Charles Kennedy rejects leadership allegations

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Charles Kennedy, who stepped down as leader of the British Liberal Democrats party this January, is planning a fresh campaign for his old job, according to today’s News of the World. But Mr Kennedy, who resigned after admitting he had problems with alcohol, has dismissed such reports.

A senior party source claimed Mr Kennedy is holding weekly meetings with key aids about preparing to contest the Liberal Democrats current leader, Sir Menzies Campbell. It is also claimed Mr Kennedy is “deadly serious” about the challenge.

The source added that if Sir Menzies fails to deliver at this September’s Liberal Democrat conference, the bid could be mounted then, but it is more likely to come after the next General Election, which is expected to take place in 2010.

Mr Kennedy’s key advisors, which apparently includes the head of campaigns Lord Razzell, are said to be planning a tactic to oppose a potentially damaging biography of Mr Kennedy which is due to hit the shelves later this summer.

In a response to the allegations, a statement released on behalf of Mr Kennedy by the Liberal Democrats said: “As everyone knows, long-standing friends and political colleagues remain close to me. We meet frequently and it is simply fanciful to read anything else into such a normal ongoing state of affairs.”

Lord Newby, who was Mr Kennedy’s chief of staff during his reign as Liberal Democrat leader, called the story “ridiculous”.

Sir Menzies, who was chosen by party members to head the party in March, has been criticised over his performance as leader, especially during Prime Minister’s Questions. On Friday, Peter Black, a Liberal Democrat Welsh Assembly member, issued a cutting attack on the 65 year-old, telling him to “shape up”. A recent poll also says that support for the Liberal Democrats has slumped to its lowest point since 2002. The Guardian/ICM survey put the Liberal Democrats at 17%, with the Conservatives on 39% and Labour on 35%.

However, Sir Menzies told BBC Newsnight recently that he “would not be judged by opinion polls after a few months”. He also said: “If I didn’t think I had the energy, the values and the judgement to be the leader of the Liberal Democrats, I wouldn’t have offered myself for the job.”

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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Coinciding with Easter Sunday, Glasgow Cannabis Social Club’s annual 420 event was held on Glasgow Green, under sunny blue skies, and overlooking the river Clyde. Despite the city’s council attempting to revoke permission for the gathering at the last minute, police were happy for it to go-ahead with approximately a dozen officers attending in high-visibility vests.

The Daily Record reported five arrests were made for minor offences, likely smoking and possession of small quantities of cannabis. Taking a less-sensational — and more accurate — line of reporting, the Monday edition of Glasgow’s Evening News stated five were referred to the Procurator Fiscal who is responsible for deciding if charges should be brought.

Official figures provided by the police were that 150 attended. With people coming and going, Wikinews reporters estimated upwards of 200 attended, compared to nearly 700 who had signed up for the event on Facebook. Hemp goods were advertised and on sale at the event, and some attendees were seen drinking cannabis-themed energy drinks.

“I was searched and charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act (which is a lot of bollocks)” one attendee noted online, adding “not fair to happen on a brilliant day like it was, other than that I had a great day!” A second said they were openly smoking and ignored by police, who “were only really focusing on people who looked particularly young”.

Cannabis seeds were openly and legally sold at the event and a hydroponics supplier brought a motortrike towing an advertising trailer. Actually growing cannabis is, however, illegal in the UK.

With the event openly advocating the legalisation of cannabis, speakers put their arguments for this to a receptive crowd. Retired police officer James Duffy, of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, spoke of the failed United States alcohol prohibition policy; stressing such policies needlessly bring people into contact with criminal elements. Highlighting other countries where legalisation has been implemented, he pointed out such led to lower crime, and lower drug use overall.

One speaker, who produced a bottle of cannabis oil he had received through the post, asserted this cured his prostate cancer. Others highlighted the current use of Sativex by the National Health Service, with a cost in-excess of £150 for a single bottle of GW Pharmaceuticals patented spray — as-compared to the oil shown to the crowd, with a manufacturing cost of approximately £10.

Similar ‘420’ pro-cannabis events were held globally.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Los Angeles, California —A simple saliva test can predict whether children will get cavities, how many cavities they will get and which teeth are most vulnerable.

Developed by researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the test quantifies the genetic component of tooth decay, spotting the risk when something can be done about it.

“When we apply this to young children, it allows us to predict what might be their future caries history—the number of cavities that they’ll get by, say, their late 20s or early 30s,” says researcher Paul Denny.

Called the Caries Assessment and Risk Evaluation (CARE) test, the test measures the relative proportions in saliva of different types of sugar chains called oligosaccharides. The same sugar chains are present on tooth surfaces.

The effect of sugar chains on teeth’s resistance to disease is analogous to the effect of “good” and “bad” cholesterol on blood vessels. “Good” sugar chains tend to repel bacteria that cause cavities while “bad” allow bacteria to bond to teeth and start the decay process. Unlike cholesterol, however, sugar chain makeup in humans is 100% genetically determined.

Denny and colleagues have found that the sugar chain makeup in saliva can predict a child’s future cavity history to plus or minus one cavity with greater than 98% confidence.

The findings suggest that in developed areas of the modern era genes play a more significant role in tooth decay than in former times or third world nations where gross malnutrition and negligent oral hygiene held the greatest impact on dental health.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

A court in the Netherlands ruled yesterday that the fast-food company McDonald’s over-reacted in dismissing an employee who added a piece of cheese to a colleague’s hamburger without charging for it. McDonalds has been ordered to pay compensation since, the court ruled, “The cost of a slice of cheese is not comparable to a severe step such as redundancy”.

In March 2009, a waitress in Lemmer sold a hamburger to a colleague, and then added some cheese when her colleague asked for some. McDonald’s said that this made the meal a cheeseburger, not a hamburger, and so she was sacked for not charging extra for the cheese. Rules for staff, the company argued, prevented them from giving food away for free.

Now a court in Leeuwarden has ordered McDonald’s to pay her more than €4,200 (about US$5,900 or £3,700), since it decided that a written warning would have been a more appropriate reaction. The compensation is for five months of lost earnings, with holiday pay and interest.

The court noted that the manager of the branch had not asked the employee for an explanation before firing her, nor had McDonald’s considered taking action against the colleague who asked for the cheese. “The dismissal was too severe a measure. It is just a slice of cheese,” said the court.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

The following is the second edition of a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2016 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: the effect of the Brexit vote on the US presidential election is examined; a well known businessman and sports team owner pitches his candidacy for vice president; and Wikinews interviews the winner of the American Independent Party California primary.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

The Indian government has begun to send humanitarian aid to the earthquake hit Yogyakarta region of Indonesia. The relief effort, named Operation Marham involves the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy and aims to deliver aid materials to the victims.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee was away on an official visit to China and Japan – a result of which the Indian response was initially delayed. Mr. Mukherjee, however, on Sunday night asked the Defence Ministry to make preparations to dispatch aid to Indonesia immediately.

On the sea, the naval vessel INS Rajput has been redeployed from the South China Sea to Jakarta. It is expected to reach the Indonesian capital with 7 tons of relief material today. The INS Tabar will leave the port of Chennai, India, today carrying additional aid.

In the air, an I.A.F cargo plane carrying 35 tons of relief material has been sent to Indonesia. Another airforce plane, an IL-76, will fly out from India today carrying a similar quantity of relief material.

Among the supplies India is sending to the victims of the Indonesian earthquake are tents, medical equipment and rice. Military doctors may also be sent to aid the casualties.

The Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh conveyed their condolences to the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

New safety procedures are to be implemented after an American Airlines Boeing 777 came close to colliding with two U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft off the coast of New York, United States, last month. Radar data indicates the aircraft came within 1 miles (2 km) of each other before the flight crew of the Boeing 777 took evasive action as an alarm sounded in the cockpit of the jet.

An aviation official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the traffic collision avoidance system alarm which sounded in the cockpit of the passenger jet, which had 259 people aboard, “may be what saved the day,” since C-17 cargo aircraft are not highly manoeuvrable. Investigators have reportedly found the aircraft would have collided head-on.

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a “major investigation” into the incident, and confirmed there were no injuries in the incident. The Federal Aviation Administration, the government department responsible for aviation in the U.S., said in a statement air traffic controllers are “reviewing a variety of procedures including the handling of formation flights, aircraft near sector boundaries.”