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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

With many venues reporting sell-out shows, the 68th year of the Edinburgh Festival attracted visitors from around the globe. Wikinews’ Brian McNeil roamed the city for the four weeks of the event, capturing the colour, spectacle, and comedy, in photos.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

On the second day today of a three day visit to India the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, has signed multiple economic deals with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.File:Xi Jinping October 2013 (cropped).jpg

China would set up two industrial parks in India, one in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra. The deals encompass Chinese investment of US$20 billion in infrastructure projects, modernisation of the Indian railways, and agreements on trade, space exploration, and civil nuclear energy. China has also committed itself to opening its markets to Indian pharmaceuticals and farm products. A final settlement of the unresolved dispute over the Chinese–Indian border in the Himalayas is also to be sought; the dispute, over which the Sino-Indian War of 1962 was fought, arises over where the border should be.

In a message to Chinese journalists on Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Modi used the slogan “Inch towards Miles”, (standing for “India and China towards Millennium of Exceptional Synergy”) to express his hopes as to the future direction of the two nations’ bilateral ties. The Indian Prime Minister further emphasised the shared history and culture of the two nations which could be further enhanced for a brighter shared future.

The Chinese president’s visit comes amid tension over Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, clashing with claims of several other countries, including Japan. In a five day visit to Japan in the beginning of this month, Modi said “The world is divided in two camps. One camp believes in expansionist policies while the other believes in development.” Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also came to an agreement which would see Japanese investment in India rise to US$33.6 billion in the next five years.

Another unresolved tension between the two nuclear powers India and China is continued Chinese support of India’s rival Pakistan.

Xi’s visit to India, which began yesterday following visits to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, is part of an initiative Xi likens to the creation of a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Fears of contaminated bone and skin grafts are being felt by unsuspecting patients following the revelation that funeral homes may have been looting corpses.

Janet Evans of Marion Ohio was told by her surgeon, “The bone grafts you got might have been contaminated”. She reacted with shock, “I was flabbergasted because I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I didn’t know I got a bone graft until I got this call. I just thought they put in screws and rods.”

The body of Alistair Cooke, the former host of “Masterpiece Theatre,” was supposedly looted along with more than 1,000 others, according to two law enforcement officials close to the case. The tissue taken was typically skin, bone and tendon, which was then sold for use in procedures such as dental implants and hip replacements. According to authorities, millions of dollars were made by selling the body parts to companies for use in operations done at hospitals and clinics in the United States and Canada.

A New Jersey company, Biomedical Tissue Services, has reportedly been taking body parts from funeral homes across Brooklyn, New York. According to ABC News, they set up rooms like a “surgical suite.” After they took the bones, they replaced them with PVC pipe. This was purportedly done by stealth, without approval of the deceased person or the next of kin. 1,077 bodies were involved, say prosecuters.

Investagators say a former dentist, Michael Mastromarino, is behind the operation. Biomedical was considered one of the “hottest procurement companies in the country,” raking in close to $5 million. Eventually, people became worried: “Can the donors be trusted?” A tissue processing company called LifeCell answered no, and issued a recall on all their tissue.

Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said, “To know his bones were sold was one thing, but to see him standing truncated before me is another entirely.” Now thousands of people around the country are receiving letters warning that they should be tested for infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis. On February 23, the Brooklyn District Attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching.

Friday, June 16, 2017

On Wednesday, a Fine Gael party premier candidate and doctor Leo Varadkar was elected Taoiseach — Prime Minister of Ireland — succeeding Enda Kenny, who confirmed his resignation on Tuesday. He becomes the first openly gay Taoiseach in Irish history.

In Wednesday’s election, 55 members of the Irish parliament Dáil Éireann voted for Varadkar as the 14th Taoiseach, the head of government; 50 against; and 45 abstained.

Also, in Áras an Uachtaráin, the current President of Ireland, head of state, Michael D. Higgins presented Varadkar with the seals of Taoiseach and the Government.

In Wednesday’s speech, Varadkar acknowledged his predecessor Kenny for helping to rebuild the country and legalize same-sex marriage.

In May, Kenny, aged 66, announced his retirement as Taoiseach and, after 15 years of service, the leader of Fine Gael. Kenny has served the parliamentary as also Teachta Dála (TD), a member of the parliament, for Mayo since he was elected TD for Mayo West in 1975, succeeding Kenny’s late father. On Tuesday, Kenny confirmed his resignation ending his premiership after six years of premiership.

In an election on June 2, Varadkar was elected the Fine Gael premier candidate by 60 percent of the votes. His political opponent Simon Coveney was voted for premiership by 40 percent and lost. Varadkar received the electoral college vote, derived from votes by party members, local representatives and parliamentarians. About 70 percent of Fine Gael parliamentary members favoured Varadkar: 51 of 73, while 22 of 73 favoured Coveney. However, 65 percent of overall party members favoured Coveney.

One week later, on June 9, after Theresa May’s Conservative Party won this year’s general election in the United Kingdom but lost the majority, Varadkar said the UK election results signified that hard Brexit lacks a “strong mandate”, calling this “an opportunity for Ireland.” He also said he will negotiate with the UK over Northern Ireland.

Yesterday, Varadkar combined two departments of Finance and of Public Expenditure into one, and appointed new Cabinet ministers, including his rival Coveney as foreign minister.

Leo Eric Varadkar, 38, was born on January 18, 1979 in Dublin, Ireland to his Indian father and Irish mother, a doctor and nurse respectively, who have lived in Ireland since the 1970s, where homosexuality was illegal until the 1990s.

Varadkar, as a 20-year-old Trinity College medical student, campaigned in the 1999 local Mulhuddart election and lost. In 2003, Varadkar became a councilor aged 24 to replace Sheila Terry, who had to resign due to a conflicting parliamentary office.

In 2007, Varadkar was elected TD. While Ireland suffered from ongoing economic crisis, Fine Gael started leading the country in 2011, and Varadkar has since served as minister for social protection; health; and transport, tourism and sport.

In 2015, Varadkar came out as gay in a Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) interview, months before the country legalised same-sex marriage by referendum under Taoiseach Kenny.

A University College Cork lecturer Theresa Reidy told Reuters, “When you’re Taoiseach, you can’t speak as open and freely as when you’re a maverick, straight-shooting minister. If he [Varadkar] doesn’t temper his more colorful contributions, that could actually become a liability quite quickly.” Reidy further said he has relatively little experience despite having held three different cabinet posts.

Varadkar’s partner is a doctor in Dublin. Varadkar is about a year younger than French President Emmanuel Macron; Macron is 39 years old.

Monday, February 20, 2006

The New Zealand government has announced that it will be reviewing funding for medical and dentistry students at Otago and Auckland Universities to certify the institutions’ standards and help staff retention.

The dean of Auckland University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Professor Iain Martin says the review “can’t come soon enough”.

The Medical Students Association welcomes the review. It says that it has been worried about student debt for years “High debt encourages too many graduates overseas, or into high paying areas of practice at the expense of areas like general practice”

Monday, April 25, 2005

Australians and New Zealanders throughout the world stood still for their national war memorial days in remembrance of the failed Australian and New Zealand Army Corps — ANZAC — attack on Gallipoli, Turkey that began on 25 April 1915. The fateful attack was designed to end the First World War more quickly by creating a supply line to Russia. A hundred-thousand died in the battle, remembered every year as ANZAC Day by both nations.

The British-directed battle of Gallipoli is often seen as the defining moment in the ‘birth’ of Australia and New Zealand. With New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark saying “For New Zealand as for Australia it was at Gallipoli that our young nations came of age.” [1]. This being the 90th anniversary of the attack, Clark, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Britain’s Prince Charles are all at Gallipoli to remember that fateful campaign.

Some controversy has been created about Australian Prime Minister John Howard not attending the New Zealand ceremony at Chunuk Bair on the Gallipoli Peninsula. This has upset many people as it is a break in a tradition that the Prime Ministers attend the ceremonies of both countries.