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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

In France, voting has traditionally been a low-tech experience: voters isolate themselves in a booth, put a pre-printed sheet of paper indicating their candidate of choice into an envelope. After officials verify the voter’s identity, the voter drops the envelope into the ballot box and signs the voting roll. French electoral law rather strictly codifies the proceedings. Since 1988, ballot boxes must be transparent so that voters and observers can witness that no envelopes are present at the start of the vote and that no envelopes are added except those of the duly counted and authorized voters. Candidates can send representatives to witness every part of the process. In the evening, votes are counted by volunteers under heavy supervision, following specific procedures.

In the past, voting machines, though authorized by law, were scarce. But this year, during presidential elections (the first round was April 22, the second is on May 6), the country is shaken by controversy about the machines intended to count about 1.5 million votes.

As in the United States, there is a group of academic computer scientists that oppose voting machines. They argue that voting machines replace a public, easily understandable counting process, where large-scale fraud would entail large-scale corruption, by an opaque process where votes are counted by machines that voters have to blindly trust. Voting machines have to be approved by the Ministry of the Interior, but this approval is based on confidential reports by private companies. Opponents to the machines point out that the Ministry was long held by Nicolas Sarkozy, who happens to be the leading candidate. Opponents also list a number of weaknesses and discrepancies that have occurred in other countries using voting machines.

All main political parties except UMP, Mr Sarkozy’s ruling party, oppose the voting machines. Some citizens have filed for court injunctions against the voting machines. Opponents have given detailed instructions that voting witnesses should check whether the machines correspond exactly to an approved type, including software versions, and fulfill all legal conditions. In a sign of the frenzy over the issue, on April 12 the Ministry of the Interior issued a last-minute authorization for a specific model (hardware, firmware). The stakes are high: votes on unapproved machines should be canceled by the Constitutional Council for the official count.

The opposition has crystallized on the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. Issy’s mayor, André Santini is a well-known technophile; his city organizes a “World E-Gov Forum”. Here too, last minute fixes are at work. The machines delivered to the city are of a yet-to-be-approved type. The manufacturer, the American company ES&S voting systems, is now delivering older 2005 machines. Le Monde reports that other municipalities have already replaced their recent machines by an older, approved, model.

Proponents of the machines, such as the French company France Élection, claim they are being defamed and dispute the competence of their critics. Elected officials supporting the machines claim the machines save on paper, time, and the need to find volunteers to count votes.

You Can Get Free Estimates On Windows In Fountain, Co

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byAlma Abell

Most homes and businesses have windows, and sometimes those windows can take a beating. They break, stop opening properly, and let in the drafts. If you are considering giving your home or office a makeover and want to replace a window in your home, you can do it with very little effort on your part. All it takes from you is a phone call to ask for help from the professionals who know more about this job than anyone else.

Time can contribute to windows allowing cold air in and warm air out or vice versa, depending on the season. This can increase your power bill more than you may realize. Before you watch as your money goes out the window you need new windows in Fountain, CO area. You can have them replaced, enlarged, or downsized if you want to while you are at it. Your new one will be more energy efficient and you will most likely see a difference in your power bill within a very short time.

If life throws a curve ball your way and it happens to land in your window, before you attempt to clean it up yourself, perhaps you should see if you can get help removing the broken glass shards. This ensures that neither you nor others are cut by the glass. A number of places offering replacements will help you clean up the mess and give you a fair price on a new window matching other ones in your home or your business if you really want.

Perhaps you simply do not want the Windows in Fountain, CO that you have in your home or office building anymore. Maybe you are remodeling and would like to move the windows to a new area or enlarge them, letting in more light. It does not matter what reason you may have, finding out a price to see if you can get started on the renovation project is easy. Your home should be exactly the way you want it to be. You should not settle for anything less. Simply call for your free estimate.

For more info, contact C And C Roofing And Construction.

SpaceX scrubs Falcon I rocket launch

Monday, November 28, 2005

SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered.

This long-anticipated flight was originally expected to be launched in January 2005, however a series of setbacks forced a series of delays, with the flight most recently scheduled to be in early 2006. It was intended to be launched from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The maiden voyage was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite and a Space Services Incorporated space burial payload.

10 billionth song downloaded from Apple’s iTunes Store

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Ten billion songs have been downloaded from the iTunes Store, an online digital media store which is owned by Apple Incorporated. Louie Sulcer, of Woodstock in Georgia, downloaded “Guess Things Happen That Way” by American musician, Johnny Cash, which became the ten billionth song downloaded from iTunes. Sulcer won an iTunes gift card worth US$10,000 (approximately £6,550 or €7,380), after purchasing a song on the iTunes Store to win the prize.

Beforehand, Apple had launched a competition entitled “Countdown to 10 Billion Song Downloads”, where the person to make the ten billionth “entry” of a song from the iTunes Store would win the gift card. An “entry” could be created by either downloading a song from the iTunes store, or by filling in a form on the Apple website.

The rules of the competition stated that “the downloading of the 10 billionth song is considered to be either the downloading of the 10 billionth song from iTunes or the receipt of the non-purchase entry after the download of the 9,999,999,999th song, whichever comes first.” Below is a table of the twenty most downloaded songs of all time from Apple’s iTunes Store. The list was initially placed on the website.

Rank	Song	Artist
1	“I Gotta Feeling“	Black Eyed Peas
2	“Poker Face“	Lady Gaga
3	“Boom Boom Pow“	Black Eyed Peas
4	“I’m Yours“	Jason Mraz
5	“Viva la Vida“	Coldplay
6	“Just Dance” (feat. Colby O’Donis)	Lady Gaga
7	“Low” (feat. T-Pain)	Flo Rida
8	“Love Story“	Taylor Swift
9	“Bleeding Love“	Leona Lewis
10	“TiK ToK“	Ke$ha
11	“Disturbia“	Rihanna
12	“So What“	P!nk
13	“I Kissed a Girl“	Katy Perry
14	“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)“	Beyoncé
15	“Hot N Cold“	Katy Perry
16	“Stronger“	Kanye West
17	“Live Your Life” (feat. Rihanna)	T.I.
18	“Hey There Delilah“	Plain White T’s
19	“Right Round” (feat. Ke$ha)	Flo Rida
20	“Party in the U.S.A.“	Miley Cyrus

What Is The Process Of Water Purification?

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byadmin

There are a number of different ways to create pure water from water that comes from natural sources or indeed, water that emanates from human drainage systems. The most common water purification in Lincoln, NE is when water is extracted from a constant source and mechanically enhanced by removing all the physical impurities. Once the physical impurities have been removed from the source water and any harmful bacteria or organisms in the water have been destroyed the water is safe for human consumption.

The process of water purification begins when water is taken from the source, this can be a river, lake or a sewer system. The water is first sent to huge holding tanks where it is allowed to sit motionless for long enough for much of the suspended material to be separated as it sinks to the bottom of the tank.

Once the initial separation process has been completed the water moves on to the actual purification process. It moves from the holding tank to another tank where large physical objects are removed, not sediment. At this stage the pH of the water is adjusted to within specific limits and sodium carbonate is put into the water, this begins a reaction that results in calcium carbonate.From here the water moves to areas where the water is disinfected. As it moves from the second holding tank and heads to the area where water purification in Lincoln, NE takes place, harmful microbes are destroyed. In the past the destruction of the microbes was done with chlorine, today much of the purification process is done using hydrogen peroxide, UV light and ozone.

At this stage the water is still not purified, it must be subjected to a process called flocculation. Based on the original source of the water and the location of the purification plant tiny particles are added to the water. These tiny particles are attracted to one another and many of the common impurities found in water. These particles eventually form small balls of impure material; this water then flows to another tank where the little balls settle on the bottom.

The final stage of the purification process is active filtering. Many different filtering methods exist but the most common is to force the water through a bed of sand. Once filtration is complete the water is fit for human consumption and is piped to the consumer through the municipal water distribution system.

Dissolved mineral salts, excessive chorine and even bacteria can still remain in the municipal water when it arrives in your home and further water purification in Lincoln, NE will improve the taste and odor. You are invited to contact Futuramic’s Clean Water Center to learn more about their reverse osmosis and UV sterilization systems.

Pakistan frames law against ‘honour killing’

Sunday, October 9, 2016

On Thursday, Pakistan’s parliament announced a bill has been passed against the practice of honour killing. Per the legislation, those convicted of honour killing would be imprisoned for 25 years to life.

In the practice of honour killing, men had the right to kill a female relative deemed to have brought dishonour to the family. Thus, murderers could avoid death-for-death Qisas ^{((ar))Arabic: ?retribution in kind} by paying blood money according to Diyya ^{((ar))Arabic: ?blood money} in Shari’a law.

The legislation, which was jointly approved by upper and lower parliament, allows the perpetrator to avoid the death penalty if the victim’s family forgives him, but the convict still faces imprisonment.

Last year, more than 1000 honour killing cases were reported in Pakistan. The legislation was presented as eliminating loopholes from past legislation against honour-killing. Pakistani human rights activist Farzana Bari noted the judge has unrestricted power to choose whether the murder qualifies as honour killing.

Asserting in parliament that 17,000 females in Pakistan have eloped since 2014, Conservative senator Hafiz Hamdulla later told the Associated Press, “They are trying to impose Western culture over here. We will not allow […] We will impose the law that our holy Quran and Sunnah say”.

The parliament also passed an anti-rape law mandating a DNA test. According to Shari’a law, proof of rape calls for multiple eyewitnesses. According to the legislation, the rapist of a minor or disabled person would face life imprisonment or a death sentence.

After the bill against honour killing was passed, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, “Women are the most essential part of our society and I believe in their empowerment, protection and emancipation.”

Wikinews interviews Spanish Paralympic swimmer Deborah Font

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Last Friday at Madrid–Barajas Airport, Wikinews interviewed Spanish Paralympic swimmer Deborah Font, who is competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships that started this Monday in Montreal, Canada. Font has finished second in Monday’s Women’s 100 meter Freestyle S12 Heat 1, before going on to finish fourth in the Women’s 100 meter Freestyle S12 Final with a time of 1:03.20, less than a second behind bronze medalist German Naomi Maike Schnittger.

((Wikinews)) I’m Laura Hale, I’m interviewing Deborah Font for Wikinews. Deborah is going to the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal. You’re already a Paralympic medallist, right? You’ve won several medals at the Paralympics before?

Deborah Font: I won two medals in Sydney [2000 Summer Paralympic Games], a gold medal and bronze medal; in Athens [2004 Summer Paralympic Games] two silver medals and one bronze medal; in Beijing [2008 Summer Paralympic Games] one bronze medal; and in London [2012 Summer Paralympic Games] one bronze medal. Seven in Paralympic Games.

((WN)) And in World Championships?

Deborah Font: I don’t know the exact number. Several.

((WN)) What style do you swim?

Deborah Font: 400m freestyle.

((WN)) Okay, and you’re going to do that in Montreal?

Deborah Font: In Montreal I’ll do 400m freestyle.

((WN)) You think you’re going to get a medal?

Deborah Font: Yes, I’m fighting for a silver or bronze medal.

((WN)) What classification are you?

Deborah Font: S-12.

((WN)) S-12. So you have partial vision.

Deborah Font: Yeah, partial. [I can see a little.]

((WN)) Since you cannot see perfectly, when you swim, can you see the people next to you?

Deborah Font: I can see those next to me, but not perfectly. I see those near to me, but not those far from me.

((WN)) Do you think about other swimmers when you swim, or is it a disadvantage because you cannot see swimmers farther away?

Deborah Font: I swim my race, and don’t see the other swimmers.

((WN)) They don’t matter when you swim? You swim against yourself, your best time?

Deborah Font: I swim against myself, I don’t see the other swimmers too much. My race, myself, I go inside myself.

((WN)) Do you have any sponsors?

Deborah Font: No, no sponsors.

((WN)) How difficult is it to swim in Spain for Paralympic swimmers when you don’t have sponsors?

Deborah Font: We have a Paralympic Committee. It’s difficult having sponsors in Spain. For the Olympics, athletes don’t have many sponsors, and for Paralympics it’s more difficult.

((WN)) Where are you from?

Deborah Font: Barcelona.

((WN)) Is swimming more competitive in Barcelona, in Madrid…? Where do you think the best swimmers come from?

Deborah Font: They come from all Spain, but train only in Madrid or Barcelona. Most in Barcelona. (laughs)

((WN)) Is there a reason most of the swimmers train in Barcelona?

Deborah Font: There are more possibilities for training in good swimming pools. The “Centros de Alto Rendimiento” [High Performance Centres] are in Madrid or Barcelona.

((WN)) Coming in into the World Championships, did you do any special training, or change how you prepare?

Deborah Font: I did special training with a coach that only trains three or four of us at the High Performance Centre. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Entrenamos con entrenador especial que por ejemplo él solo nos entrena a tres o cuatro paralímpicos, en el Centro de Alto Rendimiento pero con un entrenador especial que nos sigue a diario y que nos lo hace especialmente para nosotros.}

((WN)) This is a pretty dumb question, but I know a lot of people who look at blind swimmers and they go how can they swim at a straight line? Can you clarify how people with vision impairments can actually swim?

Deborah Font: Well, in swimming it’s all technique and a lot of learning, and learning to swim by the middle of the lane involves a lot of training, habit… Perhaps it’s more difficult for completely blind people, but it’s all a matter of training, trying again and again, get to know the swimming pool… But I think the most difficult thing is to learn to swim the technique without being able to see the others, and to know what you are moving, your arm here and not there… and learning to touch the wall, it’s harder to calculate, especially when competing, because you cannot see the distance you have to the wall. ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Bueno, para nadar casi todo es técnica y mucho aprendizaje, y para nadar recto en la calle es por entrenamiento, por costumbre, por… quizás es más dicifil cuando se es ciego total ir por el medio justo, pero bueno todo está entrenado, es a base de entrenar, intentarlo, conocerte la piscina… Pero creo que lo más dificil es aprender a nadar la técnica sin ver a los demás, y saber lo que estás moviendo, el brazo, y si lo pones aquí, no lo pones aquí, pues eso sí, y llegar a la pared también, es como más dificil de calcular, sobre todo en competición, que no ves la pared a la distancia que estás.}

((WN)) Thank you very much!

Japan raises severity level of crisis; efforts to cool damaged nuclear power plant continue

Friday, March 18, 2011

As the nuclear crisis in Japan’s crippled Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant appears to worsen, Japan’s nuclear safety agency raised their assessment of its severity from 4 to 5 on the 7-level International Nuclear Event Scale, the same rating given the 1979 Three Mile Island crisis. Japan’s Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said bluntly that the situation at the nuclear power plant was “very grave”. Weather forecasts indicate changing winds may begin moving radiation closer to Tokyo by March 30.

Efforts thus far to cool nuclear fuel in the reactors and the spent-fuel pools has produced little if any success, contends United States government officials.

Engineers are working frantically to connect electrical power to two reactors in the plant, as well as to restart the cooling systems and prevent overheating of fuel rods. Tokyo Electric Power Co. stated that it hopes to reconnect a power line needed to restart water pumps to the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors by Saturday morning. However, a TEPCO official cautioned that if the water pumps were damaged by the tsunami, they could fail to restart.

The extent of the damage to the plant’s reactors is still unclear. Japanese officials have concentrated on cooling spent fuel rods in Reactor No. 3’s storage pool. On Friday, however, steam was seen rising from Reactor No. 2., where an explosion occurred on Tuesday. Additionally, engineers said on Thursday that the steel lining of the storage pool at Reactor No. 4 and its concrete base seemed damaged, as attempts to refill the pool with water became increasingly difficult.

In a briefing on Friday, Philippe Jamet, a commissioner at France’s nuclear regulator Autorite de Surete Nucleaire, said, “We must avoid being overly optimistic. This will likely take human intervention like going into control rooms to reconnect valves.”

Slipcover Mall Your Destination For The Best Quality Sofa Slipcovers}

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Slipcover Mall-Your Destination for the Best Quality Sofa Slipcovers

Bradford RichardEvery home uses some specific types of furniture. Among the most common furniture items, you must consider the sofa sets that are available in almost all the homes. Though these may differ in terms of material, design, and size, they perform similar utilities for every home. As a matter of fact, these sofa sets are very durable by their make and that is why it is the responsibility of the users to take very good care of these items and it is here that the users find how useful the sofa slipcovers can be for them and their sofasets.

It is true that the sofa sets remain totally safe and secure in these slipcovers and that is why the users must be very careful about buying the best one for their sofas. Though these covers for sofa sets are available almost everywhere, you need to find them from the most authentic place so that you can be assured about everything that determine the quality and durability of the sofa covers. For this, you must remember the name of Slipcover Mall, the company that is the home of the best quality of sofa covers.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juUQ0Gg1lSU[/youtube]

As because it is the home of the best quality of covers, so it has a large variety of all types of slipcovers that you might be looking for. You can consider various things while visiting the company at its outlet, both online and offline. However, you need to do a few tasks before you start your proceedings. You need to find out the size and shape of your sofaset that you have at your home. Apart from this, you would also need to consider the color and fabric of the slipcover for your sofa. However, you should never fail or forget to make a budget for your shopping as these are available at a variety of pricing.

Slipcover Mall is a US based company and it has its outlet at Connecticut. If you can reach the company outlet directly then you can find the treasure of these covers in front of your eyes. You can discover all the options well before you buy anything. You must keep all your option open so that you can grab the best product that can met your product. You can find the widest range of these covers where you need to be very specific about size, shape, and color. You must pay very good attention towards the quality of these products so that you can get the best as well as the most durable product for you.

You must be happy to know that the company delivers these products globally these days and you can get the best slipcovers for your sofaset sitting comfortably at your place. In this case, you would need to shop sofa covers online and for that you would need to depend upon the website of the company that allows customers from anywhere in the world to visit the online store and place their orders. The company charges additionally from these global customers. You can visit the website, surf through the products and find the one that you have been looking for.

Richard Bradford has been an experienced interior decorator who has a great experience in the use of the best types of furniture, especially the sofas and sofa slipcovers. He advises everyone to visit the Slipcover Mall to buy all types of

sofa slipcovers

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com}

Market Data

Warning: The information on this page may be incorrect and/or outdated. Don’t trust it.

Information about the world’s markets index, no longer maintained.

Index Name	Description	Current Value	Change	Updated
^MERV	MerVal (Argentina)	1479.650	25.720	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^AORD	All Ordinaries (Australia)	4338.100	0	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^ATX	ATX (Austria)	4.898,18	-0.1%	Friday, June 22, 2007
^BFX	BEL-20 (Belgium)	3198.57	11.59	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^BVSP	Bovespa (Brazil)	24868.471	337.682	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^GSPTSE	S&P TSX Composite (Canada)	10367.89	5.34	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^SSEC	Shanghai Composite (China)	1072.807	27.407	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^PX50	PX50 (Czech Republic)	0	0	Monday, January 01, 0001
^KFX	KFX (Denmark)	348.10	-0.22	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^CCSI	CMA (Egypt)	1753.22	-16.36	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^FCHI	CAC 40 (France)	4420.78	-1.34	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^GDAXI	DAX (Germany)	4843.49	0.79	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^HSI	Hang Seng (Hong Kong)	28,228.04	+457.75 (1.65%)	Monday, October 09, 2007
^BSESN	BSE 30 (India)	7612.00	-3.99	Wednesday, August 24, 2005
^JKSE	Jakarta Composite (Indonesia)	2,846.24	0	Wednesday, May 5, 2010
^TA100	TA-100 (Israel)	694.76	-0.52	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^MIBTEL	MIBTel (Italy)	25703.000	28.000	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^N225	Nikkei 225 (Japan)	11737.96	-24.69	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^KLSE	KLSE Composite (Malaysia)	935.74	-4.10	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^MXX	IPC (Mexico)	14067.730	-67.510	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^AEX	AEX General (Netherlands)	395.55	1.01	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^NZ50	NZSE 50 (New Zealand)	3348.232	0	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^OSEAX	OSE All Share (Norway)	330.032	0.104	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^MTMS	Moscow Times (Russia)	0	0	Monday, January 01, 0001
^STI	Straits Times (Singapore)	2321.77	0	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^KS11	Seoul Composite (South Korea)	1090.6	0	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^SMSI	Madrid General (Spain)	1085.59	2.30	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^SXAXPI	Stockholm General (Sweden)	265.55	0.44	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^SSMI	Swiss Market (Switzerland)	6521.02	17.08	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^TWII	Taiwan Weighted (Taiwan)	6366.16	0	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^XU100	ISE National-100 (Turkey)	0	0	Monday, January 01, 0001
^FTSE	FTSE 100 (United Kingdom)	5256.20	-14.50	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^DJI	Dow Jones Industrials (USA)	11,076.34	+104.06	March 11, 2006
^NYA	NYSE Composite (USA)	8,079.24	+71.41	March 11, 2006
^IXIC	NASDAQ Composite (USA)	2175.99	9.25	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^GSPC	S&P 500 (USA)	1231.16	2.13	Tuesday, July 26, 2005

This page is no longer current and/or valid. It is kept for historical record or interest. Do not assume content on this page is still technically correct.If the information contained on this page becomes timely again, please remove this tag.

Index	Description	Last	Change	As of
^DJI	Dow Jones Industrials (USA)	11,076.34	+104.06	March 11, 2006
^NYA	NYSE Composite (USA)	8,079.24	+71.41	March 11, 2006
^IXIC	NASDAQ Composite (USA)	2175.99	9.25	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^AORD	All Ordinaries (Australia)	4338.100	0	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
^FTSE	FTSE 100 (United Kingdom)	5256.20	-14.50	Tuesday, July 26, 2005
more indices

Forex Gold Index: $424.30/barrel, $0.80

1 US Dollar (US$):

= STG£0.5349 = €0.7727 = ¥106.4000

1 Euro (€):

= STG£0.6923 = $1.2942 = ¥137.6900

1 Pound Sterling (STG£):

= US$1.8694 = €1.4443 = ¥198.8550

1 Japanese Yen (¥)

= STG£0.0050 = $0.0094 = €0.0073

(Commodities & currencies as of 2005-03-24 T 23:00 UTC, or last close were applicable. None of this data is guaranteed to be correct. Please read our General disclaimer and Risk disclaimer.)|}

Market Data/Energy

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