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Monday, August 21, 2006

Buffalo, New York —

After nearly thirty years, Pano’s Restaurant at 1081 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, New York will end a tradition of being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week by ending its overnight food service.

The tradition for Buffalonians, who are able to enjoy drinks at the bars and clubs until 4:00 a.m. will end sometime at the end of August or September, according to overnight manager Wendi Dittmar and restaurant accountant Roseanne Jones.

“We will be starting the closure of the overnight shift sometime in the next 2 weeks to a month,” said Dittmar in an exclusive interview with Wikinews.

Jones told Wikinews that owner Pano Georgiadis is “just fed up” with the “destruction, the walk-outs of bills and fights that the ‘drunk’ people cause” in his restaurant.

Pano’s opened in 1977 on the day of the blizzard of ’77’ and has “remained open for 24 hours since then”, only closing for an hour at a time on the weekends to clean up and prepare the restaurant for breakfast, said Georgiadis.

Artvoice, which holds the “Best of Buffalo” competition every year where readers vote for their favorite Buffalo place, has listed Pano’s as the Best of Buffalo for best brunch, best Greek restaurant, best patio and best super-cheap breakfasts for 2006.

Dittmar also says that Georgiadis is expected to make several “public service announcements” within the next few weeks to “thank customers for their patronage.”

Monday, June 18, 2007

A press room across the street of the White House was evacuated after a bomb sniffing dog had a reaction to a van it was searching. The van was believed to be a transport vehicle for Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert, but some reports also say that it is not known to whom the van belongs.

The evacuated space is where the press gathers before they enter the Press Briefing Room in the West Wing of the White House. It is around the corner from Blair House.

“Police were called, they are on the scene currently attempting to clear the vehicle. The vehicle is part of the delegation that is staying at the Blair House,” said Darrin Blackford, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

Police searched the van using a robot and blocked off streets around the area to vehicle traffic, but at 4:30 p.m. (eastern time), authorities gave the “all-clear” for personnel to be allowed back into the building.

The “suspicious” van was parked in front of Lafayette Park. Other areas near the White House were also evacuated including Pennsylvania Avenue, on which the White House is located, and the Jackson Square Press Center, because “of an abundance of caution.”

Olmert is currently a guest in the Blair House which is located across the street from the White House. Olmert is expected to meet with United States President George W. Bush to discuss the Palestinian government and other issues. It is not known if Olmert was inside the house at the time of the incident.

It is not known why the dog reacted to the van, but nothing was found inside it after the Secret Service searched it.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Wikinews held an exclusive interview with James Burns, one of the candidates for the Libertarian Party nomination for the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Burns, the former chairman of the Nevada Libertarian Party, was asked if he thinks he has a good shot at winning the Libertarian nomination and ultimately the presidency. He replied, “My chances of winning are not all in my hands. I shall do my best, but it comes down to what others will do. What will you do?”

When asked about America’s shrinking middle class he said, “The economic policies of the US government are the cause our troubles. When I am President, the only economic policy I shall pursue is to be frugal with the funds of the United States.”

Burns believes that the President “is not ‘the leader of the free world,’ rather….a person who attempts to protect our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Tad Brudzinski is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Newmarket-Aurora riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

He did not answer the question “Of the decisions made by Ontario’s 38th Legislative Assembly, which was the most beneficial to your electoral district? To the province as a whole? Which was least beneficial, or even harmful, to your riding? To the province as a whole?”

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Buffalo, New York —A woman in Buffalo, New York in the United States is in critical condition tonight at Sisters Of Charity Hospital after she accidentally set herself on fire.

The unnamed elderly woman was receiving oxygen for medical problems in her home and lit a cigarette, and the oxygen coming from her mask facilitated the ignition of her clothing, setting her on fire.

Despite her “severe” burns as described by firefighters on radio communications, she was still able to dial the emergency line in the U.S., 911.

In the U.S. only 4% of all residential fires were reportedly caused by smoking materials in 2002. These fires, however, were responsible for 19% of residential fire fatalities and 9% of injuries. The fatality rate due to smoking is nearly four times higher than the overall residential fire rate; injuries are more than twice as likely. Forty percent of all smoking fires start in the bedroom or living room/family room; in 35% of these fires, bedding or upholstered furniture are the items first ignited.

Tuesday, May 3, 2005

Approximately 9,000 Romanian miners will be made redundant in 2006, slightly more than the 7,000 which are expected to be laid off this year. This comes as part of a government program for 2005-2008 which seeks to maximise efficiency in Romania’s mining industry, as well as reduce the number of mines and quarries in the country, while progressively bringing down the number of workers in this industry. As agreed with the European Union as part of accession negotiations, Romania must cease to provide major state aid to mining companies after 2007, when the country will become a member of the EU. Until then, it must gradually reduce subsidies to state-owned mining companies, in order to comply with European Union competition law.

Romania’s mining industry currently employs 47,000 people, quite significantly less than the 175,000 it employed in 1997, before restructuring took place. A major reform in the industry took place between 1997-2000. This time around, from 2004 onwards, restructuring is expected to be more gradual. Out of the workers who have been laid off from 1997 onwards, around 100,000 have accepted voluntary redundancy, while 8,000 have retired and 12,000 have found other jobs in the private sector. By 2010, the government expects that more than 340 mining units will be closed throughout the country.

Friday, July 15, 2011

On Tuesday, the Euro fell to a new record low in relation to the Swiss Franc, and to multi-month lows against the U.S. Dollar and Japanese yen; all considered by investors to be safe currencies during times of economic turmoil.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that recent comments from the newly installed head of the International Monetary Fund, France’s Christine Lagarde, resulted in a sell-off of the Euro. At a roundtable discussion in Washington, Lagarde noted that the IMF had not yet reached discussion of terms and conditions of a second Greek bailout plan. In fact, a representative from the IMF is currently meeting with Eurozone policymakers to draft such a new proposal. The yield differential between Italian bonds and German bonds has spread to more than 300 basis points, something not seen in over a decade and evidence of investors’ concern.

Adding to the Euro’s woes is the upcoming release of the bank stress tests on Friday. The European Bankers Association said that they expect the data release to shed new light on the Eurozone’s banking situation. Representatives of several of the Eurozone’s governments, including Germany, have requested that the association consider releasing fewer specific details for fear that investor panic will ensue. The inadequacy of the capitalization rates has been an issue with the European Central Bank, whose president recently called upon Eurozone banks to make every effort to put their balance sheets in order.

For the time being at least, an unsubstantiated rumor reported by the Wall Street Journal states that the Eurozone’s central banks’ purchase of periphery debt has helped to quell the downward momentum of the Euro.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

In Centerton, Indiana a man is alive thanks to his 2 dogs.

Bill Burns was taking his nightly stroll with his dogs, Butch and Dusty, when he had a severe diabetic attack in a cornfield.

His dogs immediately reacted.

Morgan County sheriff’s Deputy, Steve Hoffman, was on a rural road just finishing with a traffic stop, when he noticed a light shining from a cornfield. “I noticed what appeared to be an illumination or a light that was flickering and facing my direction,” Hoffman said. When he got out of his car and walked to where he saw the light, he found Butch was holding a flashlight like he would a bone, in his mouth. Meanwhile, Dusty had stretched himself across Mr. Burns to try and keep him warm.

Hoffman said he then noticed that Mr. Burns was wearing a diabetic medical bracelet and immediately took him to the hospital.

Burns says that he does not remember the ordeal, but thinks that Hoffman even seeing the light is remarkable enough for him.

“It’s got to be just fate or faith, one or the other,” Burns said.

The dogs “definitely are the heroes in the story,” said Hoffman.

Burns was in the hospital nearly 4 days before he had been released.

“Had he not had the dogs with him that evening, I think the outcome would have been a lot worse,” Hoffman said.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Do you own a cat? Do you ever wonder what it’s up to when you are not around? Well German-American Jürgen Perthold, an inventor, has created the “cat cam.”

“I wanted to find out what he gets up to, where he spends his days. He goes out the whole day, sometimes he returns hungry sometimes not, sometimes with traces of fights, sometimes he also stays out all night. It gave me the idea to equip the cat with a camera,” said Perthold.

The camera, which is operated by batteries and weighs 70 grams (including the batteries), is hooked onto the cat’s collar and records their journeys. Operating for a maximum of two days, the camera takes a picture every minute. Perthold used his cat as a test subject and discovered his cat was visiting the neighbor’s female cat on a regular basis. Perthold even wrote his own program to operate and control the camera.

The product currently ships worldwide from the United States for about US$30.00 plus shipping charges.