European airspace closed by volcanic ash

Thursday, April 15, 2010 Hundreds of thousands of air travelers had their travel plans disrupted in Europe by volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. Tens of thousands of air travelers were stranded when all flights into and out of the United Kingdom were grounded, as it became one of the first nations to be affected.…

Manitoba’s flood creating hazardous conditions

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 The Red River at Winnipeg is almost clear of ice blocks and ice jamming, however there are still dangers from the Red River flood. Ice blocks which were as high as two storey buildings were ripping out trees, fences and railway ties. “You’ll see huge pans of ice standing vertical, up…

German BND claims U.S. exaggerated Iraq WMD claims

Sunday, November 20, 2005 One of the most important arguments in the run-up to the Iraq war made by Colin Powell in his United Nations speech and President Bush in his State of the Union address was that Iraq had an active biological weapons program and possessed mobile biological weapons labs. According to an investigation…

Three firemen die fighting office block fire in China

Thursday, January 3, 2008 An office block fire in Ürümqi, northwest China has claimed the lives of three firefighters and injured a fourth. The 12-storey dual-purpose office and market building was completely destroyed in the blaze, which also spread to and severely damaged an adjacent hotel. According to a spokesman for Xinjiang fire brigade, an…

2008 Leisure Taiwan launched in Taipei World Trade Center

Saturday, July 19, 2008 This year’s Leisure Taiwan trade show (a.k.a Taiwan Sport Recreation and Leisure Show) started yesterday, with 131 companies participating including sports media companies such as ESPN and VideoLand Television, businesses selling sports equipment and fitness clubs. There were also a variety of sports being played in the arena built for the…

Wikinews’ overview of the year 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Also try the 2008 World News Quiz of the year. What would you tell your grandchildren about 2008 if they asked you about it in, let’s say, 20 years’ time? If the answer to a quiz question was 2008, what would the question be? The year that markets collapsed, or perhaps…

US free speech lawyer defends satire of Glenn Beck

Sunday, October 4, 2009 Massachusetts-based First Amendment rights lawyer Marc Randazza is defending a controversial parody website which satirizes American political commentator Glenn Beck. The website was created in September by a man from Florida named Isaac Eiland-Hall, and it asserts Beck uses questionable tactics “to spread lies and misinformation”. The website created by Eiland-Hall…