The drink, similar to sparkling wine, is a non-alcoholic sparkling drink which is currently for sale in Alberta liquor stores. The bottle has the words “Party, Party!” with cartoon characters. Their slogan is “Celebrate like the grown-ups” and is shaped as a champagne bottle. It is under the approval of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission.
Tracy Franklin, president of MADD in Calgary, said: “It’s calling out to kids, but the whole thing is geared as a champagne bottle, as an alcohol product … Do we want to give them something, although it’s non-alcoholic, and have them partying like an adult?”
Other “adult products” marketed to children, such as candy cigarettes, have been banned in Canada. Studies have shown a link between the marketing of candy cigarettes to children and the promotion of smoking in later life. It had been shown that tobacco companies cooperated with candy manufacturers in the design of candy cigarettes.
The Tobacco Act legislation in Canada has eliminated the ability of companies to market tobacco-looking products to children. In Section 27, the Act states, “No person shall furnish or promote a tobacco product if any of its brand elements is displayed on a non-tobacco product, other than an accessory, or is used with a service, if the non-tobacco product or service is associated with young persons or could be construed on reasonable grounds to be appealing to young persons.”
President of the German company responsible for the distribution of Robby Bubble, Darryl Weinbren, defended his product saying it is non-alcoholic and parents are responsible for serving their children the drink.
“I can understand Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and certainly I respect their objectives and what they are after. There wasn’t any intention from our point of view to encourage kids to drink alcohol. It was just a matter of trying to find something that would meet a family celebration with something for their kids.”
A spokeswomen for the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, Marilyn Carlyle-Helms, said liquor stores can distribute non-alcoholic drinks and if there were a health concern they would have disapproved them.
An English lawyer has pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. He faked a legal judgment and sent it to a father who was pleading in Taunton family court to be able to remain involved in his child’s upbringing. The lawyer, London barrister Bruce Hyman, now awaits his sentence. The judge indicated that he could receive a prison sentence. Bruce Hyman is well-known in media circles, having produced The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on BBC Radio. He also produced a series with Clive Anderson, at Above the Title Productions, called Unreliable Evidence.
The father, a former City financier, had attended a series of court hearings in order to make suitable arrangements to see his child following an acrimoniousdivorce. Shortly before one of these hearings he received an email, ostensibly from a self-help group to which he belonged, which had attached a Court of Appeal case that appeared favourable to an application he had made for the judge to stand down from the case. The father, who was representing himself, duly showed the case to the judge. At this point, Bruce Hyman, the lawyer representing the former wife, claimed to the judge that the case was a forgery, which indeed it turned out to be.
After confirming that the self-help group had not sent him the email, the father then embarked on some detective work his own. The fraudulent email was traced via its header to a dial-up internet connection and a phone number belonging to a shop in London. The shop was able to recover CCTV footage which showed a man sending the email from an Apple laptop. The man turned out to be Bruce Hyman.
Dan McCreary is running for the Progressive Conservative in the Ontario provincial election, in the Brant riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.
Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.
This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The following is the eleventh in a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2012 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after a brief mention of some of the month’s biggest stories.
In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: Wikinews chronicles three of the lesser-known speakers at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, a controversial pastor and write-in candidate talks to Wikinews about the unrest in the Middle East, and the ballot-qualified American Third Position Party (A3P) presidential nominee travels to Iran to meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Contents
1 Summary
2 Lesser-known DNC speakers discuss their experience
3 Wikinews interviews write-in candidate connected to Middle East turmoil
A death, which has been treated as murder, in the car park of a pub in Bristol, United Kingdom has resulted in two arrests. The murder, which occurred on Wednesday evening took place near Highridge Road in Bishopsworth, Bristol.
Map showing the location of Bishopsworth within Bristol.
A local resident told Wikinews that the police presence surrounding the murder scene was high in the hours after the murder.
The police described the arrests in a press release. It said that “two local men in their early 20s have been arrested in connection with this incident.”
This story has updates See Family of ‘murdered’ teenager react to death
The possibility of large-scale protests in the face of the 3,000 journalists covering the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, has event organisers and the Government worried.
The group “Black GST” – which represents Indigenous Genocide, Sovereignty and Treaty – are planning demonstrations at prominent Games events unless the Government agrees to a range of demands including an end to Aboriginal genocide, Aboriginal Sovereignty and the signing of a treaty.
The Black GST say they hope the focus of the world’s media will draw attention to the plight of indigenous Australians during the Games. Organisers say supporters are converging from across Australia and from overseas. Organisers say up to 20,000 people may take part in talks, rallies, colourful protests and many cultural festivities designed to pressure the Federal Government on Indigeneous rights issues. They want the Government to provide a temporary campsite for the supporters, saying “organised chaos was better than disorganised chaos.”
The 2006 Stolenwealth Games convergence, described by organisers as the “cultural festival of the 2006 Commonwealth Games,” was virtually opened on March 2nd with the launch of the official “Stolenwealth Games” website. Scoop Independent News and Perth Indymedia reported that the launch was held at Federation Square in Melbourne. The site contents were projected via wireless laptop by the Stolenwealth Games General Manager, and a tour of the website was given on the big screen. He said “overwhelming amusement was the response from the audience.” The group say permanent access points to the website are being set up at public internet facilities across Victoria during the coming weeks.
“Interest in the Stolenwealth Games is building all over the world and this fresh, exciting and contemporary site will draw in people from Stolenwealth Nations around the globe to find out about the latest news and events,” said a Stolenwealth Games spokesperson. “We have been getting many requests from around the world wanting to know about the Stolenwealth Games. We have provided many ways that individuals and organisations can support the campaign by spreading the word.”
The Victorian Traditional Owner Land Justice Group (VTOLJG) which represents the first nation groups of Victoria, has announced its support to boycott the 2006 Commonwealth Games until the Government “recognises Traditional Owner rights.” The group asserts that culture has been misappropriated in preparation for the Games.
Organisers of the campaign say they welcome the formal support from the Traditional Owners. “While some seek to divide and discredit Indigenous Australia, this support is further evidence that the Aboriginal people are united in opposition to the ongoing criminal genocide that is being perpetrated against the Aboriginal people” said Black GST supporter and Aboriginal Elder, Robbie Thorpe.
“We now have endorsement from the VTOLJG and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy for the aims and objectives of the Campaign and we are looking forward to hosting all indigenous and non-indigenous supporters from across Australia in March,” he said. The Black GST group have said “the convergence will be held as a peaceful, family-focussed demonstration against genocide, and for the restoration of sovereignty and the negotiations towards a Treaty.”
But the campaign has received flak in mainstream media, such as Melbourne’s Herald Sun, who wrote: “the proposal to allow BlackGST to set up an Aboriginal tent embassy at a site well away from the Commonwealth Games will be interpreted by some as the State Government caving in to a radical protest group. A major concern for the Government… is to protect the event from disruption… no chances should be taken…”
The Black GST has been planning the convergence for months, calling for Aboriginal people and their supporters to converge on Melbourne. The Melbourne-based Indigenous rights group have called on thousands of people concerned about the plight of indigenous Australians to converge on Melbourne during the Games, which they have dubbed “the Stolenwealth Games”. But the choice of Kings Domain has made conflict almost inevitable, as the area is one of the areas gazetted by the State Government as a “Games management zone”.
Under the Commonwealth Games Arrangements Act, any area gazetted as a management zone is subject to a range of specific laws – including bans on protesting, creating a disturbance and other activities. The protest bans will be in effect at different times and places, and offenders can be arrested. A spokeswoman for the Black GST, which advocates peaceful protest, said the site had been chosen because it was close to where the Queen will stay on March 15. “We figured that she is only in Melbourne for 27 hours or something like that so we thought we would make it easy for her to come next door and see us,” she said. “We are a very open, welcoming group, so she will be welcome to come and join us.”
Kings Domain is the burial site for 38 indigenous forefathers of Victoria. Black GST elder, Targan, said trade union groups have offered to install infrastructure at the site. The group initially worked with the State Government to find a suitable camp site, but the relationship broke down when the Government failed to meet a deadline imposed by the protesters. “While we are disappointed the ministers were not able to meet deadline on our request, we thank them for their constructive approach towards negotiations and the open-door policy exercised,” said Targan.
A spokesman for Games Minister Justin Madden said the Government was still investigating other sites. Victoria Police Games security commander Brendan Bannan said he was not convinced the Black GST represented the views of most indigenous people. “We are dealing with the Aboriginal community and they don’t seem to support it at all … the wider Aboriginal community don’t support disruption to the Games at all,” he said.
The Government was told that Black GST supporters would camp in Fitzroy Gardens and other city parks should it fail to nominate a site. A spokesman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavan Jennings said the Government was taking the issue seriously, but had not been able to finalise a campsite before the deadline.
Aboriginal Tent Embassy – Canberra
Under special Games laws, people protesting or causing a disturbance in “Games management zones” can be arrested and fined. While prominent public spaces such as Federation Square, Birrarung Marr, Albert Park and the Alexandra Gardens fall under the legislation, such tough anti-protest laws cannot be enforced in the nearby Fitzroy Gardens.
Games chairman Ron Walker has urged the group to choose another date for its protest march through the city, which is currently planned to coincide with the opening ceremony on March 15. The group believes that an opportunity to gain attention for indigenous issues was lost at the Sydney Olympics and has vowed to make a highly visible presence at the Games.
The Black GST said the Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy’s sacred flame, burning over many years at the Canberra site will be carried to Melbourne before the Games, and its arrival would mark the opening of the protest camp from where a march will proceed to the MCG before the Opening Ceremony.
Black GST claims supporters from all over Australia, including three busloads from the West Australian Land Council, will gather in Melbourne during the Games for peaceful protests.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavin Jennings had offered Victoria Park to the protesters. Victoria Park, former home of Collingwood Football Club, where one of the strongest statements of Aboriginal pride, when St Kilda star Nicky Winmar in 1993 raised his jumper and pointed to his bare chest after racial taunts from the Collingwood crowd.
Black GST, which has labelled the Games the Stolenwealth Games, said the State Government had failed to find a suitable venue. Black GST may encourage protesters to camp in prominent parks such as Fitzroy Gardens and Treasury Gardens. Graffiti supporting the action has also appeared in central Melbourne.
Aerial shot of Commonwealth Games venues, Melbourne – Feb 2006
Melbourne City councillor Fraser Brindley has offered his home to the Black GST organisers. “I offered my home up to people who are organising visitors to come to the Games,” he said. Cr Brindley will be overseas when the Commonwealth Games are held and has offered the free accommodation at his flat at Parkville. He said he agreed with the protesters’ view that treaties needed to be signed with indigenous Australians. “I’m offering it up to the indigenous people who are coming to remind Her Majesty that her Empire took this land from them,” said Cr Brindlley. Nationals leader Peter Ryan said: “This extremist group has no part in the Australian community.” Melbourne councillor Peter Clarke said the actions were embarrassing and that he would try to discourage him. “It’s not in the spirit of the Games,” he said.
Aboriginal elder, Targan, said the possibility of securing Victoria Park was delightfully ironic. “There’s a lot of irony going on,” Targan, 53, a PhD student at Melbourne University, said. “GST stands for Genocide, Sovereignty and Treaty. We want the genocide of our people to stop; we want some sovereignty over traditional land, certainly how it is used, and we want a treaty with the government,” Targan said.
The Sydney Opera House where Sir Edward conducted the opening public performance Image: Mfield, Matthew Field.
British conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife Joan took their lives at a Swiss assisted suicide clinic on Friday, July 10, 2009, according to a statement from their family. Lady Downes, 74, was afflicted with terminal cancer, and Sir Edward, 85, was nearly blind with increasing hearing difficulties. These disabilities had forced him to give up conducting. Having no religious beliefs, the couple decided against holding a funeral.
The statement read, “After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems. They died peacefully, and under circumstances of their own choosing, with the help of the Swiss organisation, Dignitas, in Zurich.”
Many who knew the couple as friends said that Sir Edward was not terminally ill, but wanted to die with his wife, who he had been with for more than 50 years.
Sir Edward Downes’s children, in an interview with The London Evening Standard, said they escorted their parents to Zurich, and on that Friday, they watched in tears as their parents consumed “a small quantity of clear liquid,” and then proceeded to lie down together, holding hands.
“Within a couple of minutes they were asleep, and died within 10 minutes,” said their 41 year old son, Caractacus Downes.
Sir Edward was well respected in the operatic and orchestral worlds and was particularly noted for his performances of British and Russian music and of Verdi, conducting 25 of the composer’s 28 operas. He had a long association with the Royal Opera House, where he conducted for more than 50 seasons in succession. This did not stop him from refusing to conduct a series of performances of Verdi’s Nabucco there as he was “out of sympathy” with the adventurous production. His approach to conducting was similarly conservative. He wrote “The duty of a conductor should be to present… a faithful and accurate account of the composer’s music as he wrote it, disregarding any subsequent ‘interpretations’, ‘meanings’, or political agendas that may have been attached to it by others.”
The family reported that Lady Downes “started her career as a ballet dancer and subsequently worked as a choreographer and TV producer, before dedicating the last years of her life to working as our father’s personal assistant.”
The Metropolitan Police have announced that Greenwich CID are investigating the circumstances of the couple’s deaths. Assisting a suicide is illegal in the United Kingdom.
Over 100 people who wished to die have made the journey from Britain to Switzerland to take advantage of the clinical services that Dignitas offers. British police have investigated many of the resulting deaths, but no family member has yet been prosecuted for helping relatives negotiate with Dignitas and travel to Switzerland. Debbie Purdy, a woman with multiple sclerosis, attempted last year to obtain a ruling from the English High Court that family members would not be prosecuted for helping someone use the service, and in particular that her husband would not be charged should she decide to use Dignitas in future. The court refused as it believed that such clarification is the responsibility of parliament and not the judiciary.
Last week the House of Lords rejected a proposal by former Lord ChancellorLord Falconer to allow people to help someone with a terminal illness travel to a country where assisted suicide is legal.
The Phildelphia Inquirer has reportedly obtained court transcripts from Reynold’s Rule Five hearing, before a federal magistrate judge in Pocatello, Idaho that revealed a “convoluted plot” that also includes cyberspace intrigue, an FBI sting, and then an exchange of money in Idaho. Reynolds was represented by Federal Defender, Nick Veith, at the hearing.
According to the transcripts, FBI agents say that Reynolds was plotting to blow up the Alaska pipeline, another pipeline in Pennsylvania and a refinery in New Jersey, with a person who he thought was an al-Qaeda operative. It is also reported that he had planned an attack against Standard Oil Co. in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and Williams Refinery in Opal, Wyoming. However, the Standard Oil refinery, now Chevron, does not exist anymore. The refinery had closed more than a decade ago. All that remains in its place is an empty field. Armada Hess is the only active refinery in Perth Amboy.
So far, Reynolds has not been charged with terrorism.
However, a prosecutor in Reynolds’ December hearing said that, “he tried to provide material aid to al Qaeda.” The prosecutor also said the case “involves a federal offense of terrorism.”
A municipal judge from Conrad, Montana, Shannen Rossmiller, 36, led the FBI to Reynolds by posing as an al-Qaeda operative. Reports say that Rossmiller was looking through terrorist websites when she came across a post by Reynolds who was seeking $40,000 that he would use to buy fuel trucks that would blow up refineries in New Jersey, Wyoming and part of the Alaska Pipeline. After six-weeks of e-mailing each other, Rossmiller agreed to pay the money, and set up a meeting with Reynolds in Pocatello, Idaho. It is reported that after the plans were made, Rossmiller then contacted the FBI who then set up a sting operation, two months ago, against Reynolds. “I feel compelled to do what I can and I know that I have an ability to do something. I’m out for the hunt,” said Rossmiller.
Rossmiller started to look through terror websites just after the September 11 terrorist attacks in NYC. She has read the Koran, studied the radical Islamist lifestyle, and learned just enough Arabic to lurk around in terrorist related chat rooms and “ensnare” the extremists. She also said that he has “assumed several the identities of more than two dozen male personae on the Internet,” and was also part of “a large number” of cases involving the hunting of terrorists. Court records also show that Rossmiller had posed on the Internet as an Algerian terrorist to “befriend” Ryan Anderson, a Muslim convert and a member of the National Guard from the state of Washington, who wanted to hand over information to al-Qaeda on how to destroy Army tanks and humvees.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus Jr. said, according to transcripts, “he (Reynolds) was doing it as a plan to disrupt governmental function, to change the government’s actions in foreign countries, and to impact on the national debate about the (Iraq) war.”
Reynolds denies trying to work with al-Qaeda and stated that he was “a patriot seeking to expose an al-Qaeda cell inside the United States.” Philip Gelso, Reynolds’s attorney, has not commented on the case.
Authorities searched Reynolds’ home and took his computer as evidence, and some documents allegedly spelling out his terror plots. According to Gurganus, in e-mails on his computer, Reynolds “described what explosives should be used (in the attacks) and where they should be placed.” Gurganus also told the judge that Reynolds, “knew the plots could get him the death penalty as a traitor and that he would have to leave the country immediately once they were carried out.”
Reynolds has been in Lackawanna County jail, held without bail, since December 5, 2005, when he was arrested about 25 miles from the Thunderbird Motel in Pocatello, Idaho for an unrelated weapons charge. He was charged with possession of an unregistered explosive device when authorities found a grenade in a duffel bag that was inside a home in Pocatello that Reynolds was staying at before he came to Idaho. The grenade charge carries a minimum sentence of three to seven years, to be served in a federal prison. On December 20, a jury indicted and charged Reynolds with two counts of unlawfully possessing hand grenades.
The Times-Tribune received a letter on the 13th that used Reynolds’ return address at the Lackawanna County Prison and bears a rubber stamp as used to mark outgoing mail from the jail that detailed Reynold’s denial of ties to al-Qaeda. The letter is postmarked with a date of February 10th, before the Philadelphia Inquirer story was published.
Titled “Patriot Games,” the letter’s content addresses the charge regarding the grenade found at his residence in a comment stating that it was planted there “by someone known to myself and to the FBI.” In denial of work for and also in denial of any desire to work for al-Qaeda, Reynolds wrote that “I know what losses terrorists inflict on people. I would never work to assist them or harbor any,” referring to his claim of a colleague being killed in the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers.
In the letter Reynolds explains the investigation that he claims to have been working on to track “a person that I had believed to be a terrorist” and to expose them “once I had solid proof of who or where they operated from.”
Reynolds claims that his family founded Bedford Hills, New York in 1676. He further claims that he personally has given military service in the US Army, written a Military police handbook, trained SWAT and drug enforcement teams. He further claims to have been an engineer with military clearance and to have taught in Thailand as a first grade teacher and also an English teacher to Buddhist monks.
As an explanation for his prosecution, Reynolds has written that he believes it to have been due to his military service and that he believes the case would be dismissed provided a hearing in front of a judge.
When questioned as to the authenticity of the letter, prison warden Janine M. Donate said that the letter appeared to be from the prison.
The Israeli cabinet today (Tuesday) declared Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “permanently incapacitated,” a declaration that officially ends his tenure as Prime Minister.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party won parliamentary elections in March, is currently in negotiations to form a coalition government.
Sharon has been in a coma since suffering a massive hemorrhagic stroke on January 4. Under Israeli law, Olmert can serve in the capacity of acting prime minister for only 100 days, until April 14, before a permanent replacement must be chosen. The official announcement was moved up to Tuesday because the Jewish holiday of Passover begins on Wednesday, April 12. Olmert is expected to be named as Sharon’s permanent replacement.
Looking at the fire 1 mile away facing the west, northwest. Image: Jason Safoutin.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Buffalo, New York —A massive warehouse complex of at least 5 buildings caught on fire in Buffalo, New York on 111 Tonawanda Street, sending a plume of thick, jet black colored smoke into the air that could be seen as far away as 40 miles.
As of 6:40 a.m., the fire was under control, and firefighters were attempting to stop it from spreading, but could not get to the center of the fire because of severe amounts of debris. Later in the morning, the fire was extinguished.
“The fire is mostly under debris at this point. It’s under control, but it’s under some debris. We really can’t get to it. We’re just going to have to keep on pouring water on it so it doesn’t spread,” said Thomas Ashe, the fire chief for the North Buffalo based fire division who also added that at one point, at least 125 firefighters were on the scene battling the blaze. One suffered minor injures and was able to take himself to the hospital to seek medical attention.
Shortly after 8:00 p.m. as many as 3 explosions rocked the warehouse sending large mushroom clouds of thick black smoke into the air. After the third explosion, heat could be felt more than 100 feet away. The fire started in the front, one story building then quickly spread to three others, but fire fighters managed to stop the flames from spreading onto the 3 story building all the way at the back.
According to a Buffalo Police officer, who wished not to be named, the fire began at about 7:00 p.m. [Eastern time], starting as a one alarm fire. By 8:00 p.m., three fire companies were on the scene battling the blaze. Police also say that a smaller fire was reported in the same building on Saturday night, which caused little damage.
At the start of the fire, traffic was backed up nearly 4 miles on the 198 expressway going west toward the 190 Interstate and police had to shut down the Tonawanda street exit because the road is too close to the fire.
At one point, traffic on the 198 was moving so slow, at least a dozen people were seen getting out of their cars and walking down the expressway to watch the fire. That prompted as many as 10 police cars to be dispatched to the scene to force individuals back into their cars and close off one of the 2 lanes on the westbound side.
One woman, who wished not to be named as she is close to the owner of the warehouse, said the building is filled with “classic cars, forklifts, and money” and that owner “does not have insurance” coverage on the property. The building is not considered abandoned, but firefighters said that it is vacant.
Officials in Fort Erie, Ontario were also swamped with calls to fire departments when the wind blew the smoke over the Niagra River and into Canada.
It is not known what caused the fire, but a car is suspected to have caught on fire and there are reports from police and hazmat crews, that there were also large barrels of diesel fuel being stored in one building. Firefighters say the cause of the blaze is being treated as “suspicious.” The ATF is investigating the fire and will bring dogs in to search the debris.
