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Saturday, October 21, 2017

On Tuesday and Wednesday, United States District Judges in two states issued rulings barring enforcement of part or all the latest version of President Donald Trump’s executive order forbidding people from specific countries from entering the U.S.

On Tuesday, in Hawaii, District Judge Derrick Watson issued a temporary block on enforcement. On Wednesday, in Maryland, District Judge Theodore D. Chuang blocked one of its stipulations on the grounds that it was an “inextricable re-animation of the twice-enjoined Muslim ban.” The order was to have gone into effect Wednesday night and would have affected people from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Chad, and some Venezuelans.

Watson, who previously ruled on another version of the order, ruled that the current ban “plainly discriminates based on nationality,” “lacks sufficient findings that the entry of more than 150 million nationals from six specified countries would be ‘detrimental to the interests of the United States'” and “suffers from precisely the same maladies as its predecessor.”

Chuang blocked the order’s measure pertaining to anyone with a bona fide relationship to someone in the United States.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the press, “The Department of Justice will vigorously defend the president’s lawful action[…] These restrictions are vital to ensuring that foreign nations comply with the minimum security standards required for the integrity of our immigration system and the security of our nation.”

“This cruel and bigoted ban remains as senseless as ever,” Naureen Shah of Amnesty International said in a statement. “President Trump cannot continue to demonize people based on where they come from or how they worship. The Trump administration must end this legal battle and abandon the Muslim ban.”

Then-candidate Trump promised his supporters “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” when running for office, and the previous versions of the travel ban were heavily criticized as targeting Muslims. Those versions named only Muslim-majority countries, like Iran. North Korea and Venezuela, which are not Muslim-majority countries, have since been named as well.

According to U.S. officials, Chad, which was not covered under any of the previous versions of the travel ban, was added to the list because of a technicality: It ran out of passport paper and couldn’t provide the passport samples needed to complete the paperwork.

The United States Supreme Court may rule on the constitutionality of the travel ban eventually. A hearing on a previous incarnation of the ban, scheduled for October 10, was canceled after the Trump Administration announced the new version.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

On Sunday, Novak Djokovic defeated seven-time champion Roger Federer 7–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–3 to win the 2015 Wimbledon Championships men’s singles, which is overall his third Wimbledon trophy of his career. Djokovic, who is ranked world number one in men’s tennis, has now won a total of nine Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic won the first set 7–6 with 6 aces in total. Federer snatched the second set 7–6 in his favour, that too with 6 aces. The Serbian Djokovic had only 16 unforced errors as compared to Federer’s 35 unforced errors. Completing the third and fourth sets 6–4 and 6–3, Djokovic ruined the chance of Federer winning the championship for an eighth time, a feat nobody has ever accomplished to date.

The match was completed in two hours and 56 minutes. After the match, Federer said “I had my chances in the first set. I got lucky to win the second, had chances in the third. But he was better on the bigger points. He was rock solid, I didn’t play badly myself. That’s how it goes.”

This was Djokovic’s 48^th victory in 2015.

Monday, August 27, 2012

London, England — As Paralympians ready for the Games which are set to open later this week, they have access to a world class fitness center inside the Paralympic Village which is designed to maximise their pre-Game preparations.

According to volunteers staffing the center, instead of being a single large room, as in Beijing, the building has numerous rooms. It, along with the adjacent Village Services Centre, is designed to be converted into a school after the games conclude. Rooms have been structured as a gym, an auditorium, and science laboratories.

Gym equipment is supplied by Technogym, an Italian firm that has supplied gym equipment for the Olympics since 2000. Equipment has been provided not just for for the Fitness Centre, but for gyms at all the Olympic venues. The newest equipment is oriented toward maximum flexibility, allowing athletes to exercise the particular muscles that they most require for their sport.

In addition to the equipment, the Fitness Centre also provides instructors trained in the use of the equipment, the likes of which athletes from many countries have never seen before. There are also a number of instructors available to provide motivational training.

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Speaking on the US House floor Thursday, Cynthia Mckinney stated, “There should not have been any physical contact in this incident.” Her remarks were in relation to an incident last week where she struck a US Capitol police officer as he attempted to stop her from walking through a metal detector. During her speech she also stated that she would vote for a resolution supporting the efforts of the Capitol police.

Her speech comes on the same day when a Disctrict of Columbia grand jury began hearing testimony regarding the McKinney case. It is possible that McKinney may be charged in relation to the case, possibly as early as next week.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Buffalo, New York — A copy has been obtained of the lawsuit filed against the City of Buffalo for allegedly fast-tracking a seven million dollar hotel proposal.

The Elmwood Village Hotel is a 72-room, seven-million-dollar hotel proposed by Savarino Construction Services Corporation and designed by architect Karl Frizlen of the Frizlen Group. Its construction would require the demolition of at least five buildings, currently at 1109-1121 Elmwood, which house several shops and residents. Although the properties are “under contract,” it is still not known whether Savarino Construction actually owns the buildings. It is believed that Hans Mobius, a resident of Clarence, New York and former Buffalo mayoral candidate, is still the owner. The hotel is expected to be a franchise of the Wyndham Hotels group.

According to official court documents, there are more defendants than previously thought. Documents state that not only Buffalo’s Common Council and Planning Board are named in the lawsuit, but also the Mayor of Buffalo, Byron W. Brown, Savarino Construction Services Corporation, Hans J. Mobius and his son Hans S. Mobius owners of the properties at stake, Pano Georgiadis, owner of Pano’s Restaurant on Elmwood, and Cendant Corporation, the parent company of Wyndham Hotels are also named in the suit.

According to the lawsuit, during the length of the trial, Savarino Construction along with their employees, Hans Mobius and his son are not allowed to make any alterations or “engage in the physical alteration” of any of the said properties, 1109-1121 Elmwood and 9999 Forest. The suit also states that the owner of 605 Forest, Pano Georgiadis is also to follow the same rule.

The suit also states that Hans Mobius, his son and employees or “agents” are not allowed to “take any step, lawful or otherwise, to terminate [the] petitioners, Nancy Pollina and Patricia Morris,” owners of Don Apparel at 1119 Elmwood “tenancies.” Although the business is owned by Pollina and Morris, they are without a lease.

Within the suit it states that the rezoning of the properties 1119-1121 Elmwood and 605 Forest, by the Common Council, from a ‘R3’ Dwelling District to a C2 commercial zone “constitutes as impermissible ‘spot-zoning'” and is “not in accord with a well-considered plan for the development of the community and is null and void.” According to the suit the courts of New York have defined spot-zoning as “the process of singling out a small parcel of land for a use classification totally different from that of the surrounding area, for the benefit of the owner of such properties and to the detriment of other owners.” The suit also states that the proposed site for the hotel is different from the surrounding properties because none of the zoning classifications, ‘EB’ [Elmwood Avenue Business District], ‘R3’ [Dwelling District], ‘R1’ [One Family District] and ‘R2’ [Dwelling District], permit the construction and operation of a hotel.

It is alleged that Savarino Construction “failed to utilize forms obtainable from the city clerks office, failed to include an accurate map or survey showing the location of all buildings and structures and failed to include the names and addresses of each of the owners of the properties to be rezoned.”

It is also believed that recommendation in regards to [hotel] compatibility, different land uses, traffic studies, community character, population density, relations between other residents and business owners, public convenience, governmental efficiency, and achieving and maintaining a satisfied community, were to be sent to Erie County’s Planning agency and was to refer Savarino’s rezoning application and site plan to the agency, however; the lawsuit alleges that although a referral was given to Savarino, it “does not appear that the ‘full statement of such proposed action’ was forwarded to the County [Agency].”

The suit also alleges that the Common Council “failed to wait the ‘statutorily-mandated’ 30-days after the County’s Planning Agency’s receipt” of recommendations from the Council. The County’s Planning Agency replied to the recommendations, however; the Agency replied on March 27, 2006, just six days after the Council made its recommendations, falling well short of the “statutorily-mandated” thirty days. The Agency’s reply however, did not support or oppose the recommendations or hotel proposal.

Public hearings are required to be registered by the City clerk to the City Planning Board, and according to the suit, “no record” of the Public hearing on March 7, presenting the initial proposal to the public, was made within the City’s Clerk office or Planning Board.

The suit also alleges that the Common council and Planning Board also violated the State’s Environmental Quality Review Act or SEQRA and the City’s Environmental Review Ordinance by allowing the Planning Board to be the “lead agency” instead of the Common Council. A lead agency is an involved agency principally responsible for undertaking or approving an action and therefore responsible for determining whether an Environmental Impact Statement or EIS is needed, according to the SEQRA regulations. The suit also states that the hotel proposal “constitutes an action under the SEQRA” because the project could “affect the environment by changing the use, appearance or condition of any natural resource or structure that requires one or more approvals from an agency or agencies” and that the Common Council and Planning Board are “obliged to comply with both the letter [recommendations] and spirit of the SEQRA review process” which include identifying the areas of environmental concerns and taking a “hard look” at them. The suit also claims that the Common Council has the “sole authority to grant Savarino Construction’s rezoning request” and “to approve the special development plan,” but it also claims that the Planning Board is “an involved agency” but that it is “clearly subordinate to that of the Common Council” therefore the decision made by both the Council and Planning Board to allow the Planning Board to be the ‘lead agency,’ is in “violation” of the State’s SEQRA and “renders all determinations” made by the Planning Board and Common Council on March 14, 21, and 28, 2006, “void and unauthorized.” It goes on to say that the Council “proceeded without or in excess of their jurisdiction, and/or made a determination in violation of lawful procedure, affected by an error of law, and/or in an arbitrary and capricious manner.” It also states that unless the requirements of the SEQRA are met, then the petitioners have the right to “seek a temporary restraining order” from the Court if circumstances require it.

The suit also states that a failure to grant a preliminary injunction, through the courts, will result in “irreparable injury” to the petitioners and that the Council and Planing Board have failed to comply with the requirements of the SEQRA and have violated several other state laws and city codes.

So far, Savarino Construction has not responded to any calls or e-mails. District councilman Joseph Golombek also has not responded. Georgiadias was unavailable for comment.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. on June 8, 2006 in the Supreme Court building at 50 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, on the 8th floor, part 31.

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.