German retail giant Rewe to open Penny Market stores in Romania

Wednesday, March 30, 2005German retail corporation Rewe plans to open several Penny Market discount stores in Romania in the middle of this year. Rewe is mainly interested in opening stores in cities such as Ploie?ti, Câmpina, Tecuci, Foc?ani, One?ti, Craiova, Caracal, Constan?a, Medgidia, Alexandria and Ro?iori de Vede. Most of these cities have populations of below 100,000 people, and Rewe is hoping to take advantage of a market that has not been highly tapped into, since most of Romania’s larger cities, such as Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Ia?i, already have multiple large supermarkets and discount stores.

Rewe also announced that, over the next few years, it intends to open a total of 50 Penny Market and XXL Mega Stores in Romania. Rewe already operates 14 several highly-successful Billa supermarkets throughout Romania, mainly in large cities, as well as 8 Selgros stores. Rewe has previously made announcements that it wishes to expand its Billa and Selgros brands more extensively. The total value of the company’s investment in Romania is around 200 million euro.

Romania is currently going through a retail boom, especially in the supermarket and discount stores area. Large corporations such as Rewe and Carrefour have established very successful branches in Romania, and other retail giants such as Tesco and WalMart have announced their intention to enter the Romanian market, which is the largest in Southeastern Europe.

The mini MAX discount company said it would open three stores in Romania, in April-May of this year, in the cities of Slatina, Târgovi?te and Urziceni. It plans to open up to 100 stores until the year 2010. Meanwhile, Tengelmann, Rewe’s rival, said it would invest 200 million euro in Romania to open 120 supermarkets in the next five years.

Monday, October 30, 2006

On November 13, Torontoians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is Etobicoke Centre (Ward 3). One candidate responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include Doug Holyday (incumbent), Peter Kudryk, Lillian Lança, and Ross Vaughan.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Edgar Lungu, the current President of Zambia, is to undergo medical treatment aboard after collapsing while on stage in Lusaka on Sunday during a ceremony for International Women’s Day. The Presidency announced yesterday that Lungu will have throat surgery abroad.

Doctors on Sunday diagnosed him with malaria. Lungu spoke to the press from hospital on Sunday saying “I am looking forward to going home. Doctors have done their tests and they have found traces of malaria, but they are doing further tests and they will let me know what next after before the end of the day”.

A later announcement identified his condition instead as a narrowing of the oesophagus, which he had previously received treatment for three decades ago. Despite not announcing where Lungu would head to be treated the Presidency did say he would undergo a “high-tech medical procedure which is currently unavailable in Zambia”.

Lungu, who only became the Zambian President in January, has previously dispelled rumours of his health. During the election he fought back against comments about his health calling it a “smear” campaign against him.

Some in Zambia have claimed the presidency is “jinxed”. Lungu’s predecessor Michael Sata died in October of last year at the age of 77 in London, England. Sata died only six years after serving President Levy Mwanawasa died following a stroke.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Ivy Bean, thought to have been the oldest person using the popular social networking site Twitter, has died at age 104.

By the end of her life, Bean had 53,535 followers (a term used on Twitter to indicate you are watching a person’s posts) on the site and was something of an internet phenomenon. In 2008, she became known as the oldest person on Facebook, a title held previously by a 97-year-old French man. Bean frequently updated her Twitter page with videos and descriptions of activities in her daily life that included her winning of the Gold Medal in Frisbee in the Over-75 Olympics in Bradford, Northern England as well as recipes and meeting former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

At the beginning of July, Bean was admitted to hospital suffering from jaundice. On July 23rd, Bean returned to the care home where she was a resident, but was no longer able to operate her Twitter account. Manager of the care home Pat Wright took over the account and began posting on Bean’s behalf.

It was posted on July 26th that Bean was in a poor condition and yesterday, Wright posted “Ivy passed away peacefully at 12.08 this morning”.

Many of Bean’s followers posted messages of condolence, making Bean the second-most discussed topic on the Twitter yesterday. Among her followers were Peter Andre and Chris Evans.

Ivy Bean was born November 8, 1905, seven years before the telephone network was established.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The following is the fifth 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, a politician from outside the fifty states receives significant mention as a potential Republican Party vice presidential nominee, Wikinews gets the reaction of three Democratic Party candidates after the party strips delegates from two of their fellow challengers, and a minor third party removes its presidential nominee for fraud.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Brazil – The mother of Brazilian soccer player Rogério has been kidnapped. According to Brazilian Sports website Gazeta Esportiva, the kidnapping occurred the night of Monday, March 21, in Campinas, 83,5 km (51.88 miles) of São Paulo.

Police did not release further details. According to recent reports, three armed men kidnapped Inês Fidélis Régis, the mother of Rogério, who plays in Sporting Clube de Portugal.

This is the fourth kidnapping of a soccer player’s mother in the last four months. On February 23, Ilma de Castro Libânio, 51, the mother of the Brazilian soccer player Edinaldo Batista Libânio, 25, known as Grafite, was kidnapped.

On November 6, 2004, the mother of Robson dos Santos, or Robinho, was kidnapped. On March 11, the mother of Brazilian soccer player Luis Fabiano was kidnapped by criminals, also in Campinas. The mother of Fabiano is still missing. The other hostages were released and are well.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

New legislation in Victoria, Australia will provide for greater compensation for victims suffering from effects of exposure to asbestos. The legislation is called “Bernie Banton law”, after the late campaigner for asbestos-related issues. The law will remove a restriction which prevented asbestos victims from making another claim after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Banton contracted mesothelioma after working for the Netherlands-based company James Hardie, and died in 2007.

Prior to the Banton law victims of asbestos exposure could seek compensation for asbestosis, a disease resulting from exposure which causes lung scarring, but were unable to seek compensation if they were later diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a cancer which develops in the sac surrounding the lungs and chest cavity, abdominal cavity, or the sac surrounding the heart. Patients with malignant mesothelioma generally do not have positive outcomes, and once diagnosed have six months to a year to live. Asbestos usage has been banned in Victoria, Australia since 2003.

Victorian Premier John Brumby welcomed the legislation, saying: “Victorian workers deserve fair compensation for illnesses and injuries they have received just by doing their job.” Brumby acknowledged that Victoria had lagged behind other states in its asbestos compensation practices. “Allowing an exception to the normal rule that court-awarded compensation is final will allow compensation for the true effects of asbestos exposure,” explained Brumby.

Bernie Banton’s widow, Karen Banton, stood alongside John Brumby as the legislation was announced, and spoke out in favor of the law. “The uncertainty that these Victorian families have suffered up until this point, the dilemma of whether I claim and whether I wait … it would be a terrible choice to have to make,” she said. She said her late husband would have been honored by the legislation’s passage, and was appreciative that his name was associated with the cause of justice in the country. “I’m sure Bernie’s looking down from heaven, feeling very honoured and humbled that his name continues to be associated with the fight to correct injustice,” she said.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the Victorian Trades Hall Council supported the legislation’s passage, as did Martin Kingham of the Asbestos Diseases Society of Victoria. Kingham said that in the past asbestos sufferers were wary about whether or not to make a claim: “They’ve had to gamble on whether to make a claim now and to cut off any compensation for more serious fatal illness or to, basically, sit it out and wait and see what happens to them and potentially not getting compensated for their original asbestosis.”

“There’s a lot of asbestos around, this is a live issue for the community and we strongly welcome this initiative,” said Australian Manufacturing Workers Union Victorian secretary Steve Dargavel. Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Brian Boyd called the legislation “a good and decent thing” but said more action was needed to better protect asbestos victims’ families. The additional claims are expected to help approximately 50 people each year. The legislation will be introduced in the State Parliament next year.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

The Norwegian Dawn, a 965-foot-long luxury vessel, was struck by “a freak wave that caused two windows to break in two different cabins,” the owners, Norwegian Cruise Line, said in a statement. It changed course, docking in Charleston late Saturday afternoon instead of completing its planned travel to New York.

The wave, estimated at 7-stories-high, flooded 62 cabins and injured 4 passengers with cuts and bruises. Company spokeswoman Susan Robison said the wave reached to deck 10.

The hull was damaged but the vessel was not in any trouble, according to the Coast Guard, and the safety of the ship “was in no way compromised by this incident.” Passengers were told to don their flotation jackets anyway.

The ship left New York last Sunday on a week-long round-trip cruise to and from the Bahamas.