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Sunday, October 28, 2007

Bayern Munich remained undefeated in all competitions after a 0-0 draw against Borussia Dortmund. The draw leaves Bayern at the top of the table with 27 points. However, the lead is down to four points after Hamburg’s 1-0 win against Duisburg.

Franck Ribery didn’t pass a late fitness test and didn’t make the 18-man strong matchday squad. Luca Toni, Martin Demichelis an Jose Ernesto Sosa replaced Lukas Podolski, Philipp Lahm and Hamit Altintop. Jose Ernesto Sosa returned after being sidelined for almost two months after ankle surgery.

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund exchanged plenty of chances and almost had a 50/50 possession between them.

Bayern Munich plays Borussia Mönchengladbach at home in the DFB Cup while Borussia Dortmund plays Eintracht Frankfurt in the same competition.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

The United States House of Representatives voted to hold two current Cabinet officers, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr, in contempt of Congress, citing their refusal to disclose to Congress documents related to President Donald Trump’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The vote passed primarily along party lines, 230-to-198. Historically, the Department of Justice has not pursued criminal charges against those held in contempt of Congress.

In April, the House Oversight and Reform Committee authorized subpoenas for documents relating to the administration’s decision to try to add a question about citizenship to the census, attempting to discern the true reason for the addition of the citizenship question. Barr and Ross, however, refused to hand over the documents. On June 12, minutes before the Oversight Committee voted to refer them to the full House to be held in contempt, Trump formally claimed the documents were subject to executive privilege.

For weeks, the Trump administration has been trying to add the question, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?”, to the upcoming 2020 census, with the stated rationale of improving enforcement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In late June, the United States Supreme Court ruled against its initial attempt, saying the justification presented for the question was “contrived.” A few days later, on July 2, Trump announced he would drop his bid to add the question, before reversing course the next day and pressing forward. A few days later the administration said he would use an executive order to add the citizenship question to the census, disregarding the Supreme Court’s ruling. The administration finally gave up on July 11, arranging instead to provide citizenship information to the Census Bureau from other government agencies.

Only once before has Congress voted to hold a Cabinet officer in contempt while they were in office: Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt in 2012 for refusing to turn over documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. People held in contempt of Congress are referred to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution. As Attorney General, Barr leads the Department of Justice. Kerri Kupec, spokeswoman for the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, sharply criticized the House’s decision, which Ross has referred to as “gamesmanship” and a “stunt”.

The citizenship question was last included in the general census in 1950.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

United Kingdom prime minister Gordon Brown and Irish premier Brian Cowen have left Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland, where they had been attending talks on justice and the recent Northern Ireland crisis regarding the devolution of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast. No agreement has yet been reached, and the main parties have been given two more days to attempt to broker a deal.

Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister and member of the republican party Sinn Féin, was “deeply disappointed” by the lack of an agreement on the possible devolution of Northern Ireland’s policing and justice powers from Westminster, London to Stormont, Belfast. Brown, however, believes the discussions are salvageable. He said that there is the “prospect of a reasonable agreement” being reached within the next two days, and that they “have the pathway to an agreement” in place. The British unionist Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin—Northern Ireland’s two largest parties—have been arguing over the issue for some time.

On Monday, Brown and Cowen travelled to Hillsborough Castle to meet with delegates of Northern Ireland’s major parties in an attempt to forge an agreement, and—before he left—Brown gave the remaining delegates 48 hours to find a mutually beneficial solution. He said that the governments of the UK and Ireland will publish their plans if no such agreement is reached. He also said that the devolution could occur “around the beginning of May” this year. Sinn Féin want the devolution to occur as soon as possible, but the DUP argues that “community confidence” is required before the process, which would give Northern Ireland its first justice minister, can begin.

McGuinness said, “We have not concluded a deal today and I am deeply disappointed about that. We intend to study the governments’ statement.” He said that his party would refuse to give its support to anything that subjected “citizens’ rights” to a “unionist veto”. Peter Robinson, the leader of the DUP who has been forced to temporarily stand aside as first minister due to a sexual and financial scandal involving his wife, said that his party would not accept a “second-rate deal” in order to keep to “someone else’s time limit”. He is also reported as saying, “We are not prepared to buy a pig in a poke. We will do what is right for our community.” Sinn Féin has accused the DUP of stalling for time, though Robinson denied this, saying that “[t]he party has always wanted to see the devolution of policing and justice and has always wanted it to happen without undue delay but it has to happen on a basis that we believe is sustainable”.

It is thought that a failure to come to an agreement could trigger a re-election in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and damage the delicate peace process, which began with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Margaret O’Callaghan, of Queen’s University Belfast said, “It’s difficult to overestimate just how bad relations are between them. They really do not get on. On the other hand people have too much invested in this to allow it to collapse.”

A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, March 1, 2010.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Wikinews held an exclusive interview with Jeremy Hanke, editor of MicroFilmmaker Magazine. The magazine, which is free to read online, was started as a resource for the low budget moviemaker and features book, independent film, equipment and software reviews as well as articles on film distribution, special effects and lighting.

He says that one of the goals of the magazine is to “connect low-budget filmmakers via a feeling of community, as many…..often compete so viciously against one another in film festivals for coveted “shots” with Hollywood, that they can quickly forget their similarities.”

When asked if films made on a shoestring budget can really compete with those made for millions of dollars, he replied, “no…yes…and absolutely. Allow me to explain.” And so he does in the interview below.