Friday, September 14, 2007

Reports say that O.J. Simpson, a former American football player is a suspect in a robbery that took place on Thursday night at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Simpson was not immediately arrested and was later released. He was not a guest at the hotel.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMPD) began to question Simpson and at least five other people, after they were accused of breaking into a room in the hotel, with at least one of the individuals holding a gun, but its not known if the room was a guest room.

Several sports memorabilia items, all previously belonging to Simpson, were reported to be stolen from the room, which was registered to sports memorabilia collector Alfred Beardsley, and reports say that when police found the items, Simpson claimed that they belonged to him. Among the items stolen is believed to be a suit that Simpson wore during his 1995 murder trial, an autographed item that had been signed by Joe Montana, and “never before released” version of Simpson’s book If I Did It. Simpson was found not guilty of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

“When they talked to him, Simpson made the comment that he believed the memorabilia was his. We’re getting conflicting stories from the two sides,” said Jose Montoya, a spokesman for the LVMPD.

Reports say that Beardsley was going to sell the items and made plans to meet with someone on Thursday night who was interested in purchasing them. The unnamed individual, along with OJ claimed to be police officers and ordered Beardsley to turn over his cellular phone, which he refused. He then claims one of the men “roughed him up” before stealing every collectible in the room.

Police are expected to release a statement to the media later today.

Monday, October 13, 2008

In an attempt to speak with as many candidates as possible during the 2008 Canadian federal election, Wikinews has talked via email with John Kittredge. John is a candidate in Toronto, Ontario’s St. Paul riding, running under the Libertarian Party banner. Libertarians are a minor, registered political party; they are looking to earn their first ever seat in the House of Commons.

Incumbent Carolyn Bennett of the Liberals is running against Libertarian Kittridge, Conservative Heather Jewell, New Democrat Anita Agrawal, and Justin Erdman, a Green. Bennett was the Minister of Health under previous Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Liberal government. Since it was created in 1935, the riding has been batted about between the Liberals and the now defunct Progessive Conservative party.

The following is an interview with Mr. Kittridge, conducted via email. The interview has had very limited editing, to eliminate in-text mentions of website addresses, but is otherwise left exactly as sent to Wikinews.

Friday, March 25, 2005

A U.S. District Court in Tarrant County, Texas, issued a summary judgment Thursday against Circuit City’s InterTAN Inc., requiring all 950 RadioShack stores in Canada to stop using the RadioShack brand in store signs, packaging, products and advertising after June 30.

RadioShack’s Canadian operations were spun off in 1986 to a new corporation, InterTAN Canada, which was purchased in 2004 by RadioShack’s major U.S. competitor, Circuit City. Shortly thereafter, RadioShack sued InterTAN, alleging it had violated the terms of their licensing agreement and seeking the right to terminate the contract early.

In a statement released following the judge’s ruling, RadioShack’s general counsel, Mark Hill, claimed: “The most important thing to us was to protect our brand position in Canada.”

Circuit City chairman and chief executive officer, W. Alan McCollough responded today in a press release seeking an appeal: “We respectfully believe the court has erred in the partial ruling entered yesterday and we will use every means of relief possible to exercise our rights under the agreements, including all appeal rights. The Company believes the positions taken by InterTAN are correct and believe InterTAN will ultimately prevail in the legal proceedings.”

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

In February 2017, the Iranian Chess Federation announced two teenage chess players, Dorsa Derakhshani and her younger brother Borna Derakhshani, were banned from representing the national team. The federation announced their decision although Dorsa Derakhshani had previously decided and informed the chess federation she did not wish to play for Iran.

Dorsa Derakhshani is currently 21 years old and holds the International Master (IM) as well as Woman Grand Master (WGM) titles. Her brother, Borna, plays for the English Federation and holds the FIDE Master title.

Dorsa Derakhshani was banned since she did not wear a hijab, an Islamic headscarf, while competing at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in January 2017. Under the laws of Islamic Republic of Iran, hijab is a mandatory dress code. Her brother Borna Deraskhsani was banned for playing against Israeli Grand Master (GM) Alexander Huzman at the same tournament. Iran does not recognise the existence of Israel, and previously, Irani athletes have avoided playing against Israeli athletes.

Mehrdad Pahlavanzadeh, the president of the country’s chess federation, explained the decision to ban the players saying, “As a first step, these two will be denied entry to all tournaments taking place in Iran and in the name of Iran, they will no longer be allowed the opportunity to be present on the national team.” ^{((fa))Farsi language: ?????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ?? ????? ? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ? ???? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ????.} He further stated, “Unfortunately, something that should not have happened has happened and our national interest is paramount and we have reported this position to the Ministry of Sports.” ^{((fa))Farsi language: ????????? ?????? ?? ????? ????????? ?????? ??? ? ????? ??? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?????.}

IM Dorsa Derakhshani, who currently studies at Saint Louis University in the United States and plays for the United States Chess Federation, discussed her chess career, time in Iran and the 2017 controversy, and her life in Saint Louis with a Wikinews correspondent.

Monday, December 18, 2006

A state of emergency was declared Sunday for the U.S. state of Washington by governor Christine Gregoire, as additional reports of storm-related casualties surfaced. The state National Guard has been deployed to aid in distributing supplies.

Thousands were still without power in the coastal and Puget Sound regions, though most urban areas were back with power as late as Sunday afternoon, and outages were mostly contained to rural and unincorporated areas. Puget Sound Energy reported that roughly 500,000 energy customers out of the 700,000 who lost power were back in service by Sunday evening. Seattle City Light, the city’s independent municipal utility, reported only 18,000 customers still without power as of Monday morning, down from a peak of 175,000.

Four additional deaths related to the post-storm power outage had been reported as of Monday, bringing the total number of casualties to eight. A man in Gig Harbor was electrocuted by a downed power line while walking his dog. Another man in Spanaway died when an unattended candle caused a house fire.

Two died from carbon monoxide poisoning in separate incidents related to use of combustion devices indoors. Roughly a hundred additional cases of non-fatal carbon monoxide poisoning were reported from people using generators or grills indoors. News radio stations and authorities warned the public to stay away from downed power lines and not to use grills indoors. Dr. Neil Hampson at Virginia Mason’s hyperbaric unit, where a number of victims were being treated, warned it could be “the worse case of carbon monoxide poisioning in the country”.

On Monday, four new carbon-monoxide deaths were reported in a family of five in Burien due to an indoor generator. In Canada, which had some damage from the week’s storms, two southern British Columbia carbon monoxide deaths were also reported. Despite continued warnings, hospitals are still seeing cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, including a family in w:Shoreline, Washington which was taken to the hospital after they reported symptoms due to their indoor grill. Neighbors of the Burien family suggested that noise concerns are leading people to place noisy generators indoors.

The massive power outage left many stores and gas stations unable to operate. Some businesses opened with the help of backup generators, conserving power by foregoing heat and refrigeration, exterior lighting, and half the interior lighting. Most stores had run out of “D” size batteries, the most common size for flashlights, as well as firelogs and other essentials. Gasoline shortages were reported throughout the area, with one man selling excess fuel for as high as $15 per gallon, over 5 times the average retail price.

The Red Cross set up shelters throughout King and other affected counties for those without power or food. Hotels reported no vacancies as whole families took shelter in powered hotels, especially in Seattle. Restaurants also reported brisk business as people sought out a hot cooked meal. Tons of perishable food were expected to have become unsafe after the prolonged outage disabled refrigerators and freezers both in homes and stores.

Many of those without power visited nearby friends and family living where power had been continued or restored, while others traveled out of the area to places that had not been affected. The widespread outage made long-distance traveling treacherous on some major routes, with roadway lighting, cellular towers, and services disabled by the outage.

Most major roadways which were closed during the storm were reopened on Friday. The 520 Floating Bridge over Lake Washington, a major conduit to the technology-rich Eastside, sustained minor damage. Amtrak, which had halted its Cascades service, resumed Saturday evening. Sea-Tac Airport resumed operations with a reduced flight load, after a transient power outage on Friday disabled the airport radar and caused all planes to be grounded until it was repaired.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Yesterday, English football club Manchester United F.C. announced signing Frenchman Paul Pogba from Italian club Juventus F.C. Pogba rejoined The Red Devils on a five-year contract for €105 million making him the most expensive footballer of all time by breaking the previous fee record of Gareth Bale’s transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Spanish capital club Real Madrid.

23-year-old midfielder Paul Pogba made his professional debut for United in 2011 after graduating from their academy. He played only seven games before leaving for Juventus the next year. Spending four years with the Old Lady, Pogba has won four Serie A titles, three Italian Super Cups, and two Coppa Italia trophies as well.

Pogba has played 38 games for the French side, netting six goals. Last month he collected a silver medal with the national team finishing runners-up at the UEFA Euro 2016, losing 1–0 to Portugal. This year, Pogba was named in the FIFA FIFPro team of the year as well as the UEFA team of the year.

After signing the five-year contract, Paul Pogba said, “I am delighted to rejoin United. It has always been a club with a special place in my heart and I am looking forward to working with [United manager] José Mourinho.” Mourinho praised Pogba and said Pogba “will be a key part of the United team”.

Pogba has been allotted the number 6 jersey. Previously, Manchester United signed Zlatan Ibrahimovi?, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Eric Bailly.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Doctors at the regional burn center at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana are treating a patient flown in from war-torn Afghanistan.

U.S. Army’s 113th Battalion, which is made up of Indiana National Guardsman, discovered five-year-old Zia after a propane explosion in suburban Kabul] earlier this year destroyed homes and killed six of the boy’s family members.

The blast left Zia with third degree burns on his arms, torso and legs. Guardsmen, familiar with the Fort Wayne burn center, worked with non-profit group, Northeast Indiana Burn Council to raised $18,500 to fly Zia, accompanied by his father Abdul Qahir, to Fort Wayne for treatment.

Upon arrival, he was rushed to the St. Joseph burn unit, where after a few days of recovery fromtravel, underwent his first surgery June 23. The second and final surgery was postponed ninedays from an original date of July 2 because the boy developed an infection in one of his wounds,which is common for burn patients.

The second surgery grafted skin onto burn wounds on Zia’s arm, chest and the second toe on hisright foot. Tuesday, doctors said Zia was recovering and appeared to be in good spirits. Inpreparation for their planned return trip to Afghanistan in September, doctors are teaching Zia’sfather physical therapy techniques needed for further recovery. “Without good therapy, he couldbe right back where we started,” Dr. John Mancoll, the lead surgeon on the case, said in aninterview with the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette newspaper.