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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

London, England— Marta Makowska of Poland narrowly defeated Jingjing Zhou of China with a score of 15 to 14 in the women’s individual foil category B bronze medal bout Tuesday night at London’s ExCeL North Arena 2. This was amongst the first wheelchair fencing medal matches of the games.

The match was last of the four concurrent wheelchair fencing medals decided, with the crowd shouting in support of the Makowska fencer after the previous matches were concluded. Zhou had limited crowd support, with only one large Chinese flag visible in the spectator area. Makowska’s win came in a very closely-contested match; The score was first tied on eleven points, and again on 12, 13, and 14 points before the Pole finally won.

Following the match, Makowska raised her hands above her head in celebration before her coach ran up and gave the fencer a hug.

At the London Games, Paralympic wheelchair fencing features five medal events for women and seven for men, involving several weapons including the foil, epee and sabre. Wheelchairs used in competition are held in place using medal plates, with the fencer with shorter reach choosing the distance between the chairs. B-classified wheelchair fencers have, according to the International Paralympic Committee, “fair sitting balance and their fencing arm not or only minimally affected.”

London Paralympic fencing ends Saturday with medal bouts every day until then.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Search and rescue teams today began recovering bodies after debris from Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 was spotted in the sea near Borneo.

The flight from Surabaya to Singapore vanished from radar screens early on Sunday morning over the Java Sea. 155 passengers and seven crew were on board. Most were Indonesians, with three South Koreans, one Malaysian, one Brit and one French person on board.

An Indonesian naval ship today recovered at least three bodies. TvOne broadcast uncensored footage that was seen by distressed relatives at Juanda International Airport, where the plane departed. TvOne has apologised and switched to blurred-out footage.

Yesterday evening searchers stated they were using twelve helicopters, eleven planes, and 32 vessels. Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia sent assistance with the search. Local fishing boats have also joined. The US, UK, and France have been asked for help locating submerged remains. USS Sampson, a US Navy destroyer, is due to join search efforts today.

National Search and Rescue Agency head Bambang Soelistyo says a “shadow” on the seabed, spotted by the air force, is thought to be the wreck site. The nearest airstrip is in Pangkalan Bun, Borneo, about 160km away.

AirNav, the Indonesian national air traffic control (ATC) facility, yesterday said the aircraft was given permission to divert to avoid bad weather; the area was experiencing thunderstorms. That was at 6:12 local time. The flight crew next asked to climb from 32,000ft to 38,000ft.

Controllers conferred with Singapore and agreed the plane could climb as high as 34,000ft with another flight preventing a higher altitude. When they radioed permission at 6:14 they received no answer. The flight vanished from radar at 6:17. The transponder ceased to be received a minute later.

A leaked screenshot from an ATC radar screen shows the flight ascending without permission through 36,000ft with a ground speed of 353knts. The aircraft would normally be travelling faster, with an Emirates jet also on the screen showing a ground speed of 503knts at 36,000ft. An insufficient speed can cause an aircraft to stall.

Indonesian Pilot Iriyanto and French co-pilot Remi Emmanuel Plesel did not explain their request to climb. They have over 8,000 hours experience between them. They were flying Airbus A320-200 registration PK-AXC and serial number 3648, which was six years old. It last underwent maintenance in November. Management company Doric own and lease the aircraft. The plane had accumulated 23,000 flying hours on 13,600 flights. It went missing around 40 minutes into a flight to Changi International Airport.

Iriyanto’s previous employers include the Indonesian Air Force, Merpati Airlines, and Adam Air. The 53-year-old also has ten years experience as a pilot trainer. He has flown for AirAsia for three years.

Investigations are to be led by the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee. France-based airframer Airbus, the BEA, which investigates aviation mishaps in France, and the US National Transportation Safety Board have all offered assistance.

Reuters spoke to an anonymous source within the investigation. “Why did [Iriyanto] request to climb at that stage?” said the source. “Should he have climbed earlier? Other aircraft were flying at a higher altitude in that area. How did the two pilots react to the weather? We are asking those questions.” The source said radar, weather, and communications data was being analysed.

AirAsia owner Tony Fernandes said he has “full confidence in my[…] crew[…][Iriyanto] was extremely experienced”. He added Iriyanto “came from the air force, one of their best graduates. He came from Surabaya, so he knows the area very well.” Fernandes said it was “too early to speculate” about causes.

AirAsia is based in Malaysia. 2014 has been a year of air disasters for the country; Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has been missing since March with 239 on board and in July Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in Ukraine with 298 casualties. Both involved Boeing 777 aircraft.

AirAsia has a good record with no previous fatal accidents.

Friday, December 1, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Just over one month after the “Friday the 13th Snow Storm,” Buffalo is preparing for another winter storm.

Forecasters at the NOAA have issued several warnings including a high wind warning until 3:00 a.m. Saturday December 2 with the possibility of winds up to and exceeding 60 miles per hour. A lakeshore flood warning has also been issued for all Western New York residents and businesses on the Lake Erie shoreline from 6:00 p.m. tonight and remains in effect until Midnight. A Flash Flood watch is also in effect, though the NOAA does not state when it expires.

A flood warning has been issued for all of Erie County and the NOAA says that flooding is possible in “urban areas and small streams.” The warning expires at 4:30 p.m. [EST]. As much as 2 inches of rain has fallen in many areas and “small streams are over their banks” in some areas of Erie County.

Severe storms are also causing problems for the area. Severe storm warnings were issued for Erie County, New York and Cattaragus County, New York until 1:45 p.m., but have since been cancelled. Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected throughout the day today before rain switches over to snow later in the evening, causing whiteout conditions as possibly damaging winds with blowing and drifting snow.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Surfwax, Inc., a metasearch engine and knowledge-tool provider announced its release of Wikiwax, a new portal for searching Wikipedia article titles. This is the latest addition to its offerings of narrowly focused search portals, such as its News Accumulator and ShopEasier shopping portal.

Wikiwax claims to index over 600,000 Wikipedia terms, and its list of titles was last updated sometime in March, 2005. Once you enter terms into the search field, a menu of matching titles is shown; selecting one of the titles takes you directly to its Wikipedia entry.

Wikiwax uses a Surfwax feature called LookAhead to suggest auto-completions of search terms as a user types them. It matches both articles whose titles start with the search terms, and articles containing those terms in that order. For example, a search for “Wales, Jimmy” would find the article “Jimmy Wales”. A search for “The Earth” would also match “The Earth Stood Still, The Day”. Surfwax offered visitors this manner of LookAhead auto-complete searching for over a year.

Other Surfwax projects include Nextaris, an all-in-one “information exchange” portal offering searching/uploading/sharing/publishing/social-networking, and search packages targeted to specific industries, such as the Surfwax Scholar portal offered to educational institutions.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Violent clashes have broken out between Palestinians and Israeli police near the al-Aqsa Mosque and Temple Mount in Jerusalem, from controversy over Israeli construction near the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

The construction work reportedly is to repair a pedestrian bridge that leads to the Mugrabi Gate, the entrance to the mosque used by Palestinians, and runs over the Jewish Western Wall area of the complex. The earthen ramp bridge leads to a hilltop compound known as the Temple Mount to Jews and as the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims. The bridge collapsed in 2004 and was temporarily replaced with a wooden bridge which Israelis say is weakening and unsafe. Israel has controlled the contentious compound since the 1967 Mideast War,

The construction involves excavation work and digging at the site, which Palestinian leaders contend is part of an attempt to dig under the mosque to find evidence of the Jewish Second Temple and/or to deliberately weaken the foundation of the mosque. Muslims dispute that the Temple was located at the site. Some artifacts have been salvaged from the digging work.

Israeli forces locked down Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem in anticipation of backlashes from the construction. The Old Jerusalem city limits were blockaded, allowing only Palestinians over 45 years old from entering and only on foot. Palestinians from the West Bank were completely barred. Opponents have declared the blockades and the construction work a deliberate act to prevent Muslims from accessing the holy site. The mass of protesters at the site have in turn blocked Jewish access to the Western Wall.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared the construction and blockade as “hostile measures” against Muslims. Palestinian chief justice Tayssir al-Tamimi declared a “day of anger” and called on Palestinians to defend the mosque.

Arab and Muslim countries including Jordan, Malaysia and Indonesia criticized Israel for the controversial work and urged it to halt construction. Israeli defense minister Amir Peretz also warned against starting construction. The leader of the Pakistan Muslim League urged Muslim countries to freeze diplomatic ties with Israel in protest of the work.

Around 150 Muslims were inside the mosque for morning prayers when the construction and blockade began. An Israeli Muslim journalist reported that the worshippers were unable to leave and received loud messages from Israeli loudspeakers.

The al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam, having once been the central point of prayer (qibla) for Muslims and allegedly the place where Muhammad ascended into heaven. Conventional Judaism believes it is also the historic site of the First and Second Temples, the holiest temple in Judaism, which is prophesised to be rebuilt ahead of the coming of the Messiah.

No deaths have been reported in the clashes, which simmered by evening.

Demonstrations also took place at mosques throughout the Muslim world, including Egypt and Jordan. Protests were expected later in the day in Nazareth.

The incident comes only a few days after rival Palestinian political factions, Hamas and Fatah, came to an agreement for a unity government aimed at restoring international support of Palestine and a return to Israeli negotiations.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Over the past week, diplomatic actions have averted — or, at least delayed — military strikes on Syria by the United States. Wikinews sought input from a range of international experts on the situation; and, the tensions caused by Russia’s support for the al-Assad regime despite its apparent use of chemical weapons.

File:Ghouta chemical attack map.svg

Tensions in the country increased dramatically, late August when it was reported between 100 and 1,300 people were killed in an alleged chemical attack. Many of those killed appeared to be children, with some of the pictures and video coming out of the country showing — according to witnesses — those who died from apparent suffocation; some foaming at the mouth, others having convulsions.

Amongst Syria’s few remaining allies, Iran, China, and Russia continue to oppose calls for military intervention. In an effort to provide a better-understanding of the reasoning behind their ongoing support, the following people were posed a range of questions.