- UncategorizedUK Chancellor of the Exchequer makes 2005 Budget speech
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 The United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Honourable Gordon Brown PC MP, in a speech to the British House of Commons today presented his ninth Budget, what is very likely to be his last Budget before the next UK General Election. This opened the parliamentary debate on the 2005 Finance Bill, and was followed by responses from the opposition parties. In a 48 minute long speech, the Chancellor presented a Budget of “tax cuts that are reasonable, spending that is affordable, and [economic] stability that is paramount”, that was “the prudent course for Britain”. There were few surprises that had not already been indicated…
- UncategorizedOpen source game developer Perttu Ahola talks about Minetest with Wikinews
Tuesday, June 30, 2020 Recently, Finnish open-source video game developer Perttu Ahola discussed Minetest, his “longest ever project”, with Wikinews. Started in October 2010, Minetest was an attempt by Ahola to create a sandbox game similar to Minecraft. Minecraft is a multi-platform commercial game, which was in alpha version when Ahola challenged himself to create something similar to it from scratch, he told Wikinews. Minetest is an open-source game, which is free for anyone to download and play. It is written in the C++ programming language, and the source code is available on code-hosting site GitHub. According to Ahola, Minetest attempts to run on older hardware, with limited graphics, but…
- UncategorizedUS stock markets tumble on ‘Black Monday’ anniversary
Saturday, October 20, 2007 This article features in a News Brief from Audio Wikinews: Some say history tends to repeat itself. Today marked a day in history, when 20 years ago, the United States Dow Jones Industrial Average market crashed, on what is known as ‘Black Monday‘. The crash sent the market tumbling down 508 points, losing nearly 24%. On Friday, the Dow Jones nearly broke that record when the market closed at -366.94 points, down almost three percent. Several factors could be to blame for the loss, one being Turkey’s government approving a measure on October 18 to send Turkish troops into Iraq in an attempt to take out…
- UncategorizedPhoto report: Anime North convention brings fans to Toronto
Friday, June 1, 2018 In Toronto last weekend, North American anime and manga convention Anime North was held. Anime North sprawled across multiple venues, including the Toronto Congress Centre, as a fan-run celebration of Japanese pop culture. The event ran from May 25 to 27. Wikinews’s Nicholas Moreau was in attendance to photograph the event. Montrealer “Aileen Cosplay” was wearing an outfit of Rapunzel from the Disney animated film Tangled, when Wikinews photographed her. Wikinews talked with her after the event, learning that she was one of the “Estrada Sisters”, who have been dressing up as pop culture characters for roughly a decade. “Cosplay is something we do together as…
- UncategorizedROV detects leaks in Deepwater Horizon well cap
Monday, July 19, 2010 As many as four leaks have been detected in the Deepwater Horizon well cap in the Gulf of Mexico, according to live footage shot by one of BP’s ROVs (Remote Operated Vehicles). The leaks were detected early this morning, just after 4:00 (EDT). The HOS SUPER H ROV 1 made the discovery while performing an “integrity survey” of the well and well cap. It recorded what appears to be a thin metal pipe lining the outside of the oil cap. Four small leaks of what appear to oil bubbles were detected during this survey. The first appears just after the elbow connecting the pipe to the…
- UncategorizedMount Diablo buckwheat rediscovered in California
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Mount Diablo buckwheat Taxonomic name: Eriogonum truncatum Mount Diablo buckwheat is a small pink flower that was only known to grow on Mount Diablo in remote Contra Costa County, California. The University of California, Berkeley announced that one of its graduate students, Michael Park, rediscovered on May 24 the Mount Diablo buckwheat, a plant not sighted since 1936 and believed to have been extinct.Found nearly 30 miles east of San Francisco, Park [aged 35] identified the small pink flowering plant said to resemble baby’s breath during a routine visit to the mountain. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in integrative biology. The significance of the find…
- UncategorizedFrank Hsieh named new Taiwanese premier
Tuesday, January 25, 2005 TAIPEI, Taiwan —Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has chosen Frank Hsieh, a leading member of his pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, as the new Premier of the Republic of China. Frank Hsieh replaces Yu Shyi-kun, who served as Taiwan’s premier for three years. Mr. Yu and the entire 20-member cabinet resigned Monday to allow President Chen Shui-bian to reshuffle the cabinet, after his party’s coalition lost parliamentary elections last month. Mr. Hsieh, the 59-year-old mayor of Taiwan’s second largest city, Kaohsiung, is a close ally of Mr. Chen and will be expected to closely carry out the president’s agenda. Mr. Hsieh served as Chairman of the Democratic Progressive…
- UncategorizedEdmund White on writing, incest, life and Larry Kramer
Thursday, November 8, 2007 What you are about to read is an American life as lived by renowned author Edmund White. His life has been a crossroads, the fulcrum of high-brow Classicism and low-brow Brett Easton Ellisism. It is not for the faint. He has been the toast of the literary elite in New York, London and Paris, befriending artistic luminaries such as Salman Rushdie and Sir Ian McKellen while writing about a family where he was jealous his sister was having sex with his father as he fought off his mother’s amorous pursuit. The fact is, Edmund White exists. His life exists. To the casual reader, they may find…
- UncategorizedEngland: Multi-storey carpark in Liverpool gutted by fire, 1,300 vehicles destroyed
Thursday, January 4, 2018 A fire on Sunday night in the seven-storey carpark for the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England destroyed almost all the vehicles parked inside and led to cancellation of the final evening of the Liverpool International Horse Show and evacuation of nearby blocks of flats. The blaze reportedly started with a parked Range Rover Discovery. Investigators with the fire brigade stated that they believe the fire began with an accidental engine fire in the Range Rover at about 4.30 pm. The first call was made at 4.42 and firefighters arrived eight minutes after that. Ultimately twelve engines and 85 firefighters were involved in combatting the blaze. Aerial…
- UncategorizedPipe bomb found near nuclear power plant in Arizona
Friday, November 2, 2007 The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona is currently locked down while security teams are doing a sweep of the area after a pipe bomb was found this morning. Arizona Public Service Company (APS) spokesman Jim MacDonald said a contract worker was stopped at the main gate of the facility for a routine security sweep and a suspicious looking device was reportedly found in the bed of the worker’s pickup truck. APS owns the station, which is located in Wintersberg, Arizona. According to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), the suspicious looking device was a pipe bomb. “MCSO bomb squad tests later determined that the…