Sunday, February 13, 2005

LONDON – The big-budget Hollywood movie The Aviator and the low-budget Brit flick Vera Drake have scooped the main prizes at the 2005 Orange BAFTA Film Awards. Four gongs went to The Aviator with the top ones being Best Film and Cate Blanchett for Best Supporting Actress. Vera Drake got three gongs with Best Director, Best Actress & Costume Design. Jamie Foxx got Best Actor with Ray and Clive Owen got Best Supporting Actor with Closer.

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Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Manchester United will be taking on eleven of the top players in Europe in a celebration match next Tuesday at Old Trafford, and the lineup for the European XI is coming together nicely. The game is a UEFA-Manchester United collaboration created to commemorate not only the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, but also the 50th anniversary of Manchester United entering into European club competitions. Funds raised in the match will go to support the Manchester United Foundation, which works with local charities as well as UNICEF to aid children in need. Italian Marcello Lippi will be in charge of coaching the European XI side, and his assistant will be Andy Roxburgh. Confirmed players have slowly been filing into the team, but with current Manchester United on-loan striker Henrik Larsson confirmed, the XI is now complete.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Following the dramatic escape of an Indonesian housemaid from a 15th-floor apartment in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian government has suspended the licences of 19 housemaid agencies, following complaints of abuse and unpaid wages.

The move by the Home Ministry yesterday comes after an Indonesian woman named Ceriyati Dapin climbed from a 15th-floor Sentul apartment on a makeshift cloth rope to escape an employer she said was abusive. In the incident last Saturday, the 33-year-old woman made it to the parapet of the 12th floor when she became fearful and froze. She was eventually rescued by the fire brigade. She said she had been repeatedly beaten and starved by her employer.

The maid agency that sent Ceriyati to her employer was a company called Kemas Cerah, and it is among the agencies suspended. The employer was arrested on Monday and remains in custody while police investigate Ceriyati’s claims, a police spokesman told the Associated Press.

“The maid was supposed to be sent to an employer in Terengganu but was indiscriminately sent to another employer,” Home Minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

In Indonesia, where newspapers have been carrying the story on their front pages, the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta assured the Indonesian government it was doing all it could to investigate the case.

In addition to suspending the agencies, 85 agency owners and managers have been blacklisted, and will be prevented from opening new operations under different names, the ministry said.

“They have until the end of this month to appeal the suspension and if they fail to do so, their permits will be immediately terminated,” Radzi was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

This was the first time the ministry has taken such an action on maid abuse, Radzi added.

An industry group, the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies, or Persatuan Agensi Pekerja Asing (PAPA), said it was shocked by the government’s move, and that it could inconvenience maids.

“We panicked when news of this came out. No show-cause letters were given, nor were we informed by the ministry beforehand on the decision,” the group’s president, Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, was quoted as saying by The Star. “In addition to this, 12 of those agencies are registered under Papa, and have a good track record,” Raja Zulkepley said.

The suspensions will leave maids in a lurch, Raja Zulkepley said.

“Almost every day, about 200 maids from various countries, especially from Indonesia, make their way into the country,” he told The Star. “With these 19 agencies under suspension, these maids are all now stuck in immigration and others in hostels, unable to move anywhere. We dare not even think about the other maids who are coming tomorrow, or the day after.”

Malaysia relies heavily on migrant labour, mainly Indonesians, for such jobs as domestic servants, construction and plantation work.

Around 1,200 Indonesian housemaids run away from their employers every month, according to the Associated Press, often because of abuse, unpaid salaries or harsh working conditions.

The government has established a 24-hour hotline for reports on maid abuse. The hotline numbers are 03-8880 1455 and 03-8880 1399.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

A strong, 6.4 magnitude earthquake stuck Indonesia on Friday, even as recovery efforts continued from the devastating tremors that hit there last month.

The earthquake caused some buildings to sway in the country’s capital, Jakarta; however, there were no reports of injuries. According to officials, the earthquake’s epicentre was in in the Sunda Strait, off the western coast of the island of Java.

The earthquake wasn’t powerful enough to generate a tsunami, according to a Meteorology and Geophysics Agency official, Suhardjono.

On September 30, a powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Indonesia, causing landslides, destroying buildings, and killing over a thousand people. Cleanup and recovery efforts for that quake are still ongoing. Tremors frequently strike Indonesia and neighbouring vicinities, as it is positioned on an arc of fault lines.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

There were 5 games played in the National Hockey League on February 15, 2008.

Friday, August 4, 2006

A 16 year old girl has crashed her car into a hollow tree stirring up the fury of a swarm of bees ten miles (16km) south of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ten people including the girl received treatment at a hospital.

Jacqueline Cossairt’s SUV crashed into the tree after she lost control on a gravel road.

Despite hot summer temperatures, firefighters wore full safety gear including face mask and oxygen tanks as they tried to rescue her from the wreck. The bees were doused with foam and water.

“Those bees were mad,” said Volunteer Fire Chief Kent Gilbert, who was stung at least 50 times while trying to pull her from the wreckage. “I’ve never seen bees, especially honeybees, attack like that.”

“I’m not too swelled up,” Gilbert said. “As long as I’m standing upright, I feel OK, but if I bend down I get a headache. The back of my head is real tender where they stung me.”

Jacqueline was taken to Lutheran Hospital with broken legs and multiple bee stings.

A neighbour, a paramedic and seven firefighters were also hospitalized due to heat and bee stings.

Stan Grove, a biology professor at Goshen College, said that bees were most active during summer as they try to keep their hives cool by flapping their wings.

“They don’t like to be jostled,” said Grove.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Investigators in Ireland have found wiring problems in several Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340s as part of their investigation into a fire on board one such aircraft that was forced to divert to Shannon Airport.

The Virgin jet was headed from London Heathrow Airport to Chicago with 143 passengers and thirteen crew on January 11 this year. A small fire was noticed in a waste bin storage area in the first class section’s bar unit.

A damaged wiring loom could be seen sticking out of a hole in the compartments floor, and there was visible electrical arcing in the area. An attempt was made to control the situation by switching off electrical circuits, but both the fire and the arcing continued unchecked.

The aircraft’s captain declared an emergency and diverted to Shannon, which the airliner reached thirty minutes later. During that time, the crew used five 1kg fire extinguishers upon the fire, but each time the arcing continued and after about five minutes the fire reignited. Witnesses described the fire as consisting of “licks of flame”.

After performing a safe emergency landing the airport’s Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting department tackled the fire with a 5kg extinguisher but met with similar results. After consulting with the crew the jet’s power was completely shut down, after which the fire was finally put out. Virgin initially claimed the fire had never occurred.

Investigators with Ireland’s Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) inspected the loom and found it to be “completely severed” and exhibiting “strong evidence of burning/arcing” according to a preliminary report released on Friday. The loom was identified as providing power and dimming circuits for mood lighting in the bar.

The AAIU says that it seems the loom had contacted the metal waste bin in the compartment above. There should have been rails to hold up the bin and a protective metal cover, but “no evidence” of these was found and the report notes that “Initial inspection indicated the possibility that they were never fitted.”

The bar unit is a modification exclusive to Virgin. The AAIU ordered all 36 of the airline’s A340s worldwide inspected, with both France and the United Kingdom assisting with this. The UK has identified four other aircraft with faulty wiring, it has now been revealed. Virgin says that “A few minor issues were found and were immediately rectified,” and adds that “The installation of the bar was carried out in accordance with all relevant regulations. Virgin Atlantic continues to assist the AAIU in their investigation and looks forward to the full report with interest.”

The AAIU says that “significant other issues are being examined by the investigation” in addition to the wiring defects. “These include the difficulties faced by the crew in isolating the damaged circuits, the emergency checklist, the design of the modification and the standards relating to such modifications,” said the report.

Virgin’s Boeing 747-400 fleet also has a similar bar installed on it, but there was not considered to be a risk to the aircraft’s wiring on that model. The fire involved a bar added three years ago, with the aircraft manufactured in 1998.