Sunday, August 7, 2005

A Russian submarine trapped during a training exercise in Berezov Bay, 75 km south of Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka, has been rescued after it was cut free by a Royal Navy Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The crew of seven officers and midshipmen, who spent three days in temperatures around 6^oC and were running out of oxygen supplies, were unharmed.

The submarine appeared on the surface at 4:15 p.m. local time. “The crew opened the hatch and climbed the rescue ship’s deck on their own,” said Admiral Victor Fyedorov. The first aid to the crew was given on ship Alagez, and they were transferred to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka hospital.

The British Scorpio ROV cut fishing nets and debris, freeing the trapped submarine. “The rescue operation was completed successfully. We thank everyone, and especially the British rescue crew,” said Fyedorov.

The submarine will be repaired and modernized. “After salvaging it, AS-28 will be carried on one of the rescue ship’s decks to the coast, where specialists will examine it,” said a spokesperson of VMS (“Company for secondary metal and boats”). Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged an inquiry into the incident.

The United States and Japan also sent equipment to help in the rescue. However, it was not used.

• Vyacheslav Milashevskiy (???????? ???????????), captain-lieutenant
• Antoliy Popov (???????? ?????), navigator
• Sergey Belezerov (?????? ?????????)
• Alexandr Uybin (????????? ?????)
• Alexandr Ivanov (????????? ??????)
• Valeriy Lepotyuha (??????? ????????)
• Henadiy Polonin (???????? ???????)

Monday, March 21, 2005

Portal and search company Yahoo! has purchased Ludicorp Research and Development Ltd., the private corporation which owns the photo sharing site Flickr.The news was officially disclosed in a Sunday posting to the corporation’s staff blog and is credited to Caterina Fake, Flickr’s vice president of marketing and community. The posting announced the sale, but did not disclose details of the deal. In a report by Silicon.Com, Yahoo! spokeswoman Joanna Stevens confirmed the deal on Sunday but also did not disclose the terms.

Both Fake and Stevens said Flickr will remain independent. Stevens added that Flickr’s employees will relocate to the Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, California later this year.

Rumors of the sale have been circulating amongst bloggers for some time, though neither company would confirm or deny the rumored sale. Other rumors had Google or AOL as Flickr’s probable suitor.

Flickr allows users to upload pictures from their computers, digital cameras, or camera phones to a personal website where they can display them, engage in photo blogging and create photo albums. The graphics may be licensed under a variety copyright license schemes including public domain, and photo owners can be easily contacted through the website.

Yahoo! had earlier announced Yahoo! 360°, a blogging service with sharing privileges and integration with other Yahoo! services such as internet broadcasting and instant messaging.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

On Monday night, U.S. retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn resigned from his position as National Security Advisor at the request of President Donald Trump in response to a Justice Department report indicating the Russian government could blackmail Flynn over untrue statements he’d made to Vice President Pence.

Specifically, Flynn told Pence he had not discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Pence later went on television and relayed this to the public. However, U.S. intelligence officials had recorded Pence and Kislyak’s conversations. According to one such official, Flynn insinuated to Kislyak then-President-elect Trump would be pleased if Russia did not retaliate for the Obama administration’s December 29 order sanctioning Russian spy agencies and expelling 35 suspected Russian spies from U.S. territory. In his resignation letter, Flynn referred to his statements as “incomplete information” and said he’d apologized to Pence.

Under the 1799 Logan Act, individual U.S. citizens are not allowed to negotiate with foreign governments without permission, and Flynn may have violated it, but University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck said the real issue is whether Flynn lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In remarks to NBC News a senior intelligence official said Flynn had not been shown to have done anything illegal. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the resignation was due to a “trust issue” rather than any legal concern.

According to White House spokespeople, President Trump was informed Flynn had misled Pence last month by then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates, while Vice President Pence did not learn of this until news reports surfaced earlier this week. Democratic Representative Adam Schiff claimed Trump asked Flynn to resign because of the media response and not because of the conversation with Pence itself. There is significant opposition in the U.S. Congress to lifting sanctions against Russia. Several Democrats and some Republicans have called for investigation of the Trump administration’s ties with the country.

Retired general Keith Kellogg, who served as an advisor to Trump during his presidential campaign, was selected as Flynn’s acting replacement.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The Australian government has confirmed it will send an extra 200 troops to Afghanistan as part of a security and reconstruction team. Prime Minister John Howard says troops will leave from late July and will spend about two years in Afghanistan separate from the Special Forces and commandos already serving there. In a press conference in Canberra today, Mr Howard said the deployment was “further evidence of the government’s ongoing commitment to assist the people of Afghanistan in consolidating their embrace of democracy and resisting any attempt on the part of the Taliban to come back.”

The Australian Greens oppose the deployment of new troops. In a press release, Senator Bob Brown voiced his opinion on the matter, and said the following about Australia’s deployment: “The announcement that Australia will be sending 200 more troops to Afghanistan comes hard on the heels of the Bush administration announcing the withdrawal of 3000 troops from the same theatre,” he said. “Without the US withdrawal there would be no Australian deployment. This is John Howard once again using the ADF to meet the Bush administration’s political shortcomings. Our troops should be kept at home.”

“The ADF contribution will be a mixed security and reconstruction taskforce of approximately 200 personnel and will be deployed over a period of two years,” Howard told reporters. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) troops will be deployed from late July and work alongside Dutch soldiers as part of a NATO force. The extra 200 troops will bring the number of ADF personnel to more than 500.

Australia sent 1,550 troops to Afghanistan in 2001, including special forces, to join the U.S.-led strikes against the Taliban regime. Australia’s only fatality in Afghanistan came in February 2002 when a soldier was killed after his vehicle hit a land mine. Violence has intensified in Afghanistan in recent months, particularly in the south and east, with a wave of raids, roadside and suicide bombings killing dozens of people.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Pop starlet Kylie Minogue has announced through her management that she has an early stage of breast cancer. The 36-year-old has said she will be going through the treatment in her native Australia. Due to early diagnosis the singer stands a good chance of making a full recovery.

Kylie, who had spent the past week in Melbourne, has revealed that due to the cancer the rest of her Showgirl tour of Australia will be postponed and her appearance at this year’s Glastonbury festival will be cancelled.

The Showgirl tour was due to hit Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in June. However despite the cancellation, ticket holders are advised to hang on to tickets as new dates may be announced.

Friday, June 24, 2005

Popular Serbian basketball player Aleksandar “Sasha” Djordjevic will play his last game in Belgrade on July 3. More then 60 players and coaches who worked with Djordjevic throughout his career will attend the game, and all ticket proceedings will go to the UNICEF “School without violence” program.

Djordjevic played in the Yugoslavian, Italian, Spanish and NBA leagues, as well as for the Yugoslavian national team. The 38 year-old won two European Championships and one World Championship. He is retireing as a player of Armani Jeans Milano and an MVP of the Lega A Basket.

“Everything hurts: my shoulder, elbow and joint. Everything ends, and so does a basketball career. They still have to invent medicines that would ease this pain,” said Djordjevic.

Croatian basketball player Dino Radja decided not to come to Belgrade. He told Djordjevic that he doesn’t want any booing, which would ruin the farewell game.

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Nominations were declared on September 21 for South Gippsland Shire’s upcoming council elections, to be held by post from October 5-22. A total of 24 people in the Australian council’s three wards have put themselves forward to stand as candidates. The shire has been governed by administrators appointed by the Victorian state government since August 2019, when the council was sacked after a state government inquiry found “high levels of tension” within the council.

Wikinews interviewed one of the candidates standing in this election, Rosemary Cousin, via email. Cousin is endorsed by the Australian Greens, and is contesting the Tarwin Valley ward, which elects three councillors to the South Gippsland Shire Council, and includes the towns of Leongatha and Mirboo North.