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Thursday, August 31, 2006

Lunar Jim, the star of an stop-motion animated series for preschooler, will be touring Canadian malls this fall. Produced by Alliance Atlantis, the tour will run from September 9 to October 14.

The tour will feature part of Jim’s lunar village, an inflated replica of his home on Moona Luna. Also at the events will be a colouring activity, an area to play with the recently launched Fisher-Price toys, and have their photo taken with a costumed character version of Jim, and cut-out characters of the rest of the cast.

The tour coincides with the launch of Lunar Jim toys by this month. Canadians can watch the series on CBC and Société Radio-Canada (SRC), the French version of CBC.

• Coquitlam Centre (Coquitlam, British Columbia): September 9 – 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Landsdowne Centre (Richmond, British Columbia): September 10 – 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Southcentre (Calgary, Alberta): September 16 – 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
• West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton, Alberta): September 17 – 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Polo Park Shopping Centre (Winnipeg, Manitoba): September 23 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Northgate Shopping Centre (Winnipeg, Manitoba): September 24 – 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.
• Square One (Mississauga, Ontario): September 30 – 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• Upper Canada Mall (Newmarket, Ontario): October 1 – 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Centre Mall (Hamilton, Ontario): October 7 – 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
• Masonville Mall (London, Ontario): October 8 – 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.
• Mic Mac Mall (Halifax, Nova Scotia): October 14 – 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Friday, September 27, 2013

On Tuesday the World Bank released the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development. For Fiji, the report focused on progress being made in the country as it relates to gender roles and the local impact of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Girls from Fiji believe they can attain a university education. In contrast, boys from rural areas in Fiji generally do not believe they will stay in school past the primary level. The report attributes this to the need for boys to contribute to the family income. This pushes them out of school and into the workforce.

It also says girls have less free time than boys. Girls have specific household chores that limit their free time. Boys, in contrast, have fewer structured household tasks, and the tasks they do have require less time. Boys also have greater ability to leave the house than girls. The report says these differences play a role in defining gender roles. This can lead boys into engaging in bad behavior and increase their exposure to drugs and alcohol. The report says this pattern exists elsewhere in countries like Yemen, Sudan, Bhutan, India, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Dominican Republic, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Liberia, and Papua New Guinea. The report quotes a Fijian boy as saying, “Boys, they take their bikes and scoot off and roam around in villages here and there”.

Fijian girls are beginning to challenge these traditional cultural gender norms. While they acknowledge and admire the hard work their mothers have done in the domestic sphere, they seek better education and opportunities.

While the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979, Fiji did not ratify it until August 1995. They were the 139th country to do so. At first, Fiji objected for cultural reasons to one part of CEDAW, and said Constitutional sections containing different rules for men and women on their ability to marry foreigners was incompatible with another part.

These objections were eventually dropped and constitutional changes were made between 1997 and 1999. CEDAW helped bring about family law reform in 1995. A civil uprising in 2000 stalled some iniatives, but the 2002 CEDAW review assisted in reviving efforts. In 2009, the minimum age allowed for both men and women to marry was raised to 18 years.

Since the introduction of CEDAW, reforms have been made that allowed for more equal partners, make divorces easier to get, make it harder for women to be excluded from the home, and improve the amount, and enforced the payment, of spousal support and following a divorce. The report notes that a 2010 review of CEDAW said there is still room for improvement in terms of inheritance rights for women.

Fiji has a population of 854,000, with an annual average percentage population growth of 0.6%. 31% of the population is aged 0 to 14. The average life expectancy for men is 67 years and for women is 71 years.

Friday, March 9, 2012

On Super Tuesday, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, known more commonly as ‘Joe the Plumber’, won the U.S. Republican Party primary for Ohio’s 9th congressional district, which represents Toledo. He defeated real estate agent Steve Kraus, 51 percent to 48 percent, and will now face incumbent Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, who has held the seat since 1983.

Wurzelbacher received notice during the 2008 presidential election, when he asked a question about taxes to future president Barack Obama. Obama, who at the time was the Democratic Party presidential nominee, famously responded, “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” After this, Republican presidential nominee John McCain used Wurzelbacher as a representation of the average American worker, and attacked Obama’s response as socialist.

Following the exchange, students from the University of Massachusetts tried to draft Wurzelbacher to run against Kaptur in the 2010 congressional race, calling on him to “Plunge the crap out of Washington.” He initially expressed interest, but at that time did not run. In 2011, though, he announced his candidacy for 2012.

In the Republican primary, Wurzelbacher out-raised his opponent $60,000 to $10,000 and benefited from the endorsement of former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. Wurzelbacher said of partisanship, “Democrat, Republican…it’s something that the media uses to try to divide us as Americans…I’m not working for the Republican Party or Republicans, I’m working for the American people, and that includes all of us.”

In the Democratic primary, Kaptur defeated Representative Dennis Kucinich, who challenged her after his district was redrawn. Kaptur argues that Wurzelbacher is “going to have his own issues dealing with the electorate as he moves forward…I think the nature of the District is quite different than his value set.”

Wurzelbacher concedes that he lives in a largely Democratic and pro-Union community, but says the people are “all really good friends of mine…we agree on a lot of things, and ultimately what it comes down to [is] we want jobs, we want security, we want stability.”

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A new law which seeks to utilise reusable energy and minimise cost impact on consumers is under development in Japan. The new law, which would be effective from July 1 next year, would seek to reduce Japan’s dependency on nuclear power.

The new legislation would urge power utilities to cut costs by purchasing renewable energy from outside companies and private businesses. Japan’s decision has been referred to as opening the door on renewable energy, which currently only contributes to six percent of Japan’s energy sources.

Politicians have amended the bill, allowing the revised bill to pass through parliament later this month. Prime Minister Naoto Kan who is pushing for the bill to be passed in return for his resignation, has stated that the ‘feed-in-tariff on renewable energy will be set at a fixed price so that utilities are limited to purchasing electricity from renewable power generators. Kan hopes that this will encourage more business and private corporate partners to enter into the renewable energy market.

“As a medium-term revolutionary energy and environmental strategy, we have decided to start a thorough review of nuclear power policy and draw a roadmap for a reduction of the dependence on nuclear power” Mr Kan said.

Large companies are concerned about the new legislation as it will continue to affect profit margins which are low due to power shortages and high priced exports. The bill was changed to reduce the surcharge for large power companies after complaints from the Japanese steel industry. If the scheme is launched then consumers will face an increase on electricity bills as utilities can pass their costs onto end-users. Despite the governments promise to cap the surcharge for the next ten years, there is no reference to it in the revised bill.

Lawmakers hope that by adding a provision requiring utilities to streamline their operations, the impact on consumers will be minimized.

A third party group will be set up within the under the Agency for National Resources and Energy to ensure that the setting of fixed prices are fair and just.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

This weekend saw the opening of two new exhibitions at Edinburgh’s National Gallery of Modern Art. Wikinews attended Thursday’s press preview for the event where a full contingent of the capital’s press turned out to see the striking collection of paintings, photographs, and other works. Presented below are a selection of images captured at the preview.

REFLECTIONS: A Series of Changing Displays of Contemporary Art, billed as a showcase of a “diverse range of internationally-renowned contemporary and modern artists” is to display major works from the Gallery’s permanent collection, alongside important loans. Alongside this broad range of works, a three-room display of pieces on-loan from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation — with a dramatic painted steel relief, ‘borrowed’ from the Tate in London — runs from March 14 through to January 10 next year.

Admission to both exhibitions is free; being located in Dean, to the north-west of Edinburgh’s city centre, a free Gallery bus service is available.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

This weekend saw the opening of two new exhibitions at Edinburgh’s National Gallery of Modern Art. Wikinews attended Thursday’s press preview for the event where a full contingent of the capital’s press turned out to see the striking collection of paintings, photographs, and other works. Presented below are a selection of images captured at the preview.

REFLECTIONS: A Series of Changing Displays of Contemporary Art, billed as a showcase of a “diverse range of internationally-renowned contemporary and modern artists” is to display major works from the Gallery’s permanent collection, alongside important loans. Alongside this broad range of works, a three-room display of pieces on-loan from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation — with a dramatic painted steel relief, ‘borrowed’ from the Tate in London — runs from March 14 through to January 10 next year.

Admission to both exhibitions is free; being located in Dean, to the north-west of Edinburgh’s city centre, a free Gallery bus service is available.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Two Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketball players, Shelley Chaplin and Leanne Del Toso, are cycling around Fiji to raise money for people in Fiji with disabilities. They hope to cover the route, which is roughly 500 kilometers (300 miles) long, in just ten days. They started on June 7, 2013 and plan to finish by June 16.

Along the way, they intend to do outreach, and mentor people with disabilities. They hope to raise A$13,000. So far, they have raised over A$12,400. They are using crowdfunding to finance their sporting event.

Del Toso suffered muscle deterioration in her legs and hands due to a degenerative neurological condition when she was 19, and rides her bike with the aid of orthotics. Chaplin was born a paraplegic, and is using a handcycle.

They won silver medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London with the Australia women’s national wheelchair basketball team, commonly known as the Gliders.

Both also played for Victoria in Round One of the Australia Women’s Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) competition last weekend. Victoria won all four of its games. They expect to be back in action again in Round Two in Perth on June 21–23.

Friday, April 7, 2006

Accra —The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT introduced the Semacode technology and the Semapedia application to a segment of the Ghanaian public in a presentation delivered by Guido Sohne, Developer-In-Residence at the Centre and Chief Software Architect of CoreNett Ltd, a Ghanaian electronic transaction processing company.

Introduced for the first time in Africa, Semapedia is a way of associating Internet sites with physical barcodes that can be read by cameraphones, enabling one to look up information about physical objects quickly and easily.