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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

The 1999 and 2000 year model Honda Civic SiR tops the list of Canada’s most stolen cars.

Consumer popularity also assures the cars will be popular with thieves. Its the second year in a row the Honda SiR has topped the list.

Rick Dubin Vice President of Investigations for the Insurance Bureau of Canada said “The Civics are easy targets.”

Dubin said that once stolen, the cars are most often sold to “chop shops” where thieves completely dismantle the vehicles. The automobile’s individual parts are worth more than the entire car.

The sheer numbers of the cars and their lack of theft deterrent systems make them thieves’ preferred choices.

1999 and 2000 Honda Civics do not come with an electronic immobilizer, however all Hondas from 2001 and onward are equipped with an immobilizer. Immobilizers will be mandatory on all new cars sold beginning September 2007. The devices enable an engine computer to recognize an electronic code in the key. If the code in the key and the engine don’t match exactly, the vehicle can’t be started.

In third place was the 2004 Subaru Impreza, while the 1999 Acura Integra came in fourth, with the 1994 Honda Civic rounding out the top five.

In sixth place, the 1998 Acura Integra, and the 1993 Dodge Shadow completed seventh.

When asked why early model vehicles are selected, he said that, “auto thieves continue to find it easier to steal older vehicles lacking an IBC-approved immobilizer. We’ve seen this trend developing for several years, and these results confirm it.”

Another Honda automobile, the 1996 year model Civic filled eighth place, with the 2000 German Audi TT Quattro in ninth.

The American 1996 Chevrolet/GMC Blazer rounded out the top ten.

None of the above cars had an electronic immobilizer.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Pro-wrestling, a sport derived from Greco-Roman freestyle wrestling, is often connected with the idea of sports-entertainment. Popularized by Japanese and American federations (e.g. World Wrestling Entertainment, New Japan Pro Wrestling, etc.) the ongoing events and news are often discussed on the Internet. As such, television programs and other mass media focused on pro-wrestling are commonplace in Japan, America, and Europe.

In Taiwan, fans do not simply watch the TV shows and discuss them via the Internet, but some of them participate in the sport of wrestling through communities from the Internet or colleges. Although a Taiwanese wrestler recently won a world-class pro-wrestling title, due to policies that focused only on promoting key athletic sports like baseball, billiards, basketball, and taekwondo (i.e. those with more possibilities to win a gold medal in the Asian Games or Olympics), governmental officials lost a great opportunity to promote sports like wrestling, which has many potential participants.

What’s the vision of wrestling in Taiwan? How did the communities drive TV spectators and wrestling fans and government officials pay more attention in wrestling? Is wrestling a future key sport in Taiwan? Wikinews Journalist Rico Shen visited the “2008 IWL Spring Festival”, organised by a fan community and interviewed “Mr. Orange”, well-known commentator of WWE TV shows broadcasted by VideoLand Max TV in Taiwan, to prospect the future of wrestling.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Less than a week after it was first banned and then cleared for screening in the U.K., an Australian tourism ad featuring a bikini-clad girl asking prospective tourists “Where the Bloody Hell are you?” has been banned in Canada. Ironically, it wasn’t the controversial question — a line described as “warm, friendly and inviting” — that got the ad banned, but its opening: “We’ve poured you a beer.” This line was ruled unacceptable by the Canadian regulator, as it refers to an unbranded beer.

Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey was “quite astonished” by the move but has thanked the Canadian government for providing free publicity for the ad, saying, “As far as this particular Canadian regulator is concerned, I’d love him to come out here and I’ll buy him a beer and say thank-you.”

Thursday, January 4, 2018

A fire on Sunday night in the seven-storey carpark for the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England destroyed almost all the vehicles parked inside and led to cancellation of the final evening of the Liverpool International Horse Show and evacuation of nearby blocks of flats. The blaze reportedly started with a parked Range Rover Discovery.

Investigators with the fire brigade stated that they believe the fire began with an accidental engine fire in the Range Rover at about 4.30 pm. The first call was made at 4.42 and firefighters arrived eight minutes after that. Ultimately twelve engines and 85 firefighters were involved in combatting the blaze. Aerial appliances were used and also three high-volume pumps. Fed by the fuel in vehicles parked inside, the temperature of the fire in the carpark is believed to have reached as high as 1,000°C. It was too hot to be extinguished with water from hydrants, so a high-volume pump was used to draw water from the River Mersey, and two more were brought from other fire brigades in the region.

The carpark has seven storeys and a capacity of 1,600 vehicles, and approximately 1,300 were parked in it when the fire broke out. According to Dan Stephens, chief fire officer for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, almost all of them were destroyed, with the exception of a few parked on the top level and at corners. “With these very high temperatures, you were never going to put the fire out without the whole building taking hold. The speed at which the fire spreads means you simply aren’t going to put it out,” said Stephens.

The carpark itself was severely damaged; according to Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool. It is not in danger of collapsing but will have to be demolished, which will be difficult with the many burned-out cars still inside it, Anderson told the BBC.

According to Stephens, there were no serious injuries: one woman injured her hand, and two people were treated for smoke inhalation. A spokesman for the Echo Arena also stated that all animals were safe. All horses were successfully evacuated from the carpark and then removed from the stables after smoke spread to them. Six dogs were also rescued unharmed, two on a lower level in the early stages of the fire and four that had been left in a car on the top level, freed by firefighters on Monday after the fire was put out.

The final evening of the four-day Liverpool International Horse Show had been scheduled to begin at 7.30, and had to be cancelled. Many attendees were stranded in the city on New Year’s Eve night. Merseyside police directed people to the Pullman Hotel, where Red Cross assistance was available, and the Liverpool City Council set up an assistance centre at the Lifestyles Gym. A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers has said that insurance companies will “move very quickly” to reimburse owners whose vehicles were destroyed.

Nearby blocks of flats were evacuated because of the smoke. Eyewitnesses reported hearing what they at first thought were firecrackers, then “multiple explosions”, “bangs and popping”, “the bangs of car windows exploding”. People reported leaving everything in their cars, including their cellphones, and running for their lives.

Mayor Anderson tweeted that cuts to fire services over the last two years made it significantly harder to fight the fire and might have caused it not to be controllable. He also suggested that fire safety in multi-storey carparks had not been sufficiently considered and that installing sprinklers in them might help stop future fires before they become unmanageable, in a letter to Nick Hurd, a member of Parliament.

Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Copenhagen, Denmark – The Danish Integration Minister Rikke Hvilshøj’s car was set ablaze outside her family-home on the morning of Wednesday 8 June. From there, the fire spread to the family’s garage, and further on to the side of the house, damaging the roof above the kitchen and children’s room.

At the same time, an e-mail was sent to several media agencies, where a group calling themselves “Action Group Beate” claimed responsibility, saying it is a “protest against the racist immigrational laws of Denmark”. The police found the computer used for sending the mail within a few hours, and closed down the cybercafé whilst removing the computer.

Throughout the Danish political system politicians from both the ruling party and the opposition have expressed their outrage over the terrorism.

The insurance company is currently assessing the amount of damage done to the home, but so far they have made an estimate of £27.000, just for the house damages.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Yesterday Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar, for Best Actor, at the 88th Academy Awards. The award ended DiCaprio’s long wait for an Academy Award — he was first nominated in 1993 and won on his sixth nomination, for his role in The Revenant, which also won Best Cinematography and Best Director.

In his acceptance speech, DiCaprio described The Revenant as “about man’s relationship to the natural world”, and spoke of underprivileged people affected adversely by human activities on nature. He also said “Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow”. He concluded saying “I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much.”

DiCaprio was previously nominated for his work in The Wolf of Wall Street, for Best Actor and Best Picture; Blood Diamond, for Best Actor; The Aviator, Best Actor; and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, for Best Supporting Actor.

Kate Winslet, who co-starred with DiCaprio in Titanic, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Steve Jobs, but lost to Swedish actress Alicia Vikander for her role in The Danish Girl. Brie Larson collected Best Actress for her performance in Room.

Mad Max: Fury Road had ten nominations and won six of them: Best Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing. Ex Machina won the award for Best Visual Effects. Spotlight won the Best Picture award, and Sam Smith’s song Writing’s on the Wall won Best Original Song for Spectre ahead of the Grammy-winning song Earned It by Canadian singer The Weeknd.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

In the early morning hours of today, according to police, a man by the name of Omar Mateen entered Pulse Nightclub, a gay club in Orlando, Florida, and opened fire. 50 people were killed and 53 were hospitalized.

It is now the largest mass shooting in United States history, with the Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting shootings the closest behind. The shooter today used an automatic rifle according to one account; took hostages, and was eventually killed in a gun battle with SWAT units.

Mateen’s father, Mir Seddique, said in remarks to NBC News the attack was not about religion. The shooter allegedly called 911, the emergency phone number in the United States, and pledged his allegiance to ISIS. ISIS has claimed responsibility, according to a tweet from Reuters India. Reportedly, many have praised the attack on pro-ISIS forums.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has declared a state of emergency.

According to Orlando Police Chief John Mina, “It appears [Omar Mateen] was organized and well-prepared”.

“It’s just shocking […] just one after another after another […] It could have lasted a whole song”, commented Christopher Hansen, who was getting a drink when gunshots rang out.