Monthly Archives: December 2020

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

With two by-elections coming up in Australia, many minor parties and independents will be looking to gain a seat in the House of Representatives. Stephen Murphy is one of the independents.

Mr Murphy is a computer programmer from the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.

“After growing up in South-East Melbourne I studied Science at Monash with first class Honours, worked in Europe for 10 years and have recently returned to Australia. I work in finance as a computer programmer and speak five languages,” Mr Murphy said.

Wikinews reporter Patrick Gillett held an exclusive email interview with Mr Murphy, candidate for the Division of Higgins.

((WN)) Why do you want to get into parliament?

Stephen Murphy: I am standing up for what I believe is the correct course of action on the biggest issue in Australian politics in 100 years – Kevin Rudd’s flawed emissions trading scheme (ETS).

((WN)) What would the three main policies you are taking into this by-election be?

SM: I will oppose the emissions trading scheme, ensure that all government policy is based on accurate scientific evidence and return common sense to Canberra

((WN)) How would you address these policies?

SM: By asking for a Royal Commission into climate change so that the facts (such as that global warming stopped in 2001 and the emissions trading scheme will not change the climate one bit) are openly presented to the Australian people.

((WN)) Sending asylum seekers to Indonesia: good or bad?

SM: Any government policy that does not properly consider all implications (be it emissions trading, or any other issue) is a bad one.

((WN)) Is the Australian dollar’s near parity with the US dollar a sign that the Australian economy is healthy, the US economy in chaos or both?

SM: It’s a sign of both. Many countries around the world look with envy at how well (relatively) Australia is doing, to our credit! It is of concern that the American economy is in such bad shape and that their levels of debt seem unsustainable.

((WN)) How do you rate the governments economic stimulus package?

SM: The economic stimulus package was poorly targeted and poorly carried out. When we could have been building roads, dams, railways and hospitals yet instead we were paying for tattoos, PlayStations and overseas holidays.

((WN)) Should it be wound back?

SM: The question about levels of stimulus spending is a complicated one and requires expertise in economics, however one could say in general terms that all government spending should be well targeted and spent in the most efficient way.

((WN)) Is Kevin Rudd a better Prime Minister than John Howard?’

SM: Australian voters are the best judge of that and we will know in 2019 🙂

((WN)) Is the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme an effective solution to climate change? Why?

SM: Absolutely not. The CPRS will not change the climate by any amount that we can measure – it’s just a new tax that will hurt Australians and drive businesses and jobs overseas. Since 2003 there has been mountains of new scientific data which contradicts the popular theory that human carbon dioxide emissions are causing significant global warming. Recently, many of the scientists who wrote the IPCC report (on which the ETS / CPRS is based) have been reported as manipulating scientific data to create scary global warming scenarios. The science is definitely not settled

((WN)) Is there a better solution?

SM: We can very easily refocus the momentum and goodwill that has been generated on climate change and channel this energy into other worthwhile environmental projects in Australia that will make a difference.

((WN)) Why should the electorate vote for you?

SM: I will oppose the ETS and support responsible environmental policies instead of radical environmental policies that could end up costing every Australian taxpayer $4550 per year in new taxes.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Homebush Bay, New South Wales —Wikinews sat down with Great Britain men’s national wheelchair basketball player Joni Pollock before a practice session at the Rollers & Gliders World Challenge in Sydney.

British-born Pollock was born with the condition spina bifida. He explained he could walk with difficulty up until age twelve or thirteen, after which he began using a wheelchair. Shortly after this, he began playing wheelchair basketball. He attended a disabilities tournament for children with disabilities in England, where he tried both wheelchair basketball, since he came from a town where team sports were popular; and wheelchair tennis, as he’d played with an able-bodied friend. Ultimately, he chose wheelchair basketball as it was a team sport.

Wikinews asked Pollock about being loud towards his team mates during the match on July 20 between the Australian Rollers and the Great Britain Bulldogs. He said he was out of wheelchair basketball for nine months due to a pressure sore and surgery on his shoulder, and has been making a comeback since January, with the doctors and physiotherapists giving him the all-clear in April. On that night, he said, the Australian team used bullying tactics and some of his teammates on the British team didn’t step up to win the game. He also said that no matter what team his team plays against, he has a target on his back because of his calibre of playing in the game, and his team failed to to understand it that night, leaving him frustrated with his team and himself; and, he hates coming to Australia during a Paralympic year since the home town —that is, Australian— referees do not protect the visiting team from the home team’s dirty playing, which puts the British team’s gold medal prospects in jeopardy.

Wikinews also asked Pollock his opinions regarding Oscar Pistorius. Pollock believes Pistorius shouldn’t be competing in the Olympics if other Paralympic athletes can’t compete. He also mentioned reservations about certain technical aspects, such as whether Pistorius would be the same height if he still had his legs rather then his prosthetic legs. Asked about 5 point players playing in wheelchair basketball, he said he believes 5 point players can play with other point players but not in the Paralympics, and said 5 point players currently play in the domestic league but not at the elite level, to boost the number of players participating and to help the development of the game.

Wikinews also questioned him about tattoos worn by members of the British team. In previous years, he said, only one or two forwards had tattoos, but now almost everyone has one as having tattoos is currently in fashion. He said he got his first tattoo at the age of sixteen and only recently had it removed. He also has tattoos on his right arm, depicting the logos of the Paralympics and World championships in which he competed.

Pollocks’s team begins its London campaign on August 30, against the Germany men’s national wheelchair basketball team.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

An explosion yesterday in a Russian nightclub killed at least 94 people and injured a further 139, according to police reports. The incident happened in the “Lame Horse” bar in the city of Perm near the Ural mountains.

According to the regional security minister, Igor Orlov, the club’s plastic ceiling caught fire, ignited by firecrackers. Security officials, however, commented that the blast could not have been terrorism. “We are not talking about a terrorist attack, we are talking about a failure to observe fire regulations,” said an official for an investigative body, as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

A reporter for the Al Jazeera news agency remarked: “Officials have been cited as saying that the incident may have been caused by pyrotechnics that caused an explosion leading to a significant loss of life.”

“The majority of the deaths were the result of burns or gas inhalation. Along with this, there was a crush at the exit,” said a spokesman for a Russian investigative body, Vladimir Markin, as quoted by RIA Novosti. According to RIA, the emergencies ministry stated that “the blast went off at 23:15 Moscow time [20:15 UTC].”

Monday, May 12, 2008

The investigation into the crash of a British Airways Boeing 777 (B777) written off on January 17 after landing short of the runway at London’s Heathrow International Airport has been updated. The crash of Flight 38 injured one passenger seriously and 12 others on board, including four crew members, as well as being the first hull loss of a B777.

The latest word from the United Kingdom’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is that both engines had low fuel pressure in their high pressure (HP) fuel inlets, leading to the failure of both engines. Having departed from Beijing, China the aircraft was on final approach for landing at Heathrow when the thrust on the engines first reduced and became unresponsive, then ceased completely. The copilot, who was flying the aircraft at the time, received significant media praise for gliding the aircraft past housing and airport barriers to crash land the airliner onto the grass at the runway threshold, likely saving the 136 passengers and 16 crew from death or further injury as well as preventing potential ground casualties. The landing gear collapsed and the airframe, wings and engines were significantly damaged.

Each HP inlet also exhibited “unusual and fresh cavitation damage to the outlet ports consistent with operation at low inlet pressure”, according to the AAIB’s latest report on investigatory progress, which also states engine failure was definitely caused by low pressure and that the autothrottle had opened up appropriate valves fully in an effort to increase fuel flow, but to no avail. The report indicates the investigation has also considered an area of unusually cold air over Russia which the B777 passed through at 40,000 feet on its journey. Between the Ural mountain range and East Scandinavia the air was found to have been as low as -76°C. The AAIB has ruled out fuel turning to ice as the fuel temperature never fell below -34°C. This is compared to an average freezing temperature of -47°C for jet fuel and test showing the fuel in the B777’s tanks needed cooled to at least -57°C before it froze. Floating ice particles had previously been suggested as a possible causal factor.

However, it has been suggested outside of the investigation that although the fuel did not freeze, it could have become unusually thickened, restricting its flow through the HP inlets, although the temperatures did remain within what are currently considered safe levels. Another possible explanation was that the fuel was contaminated or of inferior quality, but the AAIB has ruled this out. Also disproved are suggestions that the plane suffered a bird strike or that it was disrupted by electromagnetic interference from jamming devices set up to protect a motorcade carrying Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The report says that there was also no evidence to suggest any control systems failed, that the aircraft encountered a wake vortex or that there was core engine icing or other evidence that the engines suffered core lock. There was no damage to the fuel systems excluding that caused by the low pressure and no blockages, therefore it is suspected that fuel flow was restricted.

The investigation has also begun analysing previous flights on comparable aircraft in a large sample of flights. Thus far, no parameters present on Flight 38 have been found that differ significantly from anything previously encountered. The purpose is primarily to identify potentially troublesome combinations of unusual operational parameters.

The report concludes by stating that interested parties to the investigation, specifically the Federal Aviation Administration, the European Aviation Safety Agency, the Civil Aviation Authority and British Airways are being kept fully informed of the investigation’s progress.

Although this shows some progress, according to David Learmount, operations and safety editor at periodical industry magazine Flight International, “This report takes us absolutely nowhere, I think they still have no idea.”

The B777 has never had any other hull losses or any fatal accidents and is considered to have one of the world’s safest commercial airliners. According to one spokesman for British Airways “It has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft. At no stage since the accident has the AAIB, Boeing or Rolls Royce advised against the continued operation of the Boeing 777.”

The engines underwent analysis at manufacturer Rolls-Royce‘s facility in Derby, while airframer Boeing is studying the fuel systems in the United States. Rolls Royce’s engine test bed was modified to replicate control inputs from aircraft control systems, and Boeing are working at replicating the cold conditions experienced over Eastern Europe. The investigation is ongoing.