata scored twice. Spectators from the Croatian end threw flares before the final whistle.

Italy faced Sweden in the first match of the day. Sweden led in terms of ball possession but, in the 88th minute, Éder scored for Italy. Italian captain Gianluigi Buffon was yellow carded in injury time as he delayed a goal-kick. Italy numerically assured their advancement to the knock-out stage by winning this game.

Croatia were 1–0 up at half time as Ivan Periši? scored in the 37th minute. FC Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakiti? scored a second goal for Croatia chipping the ball over Petr ?ech just before the one hour mark. Later, Milan Škoda scored from a header in the 76th minute for the Czechs. The match seemed to being inching towards a 2–1 victory for Croatia but Czech Republic won a penalty and Tomáš Necid equalised late in the match, having replaced Jaroslav Plašil.

In the 86th minute, spectators threw flares on the ground and delayed the game by five minutes. A hearing is scheduled to take place today.

Later, Davor Šuker, president of the Croatian Football Federation, said, “We will seek the help of the French police [to investigate] […] Something is rotten in our country, and this […] deserves zero tolerance.” ^{((hr)) Croatian language: Tražit ?emo od francuske policije pomo? našem sudstvu, da se vidi tko baca baklje […] Nešto je trulo kod nas, a ovo ostalo zaslužuje nultu toleranciju.}

Turkish captain Arda Turan faced his FC Barcelona teammate Andrés Iniesta as Turkey took on Spain. Spanish captain Sergio Ramos was booked in the opening moments of the game. Just after the half-hour mark, Nolito assisted Álvaro Morata, who scored a header. Three minutes later, Nolito scored the second goal of the match. Three minutes after half time, Morata scored from Jordi Alba’s pass.

Spain won the game 3–0 and qualified for the Last 16 knockout phase.

David de Gea maintained a clean sheet for his first five international appearances and set a new world record breaking the previous record of Gordon Banks.

Monday, February 7, 2005

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