The deaths of four people in house fires overnight increased the pressure on Britain's government yesterday to end the first nationwide firefighters' strike in 25 years.
The 48-hour strike, which started at 6pm on Wednesday, has diverted military personnel from preparations for a possible war with Iraq, and comes as Britons are being warned of possible terror attacks in the run-up to Christmas.
Two elderly men and one woman were reported to have died in separate house fires in Newton, Wales; in Burnley in north England and at Halesowen in the West Midlands.
PHOTO: AP
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told parliament of a fourth fatality but gave no details.
The mood among striking firemen in Stratford-upon-Avon, in central England, was defiant but downbeat yesterday.
"The mood was very somber last night, it was depressing, nobody wants to do it," leading firefighter John Vale said. "They are all in the same position, where they feel they have been pushed into a corner."
It was not immediately clear whether any of the deaths could have been prevented had the firefighters been at work. But in the Halesowen case, soldiers providing emergency cover in archaic "Green Goddess" fire engines took 20 minutes to reach the scene.
Police and ambulance workers were not equipped to enter the building. Local media said there was a fire station nearby.
Prescott said a two-day strike was bad but a planned eight-day stoppage would be a disaster.
"Wouldn't it be better to negotiate? Wouldn't it better to sit down again?" he asked. "Because an eight-day strike can only lead to more deaths, more injuries and more distress."
Officials said the government would consider marching into fire stations and taking their modern appliances if longer strikes went ahead, crossing picket lines in the process.
There was little sign of progress in resolving the dispute.
Fire Brigades Union chief Andy Gilchrist addressed union members at a meeting in Edinburgh. Media were barred from the event but he later told reporters he had informed members he was still waiting for a pay offer from the government.
"What we've always said as a highly democratic organization is if we get a serious and significant offer ... that would be put to the entire membership," Gilchrist told Sky news.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
DANGEROUS DRIVERS: The proposal follows a fatal incident on Monday involving a 78-year-old driver, which killed three people and injured 12 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said it would lower the age for elderly drivers to renew their license from 75 to 70 as part of efforts to address safety issues caused by senior motorists. The new policy was proposed in light of a deadly incident on Monday in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽), in which a 78-year-old motorist surnamed Yu (余) sped through a school zone, killing three people and injuring 12. Last night, another driver sped down a street in Tainan’s Yuching District (玉井), killing one pedestrian and injuring two. The incidents have sparked public discussion over whether seniors
RSS