Media
Wikimedia is a global movement whose mission is to bring free educational content to the world. Through various projects, chapters, and the support structure of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia strives to bring about a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. 1)
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a project to build free encyclopedias in all languages of the world.
Wiktionary
Wiktionary is a project to create a multilingual free content dictionary in every language.
Wikiquote
Wikiquote is a repository of quotations taken from famous people, books, speeches, films or any intellectually interesting materials. Proverbs, mnemonics or slogans are also included in Wikiquote.
Wikibooks
Wikibooks aims to build a collection of free e-book resources, including textbooks, language courses, manuals, and annotated public domain books. It aims to help both (self-)instruction of students and teachers in high schools and universities.
Wikisource
Wikisource is a multilingual project to archive a collection of free and open content texts.
Wikispecies
Wikispecies is an open, wiki-based project to provide a central, more extensive species database for taxonomy. It covers living and fossil representatives of Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Bacteria, Archaea, Protista and all other forms of life.
Wikinews
The Wikinews project was launched with the mission to report the news on a wide variety of subjects. Contributors from around the world write news articles collaboratively. Reports range from original reporting and interviews to summaries of news from external sources. All reports are required to be written from a neutral point of view.
- Sixteen states sue U.S. President Trump to stop declaration of emergency for border wall (2019/02/22 01:02)
Thursday, February 21, 2019
On Monday, attorneys general from sixteen states filed a combined lawsuit against the state of emergency United States President Donald Trump declared last Friday so he could fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.
The motion claims Trump's declaration is unconstitutional, and that the states filing suit have standing to do so because building the wall would divert funding away from programs that would otherwise be performed to the benefit of these states. Because only Congress may allocate funds in this way, reads the motion, the declaration of state of emergency violates the United States Constitution's separation of powers clause. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California.
Trump's state of emergency appears to allow him to pull funding for the border wall from other places: potentially, according to Al Jazeera, US$3.6 billion from a Pentagon construction budget, $2.5 billion from anti-drug programs, and $601 million from a forfeiture fund within the U.S. Treasury Department.
"President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. "He knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court."
Becerra is joined in this legal action by attorneys general from Maine, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Hawaii.
On Friday, President Trump declared a state of emergency so he could begin the construction of additional wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, claiming this would stem illegal immigration. Congress has repeatedly denied funding for such a wall, and the conflict between congressional leaders and the president caused a delay in budgetary decisions that led to a government shutdown lasting several weeks this past December and January. On Friday, Congress approved a budget authorizing funding with about a quarter as much money as the president had requested for a border wall. He declared a state of emergency the same day.
This is not the first lawsuit to be filed against the state of emergency. On Friday, an environmental group and private property owners from the border state of Texas filed a motion claiming the state of emergency is unconstitutional and violated their property rights.
Related news[edit]
- "President Trump says he 'can' and 'may' put US into state of emergency to build border wall" — Wikinews, January 7, 2019
Sources[edit]
- "Sixteen US states sue Trump over emergency wall declaration" — Al Jazeera, February 18, 2019
- Camilo Montoya-Galvez. "16 states sue Trump administration over national emergency declaration" — CBS News, February 18, 2019
- "US gov't shutdown: How long? Who is affected? Why did it begin?" — Al Jazeera, January 25, 2019
- Fire kills nine, injures dozens in Chittagong, Bangladesh slum (2019/02/18 04:33)
Monday, February 18, 2019
A fire yesterday morning destroyed at least 200 makeshift homes in a slum in Chittagong, a port city in Bangladesh. Officials said it killed nine people and injured at least 50 more.
Jasim Uddin, a spokesperson for the fire service, told the Associated Press four victims were from a single family. Following the fire's start it took around five hours to gain control of the blaze as it consumed bamboo and tarpaulin housing. The fire in Bhera Market broke out at around 3:30am. The fire service was reportedly investigating the possibility of an electrical fault triggering the accident.
Millions dwell in the nation's slums, and while there was no suggestion on Sunday of sabotage, local activists claimed fires have in the past been deliberately set to clear away slum buildings for redevelopment. One activist, Nur Khan Liton, on Sunday told Agence France-Presse arson has been used "as a weapon to evict poor slum dwellers and squatters from government or private property" by developers.
Yesterday morning also saw an earthquake of reported magnitude 4.9 in the city. No injuries were recorded; buildings in the city were shaken.
Sources[edit]
- "Bangladesh: Deadly blaze kills nine in Chittagong slum" — al-Jazeera, February 17, 2019
- "Bangladesh slum fire: Nine dead in Chittagong blaze" — BBC News Online, February 17, 2019
- "Chittagong struck by 4.9 earthquake" — Dhaka Tribune, February 17, 2019
- Francis D'Souza, former Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, dies aged 64 (2019/02/17 18:01)
Sunday, February 17, 2019
On Thursday, Francis D'Souza, previously the Deputy Chief Minister of the state of Goa, India, died. He had been suffering from cancer. He was 64 years old.
D'Souza had relatively recently been dismissed from being a minister because of his health. He had advanced pancreatic cancer.
Goa's government announced three days of mourning for D'Souza. Damodar Naik, spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party, said D'Souza had been an "iconic" leader of the party.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar tweeted he was "[e]xtremely pained to hear about the demise of my dear childhood friend, colleague and former Deputy Chief Minister (Dy CM) of Goa advocate Francis D'Souza. A wonderful human being and a leader loved by all. He devoted himself to public service. His demise is a great personal loss". D'Souza worked with Manohar's government, being the Deputy Chief Minister.
State Congress President Girish Chodankar called D'Souza "humble and soft-spoken". The Aam Aadmi Party in Goa, in its statement, said he was a "gentleman politician".
Sources[edit]
- "BJP MLA Francis D'Souza dies, 3-day state mourning declared" — outlook (magazine), February 14, 2019
- "Former Goa Dy CM Francis D’Souza dies at 64" — The Indian Express, 15 February, 2019
- Study indicates as great white shark disappears, living fossil moves in (2019/02/17 00:58)
Saturday, February 16, 2019
On Wednesday, scientists from the University of Miami and Apex Shark Expeditions published a study in Scientific Reports, an on-line journal, documenting the disappearance of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) from a specific area off the coast of South Africa. The study found that when the whites disappeared, a Jurassic-era predator called the sevengill shark (Notorhynchus cepedianus) moved in.
The study was a collaborative project between Neil Hammerschlag of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami and Chris Fallows of Apex Shark Expeditions, a company that conducts cage diving and shark viewing trips.
The study covered more than 8000 hours of shark observations in South Africa's False Bay spread out over the past 18 years. The great white shark population remained relatively stable until 2015, at which point their numbers went into sharp decline, sometimes reaching zero during 2017–2018. At those times, another predator, the sevengill shark, previously unknown in the study area, began to appear. The sevengill is sometimes called a living fossil because it closely resembles similar sharks from prehistoric times.
Fallows remarked, "In 18+ years of working at Seal Island, we had never seen sevengill sharks in our surveys[...] Following the disappearance of white sharks in 2017, sevengill began to show up for the first time and have been increasing in number ever since."
The study itself outlined the tight correlation between the absence of white sharks and the presence of sevengills: "[S]evengill sharks [...] were only detected during the prolonged periods of complete white shark absence, disappearing from our surveys during the intermittent short periods when white sharks temporarily returned to Seal Island, albeit in very low numbers, only to reappear when the white sharks were again absent from surveys[.]"
The sevengill shark usually lives in areas where the sea floor is thick with kelp, as opposed to the relatively clear-bottomed study area. The sevengill and great white are both ordinarily apex predators and seek some of the same food, such as cape fur seals, but great whites can also prey directly on sevengills. The great white shark and orca are the only species known to eat adult sevengills. The sevengill has seven gills, whereas most species of shark have only five gills on each side of their bodies.
The scientists behind the present study only noted various hypotheses about the cause of the disappearance of great white sharks from this area, though Dr. Alison Kock of the University of Cape Town has reported a correlation with the entry of orcas into False Bay, possibly because human activity has rendered prey hard to find elsewhere. These orcas, she suggested, specialize in hunting sharks.
The researchers noted the sevengill sharks might not have the same effect on the ecosystems involved as the great whites have had, citing the ecological disruption apparently caused off Alaska when a change in orca behavior had a knock-on effect, disrupting sea otters' predation of sea urchins, whose population then exploded, plowing through the area's kelp forests.
Sources[edit]
- "South Africa wants its great white sharks back: Cape Town waters invaded by sevengills" — NZ Herald, February 14, 2019
- "New study finds ecosystem changes following loss of great white sharks" — University of Miami, February 13, 2019
- Neil Hammerschlag, Lacey Williams, Monique Fallows, and Chris Fallows. "Disappearance of white sharks leads to the novel emergence of an allopatric apex predator, the sevengill shark" — Scientific Reports, February 13, 2019
- Jay Caboz. "'New' killer whales have moved to South Africa - and are feasting on local great white sharks" — Business Insider South Africa, February 5, 2019
- "Apex Shark Expeditions" — Apexpredators.com, January 25, 2019 (date last updated)
- J.A. Estes, M.T. Tinker, T.M. Williams, D.F. Doak. "Killer Whale Predation on Sea Otters Linking Oceanic and Nearshore Ecosystems (Abstract)" — Science (journal), October 16, 1998
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Wikiversity
Wikiversity is a project dedicated to learning materials and learning communities, as well as research. Wikiversity is not limited to university (or tertiary) level materials, but is open to materials and communities of all learner levels. The way it can facilitate learning activities and communities is still being explored, but is centered around the model of 'learning by doing', or 'experiential learning'.
Wikivoyage
Wikivoyage aims to create the world's largest free, complete and up-to-date world-wide travel guide.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons provide a central repository for free photographs, diagrams, maps, videos, animations, music, sounds, spoken texts, and other free media. It is a multilingual project with contributors speaking dozens of languages, that serves as a central repository for all Wikimedia projects.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 22 (2019/02/22 02:00)
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Sunflower at a field in Köcking, market town Eberndorf, district Völkermarkt, Carinthia, Austria, EU - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 21 (2019/02/21 02:00)
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Reflections in the Uyuni salt flat during sunrise, Daniel Campos Province, Potosí Department, southwesten Bolivia, not far from the crest of the Andes. This salt flat is, with a surface of 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi), the world's largest, and during the rain saison (December-February) offers spectacular reflexions. - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 20 (2019/02/20 02:00)
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Female village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus cucullatus) in The Gambia - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 19 (2019/02/19 02:00)
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The Bavarian National Museum (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum) in Munich is one of the most important museums of decorative arts in Europe and one of the largest art museums in Germany. - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 18 (2019/02/18 02:00)
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 17 (2019/02/17 02:00)
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A footbridge reflected in the former salt ponds of Peyriac-de-Mer, France. - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 16 (2019/02/16 02:00)
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View of one of the 5 buildings in the Masoudieh Mansion, Tehran, Iran. The mansion dates from 1878 and is named after Prince Masoud Mirza, son of Persia's king Naser al-Din Shah. The building houses the first Iranian library and museum back to the beginning of the 20th century. - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 15 (2019/02/15 02:00)
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The Maximilianeum in Munich, seat of the Bavarian State Legislature, at night with light trails created by a passing streetcar. - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 14 (2019/02/14 02:00)
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White cultivar Hippeastrum 'Intokazi' - Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for February 13 (2019/02/13 02:00)
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Waterfalls in the Seebach Valley near Mallnitz, High Tauern National Park, Carinthia, Austria
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Wikidata
Wikidata aims to create a free knowledge base about the world that can be read and edited by humans and machines alike. The data available in Wikidata is licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 License to allow third-party users to freely reuse the data available, unlike other Wikimedia projects.
MediaWiki
The MediaWiki open source community maintains several software projects.
Meta-Wiki
Meta-Wiki is a project used as a central hub for various coordination and organization tasks, such as discussions affecting multiple wikis or planning upcoming events.
Wikimedia Incubator
The Wikimedia Incubator is a wiki used for developing new wikis.
Wikimedia Labs
Wikimedia Labs 2) is a project aimed to help volunteers get involved in Wikimedia operations and software development, and to make it easier for system administrators and developers to try out improvements to Wikimedia infrastructure, including MediaWiki.