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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wagga Wagga, New South Wales —Sunday, Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce and her husband, Michael Bryce, visited the city of Wagga Wagga to launch the Junior Teams event and present the awards to the winners at the 2013 Allen’s Coaches World Championship Gumi, meet the North Wagga Wagga residents who were affected by the March 2012 floods and meet a small group of volunteers from the NSW RFS, SES and the VRA at a community barbecue at Wagga Beach.

After the Gumi presentations, Governor-General Bryce addressed the media about the Gumi, stating that “It’s so quirky and I love the way it brings this community together, this community that’s known for its fantastic spirit.” She also commented on the floods which affected the suburb of North Wagga in March 2012. Bryce stated that “A very special thing for me was being at North Wagga Wagga this morning, to see people again whom I meet almost a year ago after the devastation of the floods in that part of the city, […] So many people have a long way to recover but their spirit, resilience, courage and determination, what they’ve been though, is a source for inspiration to all of us.”

Sunday, January 29, 2006

The Australian federal government hopes to slash hospital emergency department waiting queues by setting up a 24-hour national medical hotline.

A government source said that the National Health Call Centre Network would be manned by registered triage nurses 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Triage nurses would perform a diagnosis over the phone based upon the description given by the patient. The patient would then be referred to the nearest emergency department, their local GP or pharmacy – as determined by the nurse.

The issue is expected to be discussed at next month’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Canberra. It is believed that the states and territories are supportive of the system.

If agreed upon by COAG, the service will be jointly funded by state/territory and the commonwealth governments at a cost of $40 million a year. The service would take 18 months to set up.

The service will be ran from a centralised call centre and be managed by a private contractor.

Julia Gillard, the opposition’s spokeswoman for health said any national call service needed to be linked with local GPs and medical services.

Gillard claims that under a Labor government, an after-hours “Pizza Hut” style service would be implemented, with a single national number connecting to a local call centre.

“You would be talking to people in the locality you are in and who know the local services,” she said

The Australian Medical Association, an organisation representing more than 27,000 doctors in Australia has slammed the proposal saying it will only deter people from seeking appropriate medical treatment.

Friday, November 28, 2008

At least two people have been shot and killed in Palm Desert, California, after a gunman opened fire inside a Toys “R” Us toy store.

A spokesman for the Riverside County sheriff’s office said shots were reported to have been fired inside the store, and that two people had been shot and killed. Witnesses say that a fight erupted between two men. It then got louder and louder, when one pulled out a gun and began to shoot.

One man told the Associated Press that he thought the argument might have been due to a toy the men were fighting over.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., is traditionally known as the biggest shopping day in the country when many retailers have deep discounts and sales on many products. Shoppers generally wake up early and spend much of the day shopping.

Earlier today, a worker was killed and at least three others were injured in a Black Friday door-buster sale stampede at a Wal-Mart in Long Island, New York. They had been knocked over and trampled by a crowd of other shoppers entering the store when it opened.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Mauritanian refugees stuck in Senegal for nearly two decades after fleeing ethnic clashes in their home country have begun returning to Mauritania under a U.N.-sponsored program. But many do not want to return.

There were goodbye ceremonies and welcoming ceremonies attended by officials on both sides of the Senegal River as more than 100 former refugees were ferried on motorized pirogues.

A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency, Alphonse Munyaneza, explained international funding will help pay for resettlement.

“Each refugee returning back to Mauritania will receive a piece of land equivalent to 140 square meters for establishing a house. UNHCR and the government of Mauritania will provide construction material so that they can build a house,” explained Munyaneza. “We will provide three months of food ration. We will provide a tent also.”

Mauritanian refugee children broke out in song and laughter when officials arrived at their camps close to the border to get the process going.

There are more than 20,000 Mauritanian refugees in Senegal. Officials say the return program will extend over 18 months.

One of those happy to go is Haddy Sy. She says she left Mauritania after she was beaten up. This took place during a wave of ethnic violence that began in Arab Moor-dominated Mauritania in 1989 and escalated into border clashes, forcing tens of thousands of black, mostly ethnic Fula, Mauritanians into exile.

In the late 1990s, more than 30,000 refugees returned by their own means and some U.N. assistance.

Sy says she is leaving behind many good things in Senegal, including a peaceful setting, but that she is still happy to return to her home country.

Since taking office last year, the government of the elected, post-coup President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi has been making efforts to bring home the refugees, including several thousand more in Mali.

But many in Senegal do not want to return home, like Yaraah Sow, who lives in the Dagana refugee camp about 400 kilometers northwest of Dakar.

He says he is still very bitter about what happened nearly 20 years ago. He said his father, who was a civil servant, was attacked by a mob and died of internal bleeding at the gates of a hospital after doctors refused to treat him.

Sow accuses the military of seizing all his family’s property. He says that two of his younger brothers died on the trip to Senegal. He says his children are now going to school and that they are better off in Senegal.

One of the refugee leaders, Mohamed Ali Sow, who left when he was 10, says he is studying at a university in Senegal to become a lawyer to defend the rights of chased out Mauritanians.

He says the return program has been rushed, because he says people who had their property seized, houses burned, and jobs taken away, should have guarantees these will be restored. He says until then, he does not think it is wise to go back.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Mehmet Okur scored 12 of the last 14 points for the Utah Jazz in the final minutes of their game against the Chicago Bulls on Monday night, propelling the Jazz to a 100-95 win against the Bulls. Okur finished with 20 points and was the high scorer for the Jazz, who now have won three in a row. He played most of the fourth quarter despite picking up a fifth foul early in the final period. In addition to Okur’s contribution, Deron Williams contributed 18 points and 13 rebounds in the effort.

Kirk Hinrich was the game’s leading scorer with 26 points, and Luol Deng contributed 23. However, the Jazz shot 50% from the field and dished out 24 total assists. The Bulls could not match those numbers, only shooting 40% and earning 15 assists. The lack of ball movement was obvious early on, as the Bulls committed three offensive fouls in the second quarter – all as the result of Bulls players attempting to drive the ball rather than pass and try to break the effective zone of the Utah Jazz. Ben Gordon also picked up a flagrant foul early in the second quarter, starting off what would be an ugly twelve minutes for the visiting Bulls. The Bulls were outscored 33-18 in the second quarter, leaving them down 57-43 at the half.

It almost wasn’t enough of a lead for the Jazz, as the Bulls were able to fight back and cut the lead to three with a three-point shot from Chris Duhon with 1:20 remaining in regulation time. However, the Jazz answered right back with an Okur three-point field goal, and the Bulls could not recover. While the Bulls would answer back with another field goal, the Jazz would score the next four points and pull away with the victory.

• Andres Nocioni was scratched with a foot injury. Team doctors believe that he may have a torn or inflamed plantar fascia; MRI results are not due back for another day or two. [1]
• Jazz coach Jerry Sloan received a technical foul for arguing with the officials midway through the fourth quarter.
• Earlier in the day, the Bulls’ Tyrus Thomas was named as one of the four participants in the 2008 Slam Dunk Competition during All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas.