Saturday, August 7, 2010

Businesses remained closed for a second day on Wednesday in the Pakistani financial capital of Karachi, to mourn Raza Haider, a leading politician of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), assassinated on Monday. Nineteen people were killed on Tuesday in revenge killings, bringing the death toll to 49 over two days. Twenty-five shops and a number of vehicles including trucks and buses were burned in a series of arson attacks across the city.

Haider was gunned down while attending a funeral near the centre of the city. An officer at the Nazimabad police station said “[t]he number of attackers and the mode of their transport are not clear, but initial investigations suggest that there were more than two people who came on a motorcycle and they were probably backed by armed men in a car. They first shot at the legislator’s guard Khalid Khan and then entered the mosque and fired at Mr Haider who was in the ablution room.”

Following the first night of revenge attacks and arson the MQM accused its main political rival, the Awami National Party (ANP), of supporting the Islamist militants suspected of the assassination. The MQM is a coalition partner with the ANP in the national government and is known as a party that holds great potential for mass mobilization in the province of Sindh.

The Associated Press (AP) said that the MQM’s accusation “appeared to reflect the complex and vicious political and ethnic fault lines that crisscross Karachi.”

The AP also said that Sharfuddin Memon, the head of the Citizen’s Police Liason Committee had speculated that Haider’s killing may be related to a government operation against “land mafias”, who illegally occupy commercially valuable land. According to the AP’s report it is alleged that some of these mafias have the backing of political parties.

According to human rights organizations there have been more than 300 political killings in Karachi this year.

By Tuesday evening the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre had received 17 dead bodies and 55 injured. The head of the hospital, Dr Seemi Jamali, said that they had transfused 200 blood units to victims of targeted violence and that 31 gunshot victims had been operated upon that day.

This week’s wave of violence and attacks began with the assassination of Raza Haider, but due to the nature of Karachi politics the exact motive behind Haider’s murder is unclear. The Associated Press commented that the city has long been plagued by political violence between supporters of rival parties “that draw votes from different ethnic groups in the city of 16 million people.” The publication said this muddied the reasons for the bloodshed.

Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Minister was quoted by media as saying Islamist militants were likely suspects. He said that Haider had been on the extremist hit list. The BBC reported that they had been told by security officials in Karachi that there is evidence to suggest the assassination was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Pakistan’s deadliest militant group.

The BBC News website also reported that senior MQM leader Babar Ghauri had said: “Every MQM activist will now be looking to pay back the people involved in this heinous act”.

Raza Haider was laid to rest on Tuesday at the Martyr’s Graveyard in Azizabad, northern Karachi. Hundreds of MQM members and supporters attended to pay their final respects to Haider and to his guard Khalid Khan, also killed in the shooting. The funeral took place under tight security, and with activists raising slogans against the violence that has gripped the city.

Monday, May 16, 2005

In France, workers by the millions stayed at home during the Whit Monday holiday despite the government’s cancellation of the traditional Pentecost public holiday. Some acted in defiance of the government’s decision, while some took leave or were put on forced leave by their employers due to uncertainties of public transportation.

Following the 2003 heat wave, which caused the deaths of an estimated 13,000 elderly people in France, the administration of prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has proposed the suppression of one day of public holiday in order to use the supplemental generated tax for a fund for the caring of the elderly.

Whit Monday was selected because, in normal years, France has several public holidays in May. Furthermore, attendance of religious celebrations is low, so holidays of a religious origin are nowadays generally mere family reunions.

However, the reception of this new working day was mixed. The administration says it promotes solidarity with the elderly. Trade unions and opposition groups argue that the measure is an ill-conceived stunt aimed at hiding the government’s bad handling of the problems of the elderly.

For instance, many remember that in 1956, the government created a tax (the vignette) on motor vehicles, allegedly for funding measures for the elderly. But in 1973, the products of this tax came, as any other tax, into the government’s general fund.

With this measure, the French government intends to raise 2 billion € to be donated to a new public establishment, the “national fund for solidarity for autonomy.” The new fund would be chartered to deal with losses of self-sufficiency of elderly or handicapped people. 1.2 billion € are earmarked for elderly people, 0.8 for the handicapped.

Trade unions had called for strikes in urban public transportation and paralyzed traffic in 27 cities, including Clermont-Ferrand, Lille, Montpellier ou Strasbourg. However, SNCF (the national railway operator) did not strike and RATP (the Paris transportation authority) suffered only minor disturbances, though both are normally known for their frequent and disturbing strikes.

SNCF considered the day as a holiday for payroll purposes and instead increased the work day by 1’52”, a measure that majority leader Nicolas Sarkozy considered shocking and contrary to the objectives of the government.

The protests are also widely considered to be motivated by the unpopularity of the administration of president Jacques Chirac and prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Recent statistics show a five year-high for unemployment at 10.2%.

This discontent may result in a majority of “no” in the vote for the ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

In a deal announced yesterday, German association football defender Mats Hummels, the current captain of Borussia Dortmund (BVB), agreed to sign a five-year contract with his boyhood club — and arch rivals of Dortmund — Bayern Munich next season. The arrangement was conditional on Hummels undergoing medical tests before signing.

Hummels previously spent twelve years with the Bavarians, Bayern Munich, coming from their youth system. He moved to Dortmund in 2007 after appearing that year in one Bundesliga match for Bayern.

With BVB, center back Hummels won two Bundesliga titles, one DFB-Pokal Cup in 2012 when they won the domestic double under Jürgen Klopp; and a silver medal in the 2013 UEFA Champions League. He also won the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

“Mats is one of the best centre-backs in the world”, said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of FC Bayern München AG. “With him we will increase the quality in our team even further.” Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said Hummels had “always been open and fair towards” them.

Hummels is to join Bayern side on July 1 — one year before his pre-existing contract expires with BVB. Dortmund’s website quoted Hummels saying “the decision was not easy for me after eight and a half successful years with BVB. I have always been proud and am still proud to wear the BVB jersey and to be part of this extraordinary team.”

Dortmund is to face Bayern Munich in DFB-Pokal Cup this month. After joining Bayern, Hummels would share the dressing room with his former Dortmund teammates Robert Lewandowski and Mario Götze.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Mixed martial arts fighter Alex Reid, nicknamed “The Reidenator”, has been voted the winner of UK Celebrity Big Brother 2010. He won what is the last series of the programme in the final on Friday night, having received 65.9% of the votes from the public.

Musician Dane Bowers finished in second place, while Vinnie Jones, a former British soccer player and now a film actor, came in third place. After his departure from the Big Brother house, he commented about Alex: “I taught him everything I know.” Vinnie had become unpopular with fans as he was said to have been bossy to other celebrities inside the house. Speaking to presenter Davina McCall, he stated: “I was just trying to keep order in the house because a lot of people were selfish. I was just trying to keep some stability in the house.”

Musician Jonas Altberg, better known by his stage name Basshunter, finished in fourth place. Actress Stephanie Beacham left the Big Brother house in fifth place.

Alex Reid has been the girlfriend to former glamour model Katie Price since July 2009. Fellow housemate Dane has also previously been Katie’s boyfriend. When Davina McCall mentioned Price during the interview with Alex, the crowd gave out a negative reaction of booing. In response, he said: “Come on guys, don’t do that. I’m sorry guys… I’m not sorry, I really love Katie Price.”

During the interview with Davina McCall, Alex commented about his victory. He said: “What an amazing, fantastic start to a new year. Vinnie has been very inspirational to me. He’s transitioned from athletic to actor, which is what I want to do. I’m not getting booed now. That’s amazing… I’m speechless. My whole agenda in here was to be myself.” Alex also spoke of contestant Dane. “I was surprised by what a cool dude he is. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Dane,” Alex said.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Pakistani intelligence officials said today that at least four people have been killed in a suspected US drone strike in the North Waziristan province.

Officials say missiles hit a house and a vehicle near the town Miranshah. The region is near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

“The US drone fired two missiles on a house. The house was completely destroyed,” said an unnamed security official.

The attack comes a day after Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari warned that US drone strikes were undermining Pakistan’s “national consensus” in his country’s war against rebel groups in the area. However, visiting US lawmakers told Pakistani officials the US could not afford to abandon the controversial missile strikes.

Monday, December 31, 2007

What would you tell your grandchildren about 2007 if they asked you about it in, let’s say, 20 year’s time? If the answer to a quiz question was 2007, what would the question be? The year that you first signed on to Facebook? The year Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse fell apart? The year author Kurt Vonnegut or mime Marcel Marceau died, both at 84?

Let’s take a look at some of the international stories of 2007. Links to the original Wikinews articles are in bold.