Call Us: +2782 444 YEAH
Cape Town, South Africa

heizundg.com

<div class=One day after attempted rescue, six stranded whales die on Australian beach
" />

One day after attempted rescue, six stranded whales die on Australian beach

Posted on by

Thursday, March 26, 2009

File:Illustrazione globicefalo.JPG

Six whales have died after becoming stranded on a southwest Australia beach, one day after conservation officials attempted to rescue them.

A pod of about 90 long-finned pilot whales were stranded on Hamelin Bay Tuesday. More than 70 of the mammals died, along with four dolphins, but about 10 whales were guided back out to sea by officials from the Australian Department of Environment and Conservation.

Six of the rescued whales washed up on a different beach less than a day later. Three died of natural causes Wednesday, and the other three were shot by veterinarians due to their poor condition.

About 180 volunteers, wildlife officers and veterinarians participated in the Tuesday rescue effort, but officials said there had always been a risk that the whales could be stranded again. “It is frustrating, there is a lot of effort by the community and by DEC staff, it is a frustrating process when that happens but it’s not totally unexpected,” said John Carter, state conservation department officer.

The other four whales rescued Tuesday are still believed to be at sea, and department officials are monitoring the ocean to verify their safety.

Almost 500 whales have died in five mass beachings over the last five months. The West Australian coast has seen 21 mass whale and dolphin strandings since 1984, according to the department.

The whales tried swimming back to shore shortly after the Tuesday rescue, but conservation officials guided them to deeper waters with the hopes that they would stay out at sea. Scientists cannot explain what draws whales so close to shore.

The whales were stranded Wednesday in a remote location where conservation officials could not transport rescue equipment. At least one of the whales was attacked by sharks, officials said.

Posted in Uncategorized
<div class=Truck bomb kills at least 80 in Afghan capital city center
" />

Truck bomb kills at least 80 in Afghan capital city center

Posted on by

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

In what Afghan president Ashraf Ghani called “a crime against humanity,” earlier this morning, local time, a septic tanker truck filled with explosives detonated not far from the German embassy in Kabul’s Wazir Akbar Khan area, during the city’s morning commute. According to the country’s health ministry, at least 83 bodies have been found and over 450 have been wounded. The ministry’s spokesperson, Ismail Kawasi, said most of the victims were civilians, including children.

It was a car bomb near the German embassy, but there are several other important compounds and offices near there too. It is hard to say what the exact target is

“The attack demonstrates a complete disregard for civilians and reveals the barbaric nature of the enemy faced by the Afghan people,” Ghani said in an official statement. “The terrorists, even in the holy month of Ramadan, the month of goodness, blessing and prayer, are not stopping the killing of our innocent people,” he said. General John W. Nicholson Jr., commander of American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan congratulated city security forces for preventing the truck from coming any closer to important government buildings and embassies.

This attack was unusual, though not unheard of, because of the sheer volume of the bomb involved. According to Kabul’s police chief, General Hassan Shah Frogh, “The blast was so huge that it dug a big crater as deep as four meters” (13 feet) and it damaged buildings as far as one mile (1.2 km) away.

Though an initial report by Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish claimed the site of the detonation as near one of the gates to the Afghan Presidential Palace, it was actually closer to the German embassy, which sustained considerable damage, according to NBC. Germany currently has more than 950 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and helped the Afghan security personnel in their training. “It was a car bomb near the German embassy, but there are several other important compounds and offices near there too. It is hard to say what the exact target is,” said police spokesperson Basir Mujahid.

The Taliban has denied any association with this attack. Western countries have been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan for about 15 years, including the U.S., Germany, and Britain, but many of these countries withdrew much of their forces before 2015. Since then, the Taliban has come to control about 40% of Afghanistan, per U.S. estimates.

Posted in Uncategorized
Combating Crisis Why Response Protocols Must Be Put In Place}

Combating Crisis Why Response Protocols Must Be Put In Place}

Posted on by

Combating Crisis – Why Response Protocols Must Be Put In Place

by

Akansh

Crisis management is one of the major services that Public Relations consultancies can offer to companies and entities. A crisis can erode at the public perception of a firm or person and transform a positive image into a negative one. They could come in the form of anything a technical breakdown, quality control failure, unsatisfactory customer experiences or reports of unethical practices. In order to combat potential crises effectively, it is necessary to plan and establish response protocols. Here’s why:

To appear to be in charge of the crisis:

The way a firm or entity responds to crises can make or break their ability to bounce back after one. Crisis communication needs to be given due care and diligence. How you respond and what you respond is often the only thing that is actually remembered in the long run. Hence, you should have a strong crisis communication strategy in place. Your communication needs to convey empathy and honesty, detail a plan of action and put the crisis in the context of the larger industry. At the same time, it is necessary that all communication presents a cohesive front. When you have your response protocols in place, you can ensure that there are strict guidelines to be followed when there is a crisis. For example, you can stipulate that all formal and media communication is only sent out after careful deliberation and vetting by you, that employees and other stakeholders are sent out missives the moment a crisis hits detailing the firm’s official stand, etc. When a proper order of things to be done during a crisis is set, it greatly offsets the panic that the crisis brings with it. Everyone knows what to do and the firm or entity can appear to be in charge of the crisis in the public eye.

To actually be in charge of the crisis:

While appearing to be in charge is always essential, the need of the hour during a crisis is of course to actually be in charge of it. Crises need to be controlled in the best way possible, and as a PR consultancy, you need to be the one in control. Having response protocols in place allows you to do just that. Protocols are basically plans of action and when everyone is aware of what they should be doing in an emergency, you remove the risk of thoughtless words and actions. Your crisis communication plan isn’t so much about what you say’ this will differ from crisis to crisis anyway but about how it is said, who is contacted, when it should be said. In our internet-driven age in fact, response protocols help immeasurably. Let’s say for example that you represent a chain of hotels and a customer leaves a bad review of one particular establishment. In fact, being zealous in their unhappiness, they’ve left bad reviews on a number of different review sites. The first human impulse is to forgo all crisis communication training, defend the hotel, make justifications about why the service or amenities were found to be lacking. But if your response protocol demands that you first speak to the manager of the establishment, get to the root of the problem, collect details about that guest’s stay and only then respond, your message tone and content automatically becomes more mature and informed. In fact, you may even be able to solve the problem completely. You will also know exactly what you can offer as compensation in advance. Your entire approach to the crisis can now be cool and collected, instead of impulsive and personal.

Akansh Malik is a reputation management consultant with more than six years of experience in providing crisis communication planning and crisis communication training to clients across the board. An avid blogger who is passionate about public relations, he loves to write about crisis communication strategy.

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com

}

<div class=Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with Family Coalition Party candidate Blaise Thompson, St. Paul’s
" />

Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with Family Coalition Party candidate Blaise Thompson, St. Paul’s

Posted on by

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Blaise Thompson is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the St. Paul’s riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

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.

Posted in Uncategorized
<div class=German hotels step up boycotts against online travel agency HRS
" />

German hotels step up boycotts against online travel agency HRS

Posted on by

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A third call for boycott and second boycott hit the German online travel agency Hotel Reservation Service (HRS) this week. After a recent boycott against HRS in Münsterland, a boycott in Bremerhaven was next and is soon to be followed by the next round in Bremerhaven starting in the middle of March.

Hotels in the city of Bremerhaven already have to pay a new “bed tax” to the state of Bremen of 2.14 euro per person per night, whilst HRS is trying to increase their commission payments for its service from thirteen to fifteen percent. Further criticism of HRS focused on a preferential treatment clause that denied hotels the right to offer better prices through any other booking channel. The European umbrella organization of the catering facilities HOTREC had already criticized this type of clause and similar contract clauses in May 2011 in a position paper.

Piet Rothe, hotel owner and second chairman of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) Bremerhaven, explained that in his hotels the boycott hat not decreased bookings, merely shifted their volume to other channels such as, for instance, booking.com, who would only ask for twelve percent commission.

Rüdiger Magowsky, manager of the boarding house in Jaich, confirmed the observation that the volume of bookings had not decreased. Martin Seiffert, manager of the hotel Haverkamp, explained HRS had denied his hotel access to the system because he participated in the boycott. The access has been restored but he is considering participation in the next round of the boycott anyway.

On February 15 the higher regional court of Düsseldorf had ordered HRS in a preliminary injunction not to enforce its preferential treatment clause. Already on February 10 the German Federal Cartel Office had admonished the company for violating §§ 1 and 20 of the German Act against Restraints of Competition.

Meanwhile Markus Luthe, the CEO of the German International Hotel Association (IHA), recommended establishing a “Hotelwiki” as a yellow pages directory of the hotel industry.

Posted in Uncategorized
Why Do I Need A Motion Detector

Why Do I Need A Motion Detector

Posted on by

By Larry Zolna

When you think of a Motion Detector what does it call up in your mind?

I’ve asked this question of many people and they generally think of a complete, expensive security system that sounds an alarm when someone tries to break in.

Good answer — but not exactly correct because Motion Detectors can do more than that — much more than that at a much more affordable price.

You may not want an expensive security system in your home — the learning curve can be long and confusing and you may have a monthly monitoring expense.

Motion Detectors can be stand-alones and portable. They can be placed anywhere you want to detect motion. They’re not limited to your house. You can use them in your office, warehouse, store, back yard or garage — just about anyplace you want to detect unsuspected motion.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p18qu4Te9j4[/youtube]

OK, just what are some other uses for a Motion Detector? Here are just a few uses that you may not have thought about:

College dorm rooms, Sorority and Fraternity houses — no one needs to tell you, especially in these days, about college campus security. Just mention the tragedy at Virginia Tech and it can bring chills to a parent with a child away at college.

Back doors and rear windows – everyone uses the front door. But putting a door alarm motion detector near the back door would alert you to possible intruders. And don’t forget the back windows, especially on the first floor. Window motion detectors will let you know if someone is trying to get into your house through the window.

Small children or even aged parents who live with you may need to be watched, especially if they wander around the house at night. A Motion Detector at their bedroom door or in the hallway will tell you if they leave their room.

Teenagers sneaking in and out of the house at all hours — you can monitor their activity at night with an alarm that is VERY loud, alerting the whole neighborhood — or you may prefer another Motion Detector that will quietly alert you in your bedroom to any movement in your hallway. You have your choice!

Driveways, sheds and back yards which contain boats, motorcycles, RVs or any other pieces of valuable equipment. Motion Detectors will alert you if someone is near these objects.

Motels and hotel rooms – Motion Detectors are portable and can add extra door protection.

Stores – Motion Detectors can be used to announce people coming into your store. You can also place one near your storeroom, back door or even near your safe or where you keep your valuables.

By the way, did you know that some Motion Detectors will call your cell phone and the police if someone trips the alarm? And, you can set these on silent alarm if you’d like so the cops can catch the creep while he’s still in the house.

Another great safety product, although not a Motion Detector, is a Personal Alarm that is worn on a child’s clothing or wrist that alerts the parent or nanny when the child wanders more than a few feet away, whether on the playground or in a shopping mall.

Don’t be the next victim! A Motion Detector makes it possible for you to know that someone is in your house who shouldn’t be. It gives you a chance to get ready for the intruder. You can prepare and arm yourself with a Stun Baton, Pepper Spray, or even a baseball bat. Now there’s no need to go downstairs at night in your jammies to try and protect your house. You can call the police in plenty of time before the bad guy can get any closer to you or your family.

Don’t become a Crime Statistic!

About the Author: Larry Zolna is a writer for Feel Safe and Secure, a seller of Home Security and Self Protection products as well as Wireless Hidden Cameras. Don’t Be the Next Victim! For more information on these products, please visit:

feelsafeandsecure.com

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=227578&ca=Family+Concerns

<div class=Last British volume car manufacturer closes down
" />

Last British volume car manufacturer closes down

Posted on by

Friday, April 15, 2005

The last British-owned volume car manufacturer, MG Rover, has closed down, with the loss of 5,000 jobs.

International accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCooper was brought in last week to put the company into administration. Today PwC announced that MG Rover’s only hope, the Chinese car company SAIC, had no interest in buying the ailing firm. With no further source of revenue, PwC has closed the company’s factory in Longbridge, Birmingham and has laid off 5,000 workers.

Some 1,000 workers will continue for a while to complete the remaining cars left on the production line.

The BBC reported PwC joint administrator Tony Lomas as saying “We’ll explore what we would describe as the break-up of the business, we will carry on with the interested parties who want to talk about pieces of the business.”. PwC said around 70 offers for various parts of the company had been made but no serious offers of money made.

Recent efforts to save the company had been centered on convincing SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.) to buy the company as a going concern, but the Chinese company stated it would only buy the company if it’s financial position could be guaranteed to be secure for at least two years. The British government could not make such a commitment due to European Union trade and competition rules.

The SAIC company did buy the designs for the 75 and 25 models and for the K-Series engines for £67m.

The Rover car company has a long but troubled history. It was formed in 1968 after a series of mergers of existing car manufacturers, and was nationalized in 1975 after it ran into financial difficulties. In 1979 a long-running deal to collaborate on developing new vehicles was established with the Japanese company Honda. In 1988 the company was privatized and was bought by British Aerospace. In 1994 British Aerospace sold the business to BMW, who then sold the Land Rover brand to Ford and finally sold the company in 2000 for just £10, retaining the well-known Mini brand for themselves. The MG Rover company was run by a private group until its collapse.

MG Rover has not launched a new model since the 75 was introduced in 1998 during the period of ownership by BMW. Their next newest model was the 25, originally launched as the 200 series some ten years ago. Rover also produced the 45, which dates from 1990, and the ZF sports car first launched in 1995. Sales of Rover cars accounted for just 3% of the UK car market in 2004.

Tony Blair announced a £150 million support package for the recently unemployed workers of the MG Rover plants, though it has been claimed that his generous offer may be more as a result of the nearby marginal seats in the upcoming elections than compassion on his part.

Posted in Uncategorized
<div class=Honda wins car, truck of the year, unveils Fit
" />

Honda wins car, truck of the year, unveils Fit

Posted on by

Monday, January 9, 2006

Honda’s Civic and Ridgeline truck won the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards at the International Auto Show in Detroit. This is the first time a company has won both awards in the same year. The finalists were the Ridgeline, the Ford Explorer SUV and the Nissan Xterra. The awards are intended to recognize vehicles for their innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction, and value. File:Ford Explorer.jpg

Honda also unveiled its latest model the Fit, a US version of the Honda Jazz sold in nonUS markets. The Fit comes with a 109 horsepower engine, antilock brakes, six air bags, fold flat seats, full iPod connectivity, 90.1 cubic feet of passenger and cargo space, and 33 mpg for the city 38 mpg for the highway. A sport package will also include Honda’s first steering wheel mounted paddle shifters. The car will go against another two new Japanese subcompacts, the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa and will have to wrestle away sales from the category’s current top seller Chevrolet’s Aveo.

The car will start selling in April for around $13,000 to $14,000 as a 2007 model. The company plans to sell 33,000 units of the hatchback in 2006.

Many automakers expect industry wide sales in the US to be between 16 and 17 million units. Honda, which is Japan’s third largest automaker, hopes to gain US market share with the redesigned Civic and the Fit. Honda hopes that the company’s auto sales will rise 4% this year. The fuel-efficient Civic helped increase US market share to 8.6 percent last year, some of those sales were taken from Ford as gas prices rocketed to $3 a gallon. The US market is extremely important for Honda as it receives 64% of its operating profit from the US.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

Posted in Uncategorized
<div class=North American roads suffer from dramatic thaws and freezes
" />

North American roads suffer from dramatic thaws and freezes

Posted on by

Monday, January 8, 2007

Major city roads across North America are suffering from an early surge in potholes due to the dramatic freezes and thaws this month, some several feet across and inches deep. The potholes are caused by water seeping into cracks during warm weather, and pushing concrete apart when it freezes. Traffic erodes chunks of concrete from the cracks to form holes that continuously grow larger.

While car repair shops are experiencing a boom in business, city budgets are being hit with the costs of patching potholes. Thierry Larivée, an infrastructure spokesman in Montréal, Canada, says about 20 pothole patrols are working throughout the city. They are expected to continue work until at least Friday.

Craig Bryson, spokesman for the Road Commission for Oakland County in Michigan, United States, reports problems on unpaved roads as well. “The warmer weather is also playing havoc with gravel roads; the top layer of dirt thaws, but remains frozen about 10 inches below the surface. Surface water has no place to go. This creates a rutted, soupy road, especially in low-lying areas.”

Environment Canada meteorologist René Héroux attributes the unseasonable thaw to warm winds from the southwest. Environment Canada predicts a new cold front on Thursday.

Posted in Uncategorized
<div class=Fire strikes Slovak Academy of Sciences
" />

Fire strikes Slovak Academy of Sciences

Posted on by

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Virology Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) in Bratislava was severely damaged by fire. The flames reportedly reached as high as one hundred meters. The fire most likely started from the gas tank used for oxy-fuel welding during the building’s restoration process, SAS speaker Viera Rosová said.

Firefighters from all Bratislava fire-stations took part in the fire-fighting operation. The situation was complicated by dense smoke, necessitating the use of gas masks.

Thanks to a quick evacuation of SAS employees and construction workers, none were injured. However, some equipment of the top-level scientific facility was damaged and various research projects will be affected as well, Rosová admitted. The “software unit containing information of incalculable value” was rescued in time, reports say.

There is no danger of toxic spills or leak of viruses. The micro-biotic organisms studied in the institute are safely stored and infected animals were not held in this building. The institute owns about two thousand animals. The virology samples will be destroyed as the coolers went out of service after the power supply was cut for security reasons during fire-fighting. The SAS vice-chairman Albert Beier estimated the value of the cooler boxes to be close to two million Euros. “They often contain a life-long work of our researchers,” he added.

Posted in Uncategorized