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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Representatives from the British insurance industry have said that the cost of the earthquake which hit Britain early yesterday could be over 10 million GBP. The Association of British Insurers has said in a statement that the cost for the earthquake is “likely to run into the low tens of millions of pounds.”

The Senior claims manager at the UK bank Norwich Union has described the damage by saying that at the moment most insurance claims regarding the earthquake describe “minor damage such as tiles off roofs, breakages inside the homes and brick walls collapsing.” It has also been reported that approximately 1,200 insurance claims were made in the first twelve hours after the earthquake hit Britain.

These reports come one day after the United Kingdom was hit by a 5.2 earthquake. Tremors were reported as widespread as Edinburgh, Manchester, Sheffield, Middlesbrough, Cambridge, London, Birmingham and Southampton .

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Western Australian Master Builders Association (MBA) yesterday demanded the Carpenter Government call an emergency cabinet meeting to avoid a “state of emergency” over the energy crisis gripping WA. A MBA spokesperson said that hundreds of workers have already been stood down, many without pay, and that the cost of building material is soaring.

The Minister for Energy, Fran Logan has admitted that the gas shortage caused by Tuesday’s fire is damaging the economy as mining, manufacturing and construction industries wind back operations. Western Australia’s two major brick producing companies have shut operations and Wesbeam’s $A100 million Neerabup pine production facility has been closed, their 130 employees have been stood down.

Wesbeam chief executive James Malone said, “It’s an industrial tsunami in my view. It’s a little ripple that has very quickly had a huge multiplying effect on the whole community”.

Michael McLean, Master Building Association director said “It’s a worst-nightmare scenario, and not one we could have imagined in our wildest dreams,” building supplies are expected to start running out by the middle of next week.

Premier Carpenter has announced a meeting of ministers and industry representatives to take place on Sunday to discuss solutions to the growing crisis. Tim Wall, managing director of Apache Corporation has said Apache is conducting a worldwide search for the parts need to repair the pipeline.

Major mining companies and Apache partners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have already reported they are suffering with the loss of gas supply; the Chamber of Minerals and Energy has talked down the effect saying that they don’t expect the crisis to take the heat off the booming mining industry.

Opposition leader Troy Buswell has describe the performance of Fran Logan as “absolutely dismal” noting that Mr Logan had experienced a similar incident in January this year, when a fire at Woodsides Karratha operations had a similar effect.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Team New Zealand have defeated Swiss syndicate Alinghi in the second race of the 32nd America’s Cup Challenge on Sunday, making the overall score equal with one win for each team.

Team New Zealand, racing with NZL-92, crossed the start line three seconds ahead of Alinghi’s yacht, SUI-100. But Alinghi led the race at the first mark by 13 seconds, though near the ending of the race, Team New Zealand managed to overtake Alinghi to lead the final leg of the race by 28 seconds.

Former Alinghi and Team New Zealand skipper, Russell Coutts said that the latest win for Team New Zealand will act as a big boost for them. Ray Davis, Team New Zealand after-guard, said, “It’s been huge for the team to get a win on the board in the America’s Cup. It has been a long time coming for Emirates Team New Zealand.”

Dan Cowie, Team New Zealand trimmer, said, “As we said yesterday there are two very even boats out there. We didn’t learn a whole lot more today.”

The next race is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday being a race-off day.

The last time Alinghi and Team New Zealand fought for the America’s Cup was when Team New Zealand was defending the trophy in Auckland, New Zealand.

The past three consecutive America’s Cup challenges have been all whitewash victories, and five of the last six challenges have also been whitewashes.

A compilation of brief news reports for Thursday, December 4, 2008.

On December 2, the Toronto city council voted in favor of banning the sales and distribution of bottled water on city property. The council also agreed to provide public drinking fountains on their properties, as well as on a measure that would make shoppers pay at least five Canadian cents for plastic grocery bags and force business owners to offer reusable bags and carry-out containers.

“Toronto’s decision to ban the bottle and turn on the tap sends a clear message that bottled water’s 15 minutes are up,” said Polaris Institute’s campaign coordinator, Joe Cressy.

All of the city’s facilities should be following the water ban by 2011, while businesses will have to implement their bag fees by 2010. Toronto has become the largest city in the world to ban bottled water on government property.

Related news

• “Calls for bottled water bans grow in Canada” — Wikinews, August 23, 2008

Sources

• “Toronto Bans Bottled Water” — CNW Group, December 3, 2008
• “Toronto council approves plastic bag charge, bottle ban” — CBC News, December 3, 2008

On Tuesday, American actor, Patrick Swayze, who suffers from pancreatic cancer, denied reports that he was near death. American tabloid National Inquirer reported on November 28 that Swayze’s cancer had spread to his liver and that he was preparing for his death.

“The only thorn in my side being that many tabloids have been consistently reporting lies and false information about me and those close to me,” said Swayze in a statement to the press who also added that he knows he is in “the fight for his life,” but that it is a fight that he “is winning.”

“I’m one of the lucky few that responds well to treatment,” added Swayze.

Swayze has starred in over a dozen films, including the 1987 hit film Dirty Dancing.

Related news

• “Wikinews Shorts: November 28, 2008” — Wikinews, November 28, 2008

Sources

• “Swayze denies ‘deathbed’ rumours” — BBC News Online, December 3, 2008
• “Patrick Swayze denies reports he is near death” — Reuters, December 2, 2008

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Monday, October 19, 2015

Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed Raúl’s goal scoring record for Spanish club Real Madrid in a La Liga match against Levante UD on Saturday. Ronaldo netted his 324^th goal in his 310^th match for Los Blancos on Saturday, breaking the previous record set by Spanish footballer Raúl of 323 goals in 741 games.

He earlier equaled Raúl’s goal scoring record for Madrid in a UEFA Champions League match against Swedish football club Malmö FF when he scored a brace, crossing the landmark of 500 career goals and scored the record-breaking goal in the 30^th minute from outside the penalty area in this match.

In Saturday’s match, Real Madrid had 58% ball possession against Levante. The match saw five yellow cards — four for the visitors and one for Real Madrid player Kova?i?. A total of eighteen fouls were committed in the game. Ronaldo assisted Brazilian Marcelo in the 27^th minute and Marcelo netted the goal in the left corner. Minutes later, Toni Kroos assisted Ronaldo, and he scored the record-breaking goal in the bottom right corner. The first half ended 2–0.

At the beginning of the second half, Vázquez was substituted for Gareth Bale. He assisted Jesé in the 81^st minute and Jesé scored in the top corner providing a 3–0 win for Real Madrid.

Real is now top of the La Liga table.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

In the Last 16 knockout phase of UEFA Euro 2016, Italy defeated the defending champions Spain 2–0, and Iceland eliminated England winning 2–1, on Monday. Italy is to face the World Champions Germany in the quarter-finals.

Italian defender Georgio Chiellini scored in the 33rd minute as the two-time defending champions trailed 0–1 before half time. Though Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea saved many shots, her was not able to stop Graziano Pellè’s shot shortly before the referee brought the match to an end.

Italy is to play Germany in the quarter-finals. After the match, Italian coach Antonio Conte said, “We showed that an idea can beat talent.”

Winning an early penalty kick, England were 1–0 up in the 4th minute as Wayne Rooney scored from a spot kick. Ragnar Sigurðsson equalised for Iceland just a couple of minutes later. Kolbeinn Sigþórsson scored the second goal for the Icelanders in the 18th minute as they won the fixture and advanced to the next knockout phase.

England manager Roy Hodgson resigned from his post promptly after the match ended. In remarks the next day he promised to support the Football Association. He said, “we are still recovering and I am very fragile today. It wasn’t a good night for everybody.” “Anybody who is out there who has played football will have some idea of how I feel today”, said the ex-manager.

Iceland is to face hosts France in the quarter-finals.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

An Itek-Air Boeing 737 flight 6875, operated by Aseman Airlines and traveling to Iran has crashed in Kyrgyzstan only 10 minutes after taking off. It is unclear how many were on board, but reports say there were at least 90 people on the plane with the crash killing 68. At least 22 are reported to have survived, including all crew members.

“According to updated information, 68 passengers were killed, including 24 Kyrgyz, five Iranians, one Turkish national, three Canadians, three Kazakhs and one Chinese,” said a spokesman for Igor Chudinov, Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister.

Reports state that members of the crew reported “technical issues” with the plane shortly after take off from Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan. Within 10 minutes the crew reported a severe loss of cabin pressure. When the plane made an emergency landing, it burst into flames. The plane was headed to Tehran, Iran.

The United States military has sent rescue equipment and crews from its base at the airport to assist the government in the incident.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

As gas prices have risen in the United States, the regional transport authority for southeastern Pennsylvania, SEPTA, has seen a sharp increase in ridership, which has caused overcrowding on the trains.

“As fuel prices have continued to rise, SEPTA ridership has steadily increased and is the highest in 18 years,” said SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey. Monthly ridership was 22 percent higher last month than a year ago.

“They have crushed loads on their rail lines, already where people are standing, and there’s not enough seats,” said Rich Bickel, the director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

“At peak times some railcars are standing room only and commuter parking lots are nearly full. All Regional Rail lines are running near full capacity and the train station parking lots are at about 90 percent capacity or more,” SEPTA spokesperson Felipe Suarez said.

While SEPTA awaits new Silverliner V trains from Hyundai Rotem, which begin arriving in 2009, it had hoped to lease eight rail cars from New Jersey Transit, at an agreed-upon rate of US$10,000 per month. However, due to problems with insurance and liability indemnification, the deal fell through, according to Casey.

SEPTA has entered a new agreement to purchase the eight rail cars from NJ Transit. The transit authority will pay US$670,000 for the cars and assorted supplies plus one additional inoperative car which will be used for spare parts. The rail cars will be operated using a SEPTA provided locomotive as they are not self-propelled.

The cars are being disposed of by NJ Transit because it has switched from single-floor cars to double-decker cars.

SEPTA is expecting to raise US$3.1 million by selling rail that has been out of service since 1981 at auction.