mynewhopeumc.org

Saturday, June 2, 2007

A Dutch reality TV show broadcast yesterday evening which was designed to show a terminally ill woman choosing a patient to receive her kidneys has been shown to be a hoax. The Big Donor Show had attracted considerable condemnation earlier in the week when outline details had been released. The producers said that the programme was made to highlight the shortage of Dutch donors.

The “donor”, known only as “Lisa”, was an actress, although the three individuals competing for the kidneys are real patients requiring kidney transplants. The choice was to have been made based on the history and profile of the “contestants” and conversations that the actress is indicated to have had with their families and friends. Viewers were also invited to send in their advice by text message during the programme.

At the point in the show when the choice of recipient was to have been revealed, the show’s presenter Patrick Lodiers revealed that the exercise had been a hoax. “We are not giving away a kidney here, that is going too far even for us,” he said.

Political parties in The Netherlands together with medical organisations and kidney specialists had united in condemning the programme prior to its broadcast. Joop Atsma of the ruling Christian Democratic Party had said “It’s a crazy idea. It can’t be possible that, in the Netherlands, people vote about who’s getting a kidney.” Professor John Freehally, immediate past President of the UK Renal Association stated that “the scenario portrayed in this programme is ethically totally unacceptable”, continuing that the show would cause confusion and anxiety rather than contributing further to an understanding of transplants. He also pointed out that the set up of the programme bears no relationship to the processes for making decisions about transplants in normal circumstances.

However, speaking after the broadcast, Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Ronald Plasterk, claimed that the show was a “fantastic stunt” and kidney patient Caroline Klingers watching the programme at a treatment centre in the town of Bussum praised it saying that it would be “good for the publicity and there are no losers”.

Speaking at a news conference after the programme, a producer said “We have only done this cry for help because we want to solve a problem that shouldn’t be a problem”, and this view was underlined by presenter Patrick Lodiers who claimed that it was “reality that was shocking” in that about 200 people die in the Netherlands each year waiting for a kidney where the average waiting time is more than four years. Bart de Graaff, the founder and former director of the TV station which broadcast the programme, died from kidney failure at the age of 35 after spending years on a transplant waiting list.

The programme was made by Endemol, the company which makes Big Brother and which is not immune from criticism. On Wednesday of this week it was required by UK regulator Ofcom to broadcast an apology for its handling of potentially racist material involving Indian actress Shilpa Shetty in the January 2007 Celebrity Big Brother in the UK. Ofcom had received a record number of 44,500 complaints.

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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hamas declared a formal end to the six-month Israel-Hamas Egyptian-brokered truce at 4 a.m. GMT which was set to expire today. The pact had begun to fail weeks ago with tit-for-tat attacks across Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. The past six months have seen a dramatic drop in the number of rockets and mortars fired into Israel from Gaza. Yesterday saw an escalation of the violence, beginning with an Israeli air raid on Gaza and Hamas responded to Israel’s attack by firing eight rockets and five mortars at Israel’s southern towns. However the past three days have seen up to 50 rockets fired, and Israeli operations in Gaza. The European Union called for an “immediate cessation” of both Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli incursions.

“The calm is over”, said Hamas official Ayman Taha, after talks with other Palestinian factions. “The calm, which was reached with Egyptian sponsorship on June 19 and expires on December 19, is finished because the enemy did not abide by its obligations,” said Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for the Hamas. “The truce will end tomorrow.” Hamas has also released a training video, and warned Israel that any attacks on Gaza would “open the doors of the battle wide”.

“We think the lull is in the best interest of both sides,” stated Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. “We would like it to continue. If Hamas chooses violence over the cease-fire, rocket shooting over the possibility of improving the situation in Gaza, then one must ask oneself whether Hamas has the best interests of its people in mind or whether there are foreign interests that are involved.”

Hamas have said that Israel had failed to ease its blockade of Gaza but Israeli officials insist that there was no commitment to ease the siege. The UN’s relief agency described the situation as a “profound human dignity crisis”. A BBC correspondent said that “the best pragmatists on both sides can hope for is that the end of truce will not necessarily lead to a major outbreak of fighting.”

In the week leading up to the end of the truce, tens of thousands of Hamas supporters rallied in a Gaza City stadium to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the group’s founding during the First Intifada. Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, commented that “Hamas has gone from stone-throwing to guns and rockets, from a support base of a few thousand people to a backing of millions in Arab countries and around the world.” During the rally a Hamas activist dressed as Gilad Shalit and begged for his life, asking to come home. “I miss my mother and father,” he said in Hebrew. The Israeli UN envoy, Professor Gabriela Shalev, decried the Hamas play mocking Gilad Shalit and voiced Israel’s outrage.

On Tuesday, 16 December, an Israeli court sentenced Aziz Dweik, the democratically elected head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Palestinian parliament, to three years in prison for belonging to Hamas. He was arrested with other politicians after the capture of Gilad Shalit. On Sunday, 14 December, Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas’ political wing. The five-hour meeting was to discuss negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit, a corporal in the Israeli Defense Forces. Khaled said Hamas would allow Shalit to send a message to his parents but would not release him. The Interim Arab Parliament (IAP) has called on the international community to work for the release of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Speaker Aziz Dweik.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is to hold talks with President George W. Bush on Friday, will press Washington to ensure “there is no return to square one once there is a new government in Israel,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat. The AP reports that President Bush and Abbas are assessing the stalled U.S.-backed negotiations with Israel that will almost certainly fail to meet a year-end deadline for a peace deal. The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she believes the Annapolis process is the best way to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. U.N. Security Council endorsed the process as irreversible and urged the two parties to continue talking under its guidelines.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Yesterday, former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam died at the age of 83 after collapsing at about 6:30 p.m. local time (0000 today UTC) while delivering a speech about Livable Planet Earth at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, in Meghalaya, India. Abdul Kalam was taken to Bethany Hospital’s intensive care unit and was declared dead about an hour and a half later.

Some army doctors were sent from North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences. According to doctors at Bethany Hospital, Kalam was dead by 7 p.m. but they waited for the arrival of Meghalaya chief minister V. Shanmuganathan, about an hour later, before announcing the death.

LC Goyal, home secretary, said the Indian government will declare a seven day national mourning for Kalam. Home minister Rajnath Singh tweeted, “He was an inspiration to an entire generation.”

Kalam’s presidential term completed in July 2007.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Justin Reed, 22, a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, has been arrested at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts after security personnel found a gun along with bomb-making material inside his checked-in luggage.

According to Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Reed had traveled on a flight from Las Vegas, Nevada and was on a layover before he continued on to Charlotte, North Carolina. The discovery was made after his luggage was mistakenly routed to the baggage claim instead of his plane to N.C.

Inside his checked-in luggage, authorities found a semi-automatic handgun, a loaded magazine with extra ammunition, a hand grenade fuse assembly, bomb-making materials which included military fuses, electronic boxes and switches, and model rocket engines. The TSA says that passengers are allowed to have a firearm in their checked baggage, so long as it is declared at the gate before checking it in, which Reed failed to do.

Reed was arrested for possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, says the Boston Globe. He is being held on US$50,000 bail and will be in court on Tuesday. It is not yet known why Reed was in possession of the items and an investigation is ongoing.

Reed is stationed at Camp Lejeune, located in N.C..

Friday, February 19, 2010

Two people have been killed as the result of a collision involving a vehicle crashing into a tree in Oxfordshire, England. The two occupants of the Subaru Impreza were four-year-old Bradley Eldridge and his father, 36-year-old Tony Eldridge, who was driving the vehicle. Both were thought to be from the village of Bicester.

The vehicle was travelling between the Oxfordshire villages of Bicester and Bucknell at around 20:15 GMT on Wednesday when it departed from the road and crashed into a tree. Both occupents of the car were declared dead at the scene of the collision.

A rapid response ambulance had been directed to the crash site, however, a spokesperson for the South Central Ambulance Service stated that “[s]adly, there was nothing that the crews could do.” The spokesperson also commented that “[a]n adult male and a four-year-old child were declared dead at the scene and our crew was stood down.”

A spokesperson for the Thames Valley Police was quoted as saying: “A police officer came across the vehicle while out on patrol. It was a significant impact and he immediately raised the alarm before going to the aid of the occupants. It is unclear at this stage when the accident happened but it is not believed to have been long before it was found.”

Monday, January 9, 2006

Honda’s Civic and Ridgeline truck won the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards at the International Auto Show in Detroit. This is the first time a company has won both awards in the same year. The finalists were the Ridgeline, the Ford Explorer SUV and the Nissan Xterra. The awards are intended to recognize vehicles for their innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction, and value. File:Ford Explorer.jpg

Honda also unveiled its latest model the Fit, a US version of the Honda Jazz sold in nonUS markets. The Fit comes with a 109 horsepower engine, antilock brakes, six air bags, fold flat seats, full iPod connectivity, 90.1 cubic feet of passenger and cargo space, and 33 mpg for the city 38 mpg for the highway. A sport package will also include Honda’s first steering wheel mounted paddle shifters. The car will go against another two new Japanese subcompacts, the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa and will have to wrestle away sales from the category’s current top seller Chevrolet’s Aveo.

The car will start selling in April for around $13,000 to $14,000 as a 2007 model. The company plans to sell 33,000 units of the hatchback in 2006.

Many automakers expect industry wide sales in the US to be between 16 and 17 million units. Honda, which is Japan’s third largest automaker, hopes to gain US market share with the redesigned Civic and the Fit. Honda hopes that the company’s auto sales will rise 4% this year. The fuel-efficient Civic helped increase US market share to 8.6 percent last year, some of those sales were taken from Ford as gas prices rocketed to $3 a gallon. The US market is extremely important for Honda as it receives 64% of its operating profit from the US.

• “Honda vehicles win Car, Truck of the Year” — Xinhuanet, January 9, 2006
• Kae Inoue. “Honda Expects to Gain U.S. Market Share in 2006 With Civic, Fit” — Bloomberg, January 8, 2006
• Nick Buntley. “Honda introduces its new small car, the Fit” — The Detriot News, January 8, 2006

Monday, April 23, 2012

English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers have been relegated from the Premier League after a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City. Goals from Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri confirmed the fate of Wolves, ending their three year spell in the top division of English football. Wolves are currently at the bottom of the table with 23 points.

Manager Terry Connor said to Sky Sports “It’s tough – a raw day. We knew coming in we had to try and win it – it is raw for the players, staff, supporters and everyone connected to Wolves. It probably will be for a few days”. He also commented about fans in attendance at the Molineux saying “They were superb today and for the majority of the season they’ve been great. Today is a raw, emotional day. I understand they’ll be hurting over the next weeks to come.”

The result also left Manchester City three points behind top of the table Manchester United. Should they defeat Manchester United on April 30 they will top the table on goal difference only. At the other end of the table sit Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers with 30 and 31 points respectively. Just outside of the relegation zone is Wigan Athletic and Queens Park Rangers both on 34 points.