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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The United States’s largest car manufacturer General Motors today named Mary Barra as its new chief executive.

Barra, 51, will be the first woman to lead a firm in the American auto industry. She has been with General Motors for 33 years, and is currently the global head of product development.

She said in a statement: “With an amazing portfolio of cars and trucks and the strongest financial performance in our recent history, this is an exciting time at today’s GM. I’m honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed.”

She replaces Daniel Akerson, who was appointed by the government as both chief executive and chairman in 2009 during the company’s bankruptcy. Akerson plans to stand down on January 15 following his wife’s advanced cancer diagnosis.

In a message to employees, he said: “I will leave with great satisfaction in what we have accomplished, great optimism over what is ahead and great pride that we are restoring General Motors as America’s standard bearer in the global auto industry.”

Akerson will also relinquish his chairman role, to be replaced by current director Theodore Solso. The company also announced head of finance Daniel Ammann as its new president.

The appointment comes just days after the US government sold the last of its shares in the company, losing around $9 billion on its initial bailout in 2008 that saw 61% of the firm coming under public ownership.

General Motors recovered from their bankruptcy a year after the appointment of Akerson, and re-entered the stock market in November 2010. It remains the largest car manufacturer in the United States, posting sales figures of $152 billion in 2012. It currently produces fifteen brands of vehicle in 37 countries.

Barra holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, and was recently listed by Forbes as the 35th most powerful woman in the world.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A trustee of the estate of the late author Adrian Jacobs filed a lawsuit against the US publisher of the Harry Potter series, Scholastic Inc, on Tuesday. He claimed that J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, had copied scenes from Jacob’s novel, The Adventures of Willy the Wizard, to the fourth novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The suit followed a similar case last year, in which the trustee sued the UK publisher of the series, Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Both of these cases are currently pending.

The complaint stated that in both books, the protagonists “are required to deduce the exact nature of the central task in the competition”, and had done so in a bathroom. Both books also involved “rescuing hostages imprisoned by a community of half-human, half-animal creatures.” The suit also claimed that Christopher Little, a literary agent of Rowling, was originally the literary agent of Jacobs. The claim was denied by Scholastic.

Scholastic called the claim “completely without merit”. They pointed out that Rowling had said in February that she had never read Jacobs’ book. The trustee said that the US was the world’s largest foreign market, so they brought their first overseas action there. He demanded that all copies of the Harry Potter novel be destroyed, and all the profit made by the book given to him.

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Over the weekend, tributes were paid to US actor Chadwick Boseman, including Sunday’s commercial-free airing of Black Panther and a special retrospective about Boseman entitled “A Tribute For a King” by American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Boseman died on Friday after being diagnosed with colon cancer four years earlier. Boseman, who rose to international fame for his title role in the 2018 Marvel superhero film Black Panther, was 43 years old.

Boseman died at home on August 28 in the company of his wife and family according to a statement posted to his official Twitter account. It also stated he was in stage IV of his cancer which had been diagnosed in 2016. His illness was not public information, even as he had undergone surgeries and chemotherapy to treat it, all the while continuing to work.

Boseman was born in South Carolina. He attended the British American Drama Academy (BADA) during his studies at Howard University from which he graduated in 2000. Early in his career, Boseman acted in television soap operas, however, his role as Jackie Robinson in film 42 was widely considered a breakthrough. He later played starring roles in other biographical films portraying James Brown in Get On Up and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall.

Boseman portrayed Black Panther, also known as King T’Challa, in four Marvel films. The first was Captain America: Civil War which preceded the aforementioned Black Panther film. Subsequently, he appeared in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther, wrote of Boseman, “I noticed then that Chad was an anomaly”, recalling their first meeting. “He was calm. Assured. Constantly studying. But also kind, comforting, had the warmest laugh in the world, and eyes that [saw] much beyond his years, but could still sparkle like a child seeing something for the first time.”

Actor Denzel Washington, who paid for Boseman to attend BADA, stated “He was a gentle soul and a brilliant artist, who will stay with us for eternity through his iconic performances over his short yet illustrious career […] God bless Chadwick Boseman.”

Wayne A. I. Frederick, president of Howard University, wrote “It is with profound sadness that we mourn the loss of alumnus Chadwick Boseman who passed away this evening. His incredible talent will forever be immortalized through his characters and through his own personal journey from student to superhero! Rest in Power, Chadwick!”

On Sunday, the MTV Video Music Awards also marked the passing of Boseman by dedicating the show to him. The audience was also shown a replay from the 2018 ceremony when Boseman gave his “Best Hero” award to James Shaw Jr. who disarmed a shooter at a restaurant in Tennessee.

During ABC’s “A Tribute For a King”, Sunday evening, a number of celebrities made appearances. Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Feige, Bob Iger, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Winston Duke, Mark Ruffalo, and Paul Rudd, all contributed. During the broadcast, Downey said of Boseman, “He was having this immense success, in a strata of his own, humble hardworking, always smile on his face […] Black Panther was hands down the crowning achievement of the Marvel Universe. The one where people got to vote with ticket sales we require this. It is a fantastic movie that leveled the playing field.”

The Walt Disney Company owns both Marvel Studios and ABC.

Friday, July 18, 2008

On January 8, 2008 in Stephenville, Texas, one of the larger UFO sightings in the United States occurred. A few days ago the UFO investigative organization Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) released a 77-page report on the sighting. MUFON is a UFO investigative organization in the United States. Founded in 1969, it now has 3,000 members and is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The MUFON report, entitled “Special Research Report Stephenville, Texas” was written by Glen Schulze and Ropert Powell. Shulze has radar experience from working at the White Sands Missile Range. Powell has a chemistry degree and has extensive experience with semiconductors from working for Advanced Micro Devices.

The report is an analysis of radar records from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Weather Service, obtained through several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and comparing them to witness accounts.

Shulze/Powell concluded that the radar data confirms the witness observations of an object, as well as the Air Force’s statement that said ten aircraft were operating in the area. They say that it is too difficult to say what the witnesses saw, but that there was something there. Twice, they say, radar picked up an object travelling at nearly 2,000 mph, and at other times it showed a slow moving object.

Much media attention has been focused on the report’s observation that radar records show one of two objects moving directly toward the Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford. This is the home of United States President George W. Bush, which has been nicknamed the Western White House. They did not draw any conclusion as to why such movement was observed.

The authors also concluded that military air activity was heavy at the time, but that the radar records show no overt action toward the unknown object. They express concern about the possibilty that this could have been a terrorist aircraft with no transponder.

Shulze/Powell stated that they felt that they had been stonewalled in some of their FOIA requests by some government agencies. They encouraged the government to more readily provide more information about the incident.

The Stephenville incident on January 8, saw dozens of witnesses reporting a large object in the evening sky that hovered above the community before it took off at high speed. Steve Allen, a pilot, observed the object from the ground and described it as being a half-mile with flashing strobe lights. He also said that it was pursued by two fighter jets, when it disappeared at a speed he estimated to be 3,000 mph.

“I don’t know if it was a biblical experience or somebody from a different universe or whatever but it was definitely not from around these parts,” Allen said.

Another witness was local law enforcement officer Leroy Gateman who reported it as a red glowing object suspended 3,000 feet in the air. “It was so fast I couldn’t track it with my binoculars,” said Gateman.

Rick Sorrells says he saw the object while deer hunting in the woods. “You look at the trees, and it was right here,” he told ABC News. He estimated it to be the length of “three or four football fields,” though he could not be entirely sure due to his vantage point.

Sorrells has later claimed that military helicopters have since overflown his property at low altitude and that he has been getting strange phone calls. He also claims that an unknown man came to his door, even once told him that,”Son we have the same caliber weapons you have, but we have more of them.”, after Sorrells grabbed his rifle, and, “You need to shut your mouth about what you saw.”

“I’m trying to decide whether or not to open the door,” Sorrells said to the Empire-Tribune. “We’re just standing there face to face looking at each other. I’m thinking he’s dressed for the elements and the dogs are raising such a ruckus he must know he’s in danger of being caught. That’s when I realized he wanted me to see him.” The man then turned away and walked into the woods.

The United States Air Force initially said witnesses must have seen reflections coming from commercial airliners. However, they later clarified that ten F-16 Fighting Falcons had been on a night-time training mission in the area on January 8.

“In the interest of public awareness, Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs realized an error was made regarding the reported training activity of military aircraft,” said the statement.

According to Air Force spokesperson Karl Lewis, the aircraft were from the 457th Fighter Squadron and the error in the initial report was due to an internal communications problem between offices at the base.

Monday, June 5, 2006

Gunmen forced their way into a building used by Palestinian Television in Khan Younis today. Approximately 15 gunmen fired toward the sky as they stormed the building shouting, “You are collaborators. You are biased. You are dirty people” the staff reported.

The armed men then discharged their weapons wildly into cameras, computers and other equipment leaving one employee of the transmission centre to say, “The whole place is ruined.” After wreaking havoc for several minutes and beating up a cameraman, the vandals left.

Palestine TV stopped broadcasting for 30 minutes in protest at the attack.

According to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the opposition Fatah party, the Hamas government has until midday (0900 GMT) on Tuesday to agree with a manifesto that touches on an issue at the heart of Palestinian politics. The script indirectly recognises Israel as it calls for a Palestinian state to exist beside Israel.

Hamas came to power in the January 2006 elections, overcoming the incumbent Fatah parliament. The party denied being involved in the attack on the television station.

Abbas has threatened a July referendum on the manifesto if parliament does not accept the treatise by the specified time.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Despite heavy snowing, tens of thousands of workers and supporters marched today in Ljubljana, Slovenia in the largest demonstration since the country’s independence in 1991 to protest against the government programme of economic reforms, including privatisation of public services, tax cuts for businessmen and the abolition of the lower value added tax rate for items like food and books.

The protests, jointly organized by several trade union federations and attended by representatives of almost all Slovenian trade unions, began with an hour-long march from Ljubljana’s Tivoli park to the Congress Square (Kongresni trg). Workers and trade unionists were joined by supporters from Croatia, Italy and Austria, as well as students, anarchist groups, and general population. Several politicians from the opposition Liberal democracy and Social democrats were seen in the crowd. Noisy protesters armed with whistles, rattles and even some flares, marched through the snow waving trade union flags and carrying banners denouncing government policies. There were even a couple of old socialist flags with red stars. Riot police were seen on side streets and guarding accessess to government buildings, but they did not intervene.

The protest continued at the Congress Square with speeches of the representatives of trade unions and student organizations who denounced the government policy as leading into greater inequality and decreased standard of living for ordinary people. The loudest boos of the audience were drawn by the remarks about blaming the unemployed for being unemployed, introduction of university fees, and government’s waiving of taxes and health and pension fund contributions for church officials. The speeches were followed by a musical program, but the crowd soon started dispersing to escape the weather. Trade unions organized transport for 40,000 people to attend, but many buses were stuck in traffic jams on snowy roads and arrived too late for the protest. The police estimated the number of protesters to 25,000.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has given the late Jack Poole their highest honour, The Olympic Order, according to a report by the Vancouver Sun.

Mr. Poole, one of the people behind the bid by Vancouver to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, passed away on October 23 after losing a fight with pancreatic cancer.

The CEO of the Vancouver organizing committee (VANOC), John Furlong, was quoted as saying “Jack Poole is truly deserving of the tremendous honour of the Olympic Order in recognition of his enormous contribution to the 2010 Games,” also stating that further comment will be made when the IOC makes a formal announcement of the award.

This marks the second award that has posthumously been given to Poole, having been awarded the Canadian Olympic Order by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) earlier in the month, with word that he will also be inducted to the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.