Friday, June 16, 2017

On Wednesday, a Fine Gael party premier candidate and doctor Leo Varadkar was elected Taoiseach — Prime Minister of Ireland — succeeding Enda Kenny, who confirmed his resignation on Tuesday. He becomes the first openly gay Taoiseach in Irish history.

In Wednesday’s election, 55 members of the Irish parliament Dáil Éireann voted for Varadkar as the 14th Taoiseach, the head of government; 50 against; and 45 abstained.

Also, in Áras an Uachtaráin, the current President of Ireland, head of state, Michael D. Higgins presented Varadkar with the seals of Taoiseach and the Government.

In Wednesday’s speech, Varadkar acknowledged his predecessor Kenny for helping to rebuild the country and legalize same-sex marriage.

In May, Kenny, aged 66, announced his retirement as Taoiseach and, after 15 years of service, the leader of Fine Gael. Kenny has served the parliamentary as also Teachta Dála (TD), a member of the parliament, for Mayo since he was elected TD for Mayo West in 1975, succeeding Kenny’s late father. On Tuesday, Kenny confirmed his resignation ending his premiership after six years of premiership.

In an election on June 2, Varadkar was elected the Fine Gael premier candidate by 60 percent of the votes. His political opponent Simon Coveney was voted for premiership by 40 percent and lost. Varadkar received the electoral college vote, derived from votes by party members, local representatives and parliamentarians. About 70 percent of Fine Gael parliamentary members favoured Varadkar: 51 of 73, while 22 of 73 favoured Coveney. However, 65 percent of overall party members favoured Coveney.

One week later, on June 9, after Theresa May’s Conservative Party won this year’s general election in the United Kingdom but lost the majority, Varadkar said the UK election results signified that hard Brexit lacks a “strong mandate”, calling this “an opportunity for Ireland.” He also said he will negotiate with the UK over Northern Ireland.

Yesterday, Varadkar combined two departments of Finance and of Public Expenditure into one, and appointed new Cabinet ministers, including his rival Coveney as foreign minister.

Leo Eric Varadkar, 38, was born on January 18, 1979 in Dublin, Ireland to his Indian father and Irish mother, a doctor and nurse respectively, who have lived in Ireland since the 1970s, where homosexuality was illegal until the 1990s.

Varadkar, as a 20-year-old Trinity College medical student, campaigned in the 1999 local Mulhuddart election and lost. In 2003, Varadkar became a councilor aged 24 to replace Sheila Terry, who had to resign due to a conflicting parliamentary office.

In 2007, Varadkar was elected TD. While Ireland suffered from ongoing economic crisis, Fine Gael started leading the country in 2011, and Varadkar has since served as minister for social protection; health; and transport, tourism and sport.

In 2015, Varadkar came out as gay in a Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) interview, months before the country legalised same-sex marriage by referendum under Taoiseach Kenny.

A University College Cork lecturer Theresa Reidy told Reuters, “When you’re Taoiseach, you can’t speak as open and freely as when you’re a maverick, straight-shooting minister. If he [Varadkar] doesn’t temper his more colorful contributions, that could actually become a liability quite quickly.” Reidy further said he has relatively little experience despite having held three different cabinet posts.

Varadkar’s partner is a doctor in Dublin. Varadkar is about a year younger than French President Emmanuel Macron; Macron is 39 years old.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

A group of researchers published a paper about their discovery of a new species of Madagascar mermaid skink lizards last December. The species is the fourth forelimbs-only terrestrial tetrapods species known to science, and the first one which also has no fingers on the forelimbs.

The species was collected at Marosely, Boriziny (French: Port-Bergé), Sofia Region, Madagascar. The Sirenoscincus mobydick name is after the existing parent genus, and a sperm whale from the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

This week, Wikinews interviewed one of the researchers, French zoologist Aurélien Miralles, about the research.

((Wikinews)) What caused your initial interest in Madagascar lizards?

Aurélien Miralles: Well, I would say that since I am a child I am fascinated by the biodiversity of tropical countries, and more especially by reptiles. I did a PhD on the evolution and systematics of skink lizards from South America. Then, I get a Humboldt grant to do a postdoc in Germany, at the Miguel Vences Lab, in order to study Malagasy skinks. Madagascar being a fabulous hotspot for reptiles (and not only for reptiles actually), it was a very nice opportunity. Professor Vences proposed me to associate our complementary fields of expertise: he is expert in herpetology for Madagascar, and I am expert in skinks lizards (family Scincidae). It was a very fruitful experience, and many other results have still to [be] published.

((WN)) How was the new species discovered?

AM: By a very funny coincidence actually. In 2010, I went to Madagascar for a long trip through the south of the island, in the semi-arid bush for collecting lizards and snakes samples. Then, during the last days, just before coming back to Germany, I have visited by coincidence the zoological collection of the University of Antananarivo. In that place, I found an old jar of ethanol with two weird little specimens previously collected by a student who didn’t realize it was something new. Being expert on skinks, I immediately recognised it was something very probably new, very different from all the other known species.

((WN)) What does “Sirenoscincus” stand for?

AM: I am not the author of the genus name Sirenoscincus. This genus name was already existing. It has been described by Sakata and Hikida (two Japanese herpetologists). “Sireno” means mermaid. “Scincus” means skinks, a group of little lizards on which I am particularly focusing my studies. So, Sirenoscinus means “mermaid skink”, in reference to [the] fact it has forelimbs but no hindlimbs.

((WN)) How deep underground do the lizards live?

AM: Hard to answer this question because nothing is known on the ecology of this species. But more reasonably, we can hypothesize, by comparison to similar species of skinks, that it is probably living just under the sand surface, [a] few centimeters deep, probably no more, or below [a] rock, leaf litter, or piece of dead wood.

((WN)) What do the lizards eat?

AM: Again, by analogy, I would say most likely small invertebrates (insects, larvae, worms etc…).

((WN)) What equipment was used during the research?

AM: Classic equipment (microscope) and also a state-of-the-art device: a micro CT-scan. It is a big device producing [a] 3D picture of the internal structure without damaging the specimen. It is actually very similar to the scanner used in human medicine, but this one is specially designed for small specimens. Otherwise, I am currently studying the DNA of this species and closely related species in order to determine its phylogenetic position compared to other species with legs, in order to learn more about the evolutionary phenomena leading to limb loss.

((WN)) There are several news sources that have a photo of the species. Is it a photo as seen in a CT-scan?

AM: No, this picture showing a whitish specimen on a black background is not a CT-scan. It is a normal photograph of the collection specimen preserved in alcohol (the one that was in the jar). You can see the complete of picture (including CT-scan 3D radiography, drawing…) in the original scientific publication.

((WN)) Do you know when the newly discovered mermaid skink species was put into the jar? Do you have its photo (of the jar)?

AM: No, I have no picture of the jar. The specimen has been collected in November 2004.

((WN)) What were the roles of the people involved in the research? What activity was most time-consuming?

AM: As first investigator, I did most of the work…and the longest part of the work was to examine closely related species in order to do comparisons…and also to check the complete bibliography related to this topic and to write the paper.

Mrs Anjeriniaina is the student who […] collected the specimen a couple of years ago.

Mrs Hipsley and Mr Müller learnt me how to use the CT-scan, and helped me concerning some point relative to internal morphology. Mr Vences helped me as supervisors. Additionally, all of them have corrected the article, and gave me many relevant advices and corrections, thus improving the quality and the reliability of the paper.

((WN)) Did you get in touch with an external entity to get the new species officially recognised?

AM: No. In zoology, it is only needed to publish the description of a new species (and to give it a name) in a scientific journal, and to designate a holotype specimen (= specimen that will be the official reference for this species), to get this new species “officially” recognised by the scientific community. That does not mean that this new species is “correct” (it might be invalidated by subsequent counter-studies), but that means that this discovery and the new name of [the] species are officially existing.

((WN)) Are there any further plans on exploring the species habitat and lifestyle?

AM: No, not really for the time being, because ecology is not our field of expertise. But other studies (including molecular studies) are currently in progress, in order to focus on the phylogenetic position and the evolution of this species.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

British Grammy Award winning singer George Michael has been cautioned over drug use. The 45 year old singer was caught with class A and C drugs in the Hampstead Heath area of London. He was arrested on 19 September after being caught in the public toilet. British Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said drug laws needed to be “flexible”. He stated he did not know the details of the case when questioned why Michael was given a mild sentence.

Michael was banned from driving for two years after being caught slumped behind the wheel of his car twice. He pleaded guilty to driving while unfit through drugs. On May 15, 2006 Michael was found semi-conscious apparently snoozing at traffic lights while in his Range Rover. In the early hours of October 1, 2006, Michael was found unconscious in his Mercedes-Benz S-Class car, causing an obstruction.

Michael found his fame as front man of pop band Wham!. He won two Grammy awards as well as 12 British number one singles. Michael announced that he would be retiring from touring after completing his first tour in 15 years last month. He announced that he would release a Christmas single in December.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

According to police in New York City, New York, Australian actor Heath Ledger, 28, has died from a suspected overdose of prescription drugs. He was found by his housekeeper in his Manhattan apartment.

At about 3:26 p.m. EST (UTC-5), the housekeeper was on her way to inform Ledger that his masseuse had arrived when she discovered his naked body on the bed.

“We are investigating the possibility of an overdose,” said a police spokesman. The CourierMail quotes NBC as saying that Ledger’s body was found “surrounded by pills.”

Ledger starred in the 2005 movie Brokeback Mountain where he was nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. He also starred in the 2000 movie The Patriot with Mel Gibson.

Ledger is survived by his two-year-old daughter Matilda Rose, by ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Legendary Emperor Qin Shi Huang of China had one more terracotta warrior guarding his tomb, recently. Pablo Wendel, an art student from Germany, disguised himself as one of the clay sculptures surrounding Qinshihuang in his final resting place, now a museum.

Police protecting the northern China museum searched for an extended period of time, as Wendel stood silently, among several thousand sculptures. When police found the 26-year-old performance artist, who later told them he was fascinated by the monumental display, they carried him away “as if he were a log.”

China was united by Emperor Qin Shi Huang over 2,200 years ago. The tomb in Xian, once the capital of China, is open to the public as a museum.

Friday, April 25, 2008

A 15-year-old boy, arrested last Friday in conjunction with criminal threats made on Wikipedia, was charged Thursday with seven felonies in Pomona Juvenile Court in Pomona, California. Prosecutors stated that the teen posted two threats on Wikipedia, saying that six named students as well as members of his school’s badminton team would be shot. The court arraignment had initially been set for Tuesday, but was continued until Thursday. Wikinews interviewed the Wikipedia administrator who contacted police after the threats had been made on the site.

Though officials had said the boy made a full confession that he had made threats to other students via the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, he denied the charges at the Thursday court petition. The court ordered that he remain detained pending a May 9 scheduled appearance before Pomona Juvenile Court. He has remained in custody since his arrest.

The threats were made via two separate edits to the Wikipedia article about Glen A. Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights, California on April 16. Wikipedia administrators were made aware of the threats in a post to the “Administrators’ noticeboard” on April 16 by Wikipedia admin Dreadstar. Another Wikipedia administrator, John Reaves, contacted the police in Los Angeles, California, and helped them work with the Internet service provider to find more information on the IP address that made the threat. A third Wikipedia administrator, Persian Poet Gal, removed the threats from the edit history of the article after finding out that the student had been arrested.

Students’ backpacks were searched prior to entering Glen A. Wilson High School on April 17 and all after-school activities were canceled that day. All classes were canceled April 18, and classes resumed on Monday.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

38 people were killed on Saturday when a US Chinook helicopter crashed west of Kabul, Afghanistan, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for the crash.

Thirty Americans were killed in the crash, including at least seventeen members of SEAL Team 6, Air Force members, the helicopter’s crew, a dog handler and a civilian interpreter, while eight members of the Afghan Army were also on board and died.

According to witnesses, members of the Taliban and officials from the US and Afghanistan, the Chinook was deliberately targeted, apparently by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG). While no American officials have spoken on the record about the cause of the crash, anonymous sources have said that the helicopter was shot down, an assertion that corresponds with reports from local officials and witness, who said that the helicopter crashed after a rocket struck it.

The Taliban said that they had brought the aircraft down while it was involved in an operation targeting a house where insurgents were meeting. While Taliban forces do not have a history of shooting down aircraft, they claim to have modified their RPGs for improved accuracy, but there is no proof of this.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, warned against leaping to conclusions, however, saying that “[i]nformation is still coming in about this incident. I think it’s important that we allow investigators to do their work before jumping to too many conclusions.”

President Barack Obama issued a statement after the incident, saying that “[t]heir deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan.”

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

On Monday, San Jose, California, US-based software company Adobe Systems announced their plans to acquire California-based e-commerce handling web service Magento Commerce for 1.68 billion US dollars (USD). After Adobe made the announcement via their official website, Adobe’s stocks rose by around one percent, ending Monday extended trading at USD 238.10 per share.

Magento provides services for the creation of digital ads and handling of online transactions. Magento’s services are used by Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Warner Music, and Canon. The acquisition, which is expected to take place in the third fiscal quarter of this year, is to be an all-cash deal. Adobe is to acquire Magento from Permira equity firm. In 2015, Permira bought Magento from eBay, an eCommerce website. Adobe, in their official statement, said, “Magento Commerce Cloud will enable commerce to be seamlessly integrated into the Adobe Experience Cloud”.

Adobe also announced a buyback of shares worth USD eight billion by 2021. Magento’s CEO Mark Lavelle said, “Adobe and Magento share a vision for the future of digital experiences that brings together Adobe’s strength in content and data with Magento’s open commerce innovation […] We’re excited to join Adobe and believe this will be a great opportunity for our customers, partners and developer community”.

After the announcement, stocks of Magento’s competitors Shopify, Inc dropped by about 4.8%. They finished extended trading at USD 137.60 after the announcement.