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Friday, October 26, 2007

Leaked emails have revealed that the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) were aware of a dangerous problem with fuel leaking from Nimrod MR2 surveillance aircraft long before one exploded in midair during a mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan. All 14 people on board were killed in the crash in September last year.

Graham Knight, father of Sergeant Ben Knight, who died in the accident aged 25, told reporters that he had received internal RAF emails detailing prior concerns about the fuel leak problems on the Nimrod. One email originally sent on December 2, 2005 commented that “XV230 [the tail number of the Nimrod that would go on to crash] has fuel-leak issues which need to be rectified before the aircraft can be deployed.” Another, from February 2006, had the following to say: “The age of the airframe, combined with the aggressive tempo with which we are flying the jets in stark temperature shifts, is contributing to our leak headache.”

Another email later the same month highlighted the serious nature of the problem: “Fuel leaks on the Nimrod MR2 aircraft now pose a significant threat to the force being able to meet commitments and operational tasking.”

The emails were quietly forwarded to Knight, who has gone public with them via Sky News. “I have evidence that a fuel leak caused the crash and the Service was fully aware of the risk months beforehand. I believe the RAF killed my son,” he said.

He said that the emails were all written by senior members of the RAF, adding “there are so many people within the organisation who are not happy with what has been going on.”

“The more I have dug, the deeper the conspiracy gets – essentially, I think the major failures have been down to communication problems.”

A board of inquiry has recently completed deliberating the cause of the accident, with a final report expected in about two weeks time. It is expected by many that the report will find a fuel leak was to blame. The crash was the largest loss of life from any UK service in a single incident since the Falklands war. Although the report will determine the cause of the crash and make recommendations to prevent it’s recurrence, it will not attempt to establish blame for the disaster.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) had previously admitted they were experiencing Nimrod fuel leaks, saying in January that in the six months proceeding there had been no less than 25 fuel leaks in RAF Nimrod aircraft. Nimrods were grounded after the crash, but were subsequently phased back into operation, and are currently back in full service flying regular reconnaissance missions in Afghanistan.

The MoD’s response to these recent allegations was as follows: “RAF Nimrod aircraft are designed and certified to strict airworthiness and safety standards.

“If we didn’t have confidence in the aircraft, we would not continue to fly them.

“Nimrod has a good safety record and remains a potent and respected aircraft.

“The Board of Inquiry to establish the cause of the accident last September is continuing and it would be unhelpful to speculate on the outcome until the board’s findings are published.”

All 12 of the crewmembers on board were from 102 Squadron at RAF Kinloss, Scotland. The loss was so large as in to have an adverse affect on the air base. The other two personnel on board were a marine and a solider.

“An aircraft should not suddenly burst into a ball of flames in mid-air,” Knight commented. He has been conducting his own investigation based on documentation obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. One important document is a recommendation made by BAE Systems in 2004 following a safety audit that concluded that it would be impossible to extinguish a fire on a Nimrod. The recommendation was to install a fire detection system. It was never acted upon.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Speaker of the U.S. House John Boehner announced yesterday that he would agree to a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. In an effort to end the impasse between the House and Senate, Boehner told Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid that he would schedule a House vote on the Senate version of the bill that would extend the tax cut, which was due to expire at the end of the year.

Speaker Boehner announced the agreement in a brief statement: “Senator Reid and I have reached an agreement that will ensure taxes do not increase for working families on January 1”. Boehner informed other congressmen of the deal in a conference call yesterday evening.

The House may pass the bill via unanimous consent today, which would not require the presence of all members. Boehner and Reid also agreed to a bipartisan negotiation committee to sort out differences and extend the tax cut for an entire year, a goal recently sought by Republicans in the House.

The extension of the payroll tax cut, which would prevent approximately 160 million Americans from seeing a tax increase in 2012, had already been passed by the Senate last weekend. Earlier yesterday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell joined several other Republican Senators in encouraging the House to pass the extension.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said that once the House acts, he “will be happy to restart the negotiating process to forge a yearlong extension.” At a news conference, Speaker Boehner issued a statement: “We have fought the good fight. Why not do the right thing for the American people even though it’s not exactly what we want.” President Obama also responded to the development in a statement: “This is good news, just in time for the holidays. This is the right thing to do to strengthen our families, grow our economy, and create new jobs. This is real money that will make a real difference in people’s lives.”

The tax cut extension impasse began when the House effectively rejected the Senate-approved version of the bill on Tuesday after being faced with opposition from House Republicans, specifically those associated with the Tea Party movement, who advocated for spending cuts and the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Several weeks ago Netherlands based company Mittal Steel made a takeover bid for Arcelor, prompting legislation from Luxembourg (5.6% owners of Arcelor, the largest stockholders) and cries of discrimination from India.

Mittal is owned by the world’s fifth wealthiest man, Laskshmi Mittal, an Indian. After the takeover bid, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce attempted to introduce new rules that would stop companies with less than 25% of their shares in free float from making a cash and bid offer for a company whose location is in Luxembourg. India news reports then claimed that this was a discriminatory action because Laskshmi Mittal is an Indian.

Luxembourg officials have disputed this, stating that their actions were only due to the need to comply with EU legislation. The country’s minister for economy and foreign trade, Leannot Krecke, stated, “The government will have no role in impeding the bid. We intend to bring the takeover bill in May to put in the best international practices in our economy.” Krecke also stated that a similar bill will have to be brought to the national governments of each of the 25 EU member nations so that they complied with EU legislation.

Word of New Delhi’s displeasure with Luxembourg’s stance seems to have been translated to Luxembourg during a meeting that the finance ministers of both countries had in India.

Meanwhile, Mittal has announced that it is prepared to cut the cash portion of its buyout offer. Mittal will do so if Arcelor increases its dividend to shareholders above the 80 cent market consensus. A spokesman for Mittal stated: “If Arcelor decides to distribute extra cash to shareholders, we will consider that as an advance payment on our offer and adjust the cash component of our offer accordingly.”

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Attorney Arthur J. Giacalone has filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against the city of Buffalo‘s Common Council and Planning board, alleging that the proposed Elmwood Village Hotel was approved “without giving meaningful consideration to either the impact on the adjoining residential neighborhood, or the unique character of this section of Elmwood Avenue.” Giacalone is representing Nancy Pollina and Patricia Morris, who operate the Don Apparel (a vintage clothing and collectibles shop at 1119 Elmwood Avenue), Angeline Genovese and Evelyn Bencinich, owners of residences on Granger Place which abut the rear of the proposed site, Nina Freudenheim, a resident of nearby Penhurst Park, and Sandra Girage, the owner of a two-family residence on Forest Avenue less than a hundred feet from the proposed hotel’s sole entrance and exit driveway.

The Elmwood Village Hotel is a 72-room, seven-million-dollar hotel proposed by Savarino Construction Services Corporation and designed by architect Karl Frizlen of the Frizlen Group. Its construction would require the demolition of at least five buildings, currently at 1109-1121 Elmwood, which house several shops and residents. Although the properties are “under contract,” it is still not known whether Savarino Construction actually owns the buildings. It is believed that Hans Mobius, a resident of Clarence, New York and former Buffalo mayoral candidate, is still the owner. The hotel is expected to be a franchise of the Wyndham Hotels group.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court, is seeking annulment of the City of Buffalo’s rezoning and site plan approvals for the hotel.

“Had the Common Council members complied with State law and waited to receive comments from the County’s planning agency, they would have been obliged to address the County’s concerns regarding the replacement of former residential buildings with ‘a much larger commercial structure’, the health effects of placing a 55-vehicle parking area next to existing homes, and the absence of a traffic study to assess the likelihood that the project would add ‘considerable congestion’ to the Elmwood/Forest intersection,” said Giacalone.

“The four-story hotel will overshadow the neighboring homes and backyards, impacting quality of life and property values. Equally as important, the project will displace a unique and diverse group of businesses that have served nearby college students and Buffalo’s arts and theater community for many years, and replace them with upscale retail establishments that will cater, not to local residents, but to affluent tourists and business travelers,” added Giacalone.

On March 22, 2006 the city’s Common Council approved the rezoning for the proposed hotel and on March 28, the Planning board approved the design and site plan of the hotel.

The lawsuit, entitled Pollina et al. v. Common Council of the City of Buffalo et al., [Index No. I-2006-3885], has been assigned to the Honorable Rose H. Sconiers, and is scheduled for oral argument at 9:30 A.M. on Thursday June 8, 2006.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Recently, Finnish open-source video game developer Perttu Ahola discussed Minetest, his “longest ever project”, with Wikinews.

Started in October 2010, Minetest was an attempt by Ahola to create a sandbox game similar to Minecraft. Minecraft is a multi-platform commercial game, which was in alpha version when Ahola challenged himself to create something similar to it from scratch, he told Wikinews.

Minetest is an open-source game, which is free for anyone to download and play. It is written in the C++ programming language, and the source code is available on code-hosting site GitHub. According to Ahola, Minetest attempts to run on older hardware, with limited graphics, but to be accessible to more people: those who have outdated technology, and making it available for no cost. Minecraft, on the other hand, is a paid game, currently costing USD 26.95 for its computer version. Minecraft is currently owned by Microsoft, and performs poorly on older hardware.

A correspondent from French Wikinews contacted Perttu Ahola via Internet Relay Chat a few weeks ago, discussing Minecraft. This interview is built on top of the previous interview, as we take a deeper dive into knowing more about this free game which is about to turn ten years old in a few months.

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Speaking at the Aurora Spring Conference in Oxford Thursday, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden warned Europe may need to ration energy supplies in response to declining natural gas supplies from Russia.

He told attendants of the energy conference: “It will be a really tough winter in Europe”, and warned the entire continent faces a “significant” rise in energy prices. He went on to say that in the worst case, Europe would need to ration its energy.

Some countries, including Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland have already had their gas deliveries from Russia suspended for their refusal to pay in roubles, and there are concerns the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany may not reopen following maintenance work that started this week.

Last month, Germany moved to the ‘alarm’ stage of an emergency plan to deal with gas shortages. Italy has also reported shortages: local energy giant Eni received only half of the gas it requested from its Russian supplier Gazprom last month. Moody’s have warned that both countries would be forced to ration gas supplies if the Nord Stream 1 pipeline does not reopen as scheduled on July 21.

Europe’s natural gas stocks are currently 62.6% full; the European Commission have mandated they should reach at least 80% capacity by November 1. There are warnings achieving this target will be difficult if disruption to the flow of Russian gas continues, including from European Union sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.