Documents recently made public by the Internet site Wikileaks reveal that several large newspapers have removed or censored content related to the Iraqi-British fraudster Nadhmi Auchi, who has been publicly linked to Barack Obama via payments to former fundraiser, Antino "Tony" Rezko . A Guardian article, which no longer exists, stated that Auchi is also linked to senior members of the UK Labour Party. »»
The Alliance Defense Fund has called on 35 pastors across the country to break IRS tax laws and endorse presidential candidates during sermons. The pastors will draw on Bible passages tomorrow in a protest organized by the group of conservative Christian lawyers. »»
The two major party presidential candidates in the US, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, faced each other in the first TV debate. Despite that McCain had asked to postpone the debate, both were present at the University of Mississippi. The debate, which was moderated by PBS' Jim Lehrer, was planned to be focused on foreign policy, however due to concerns about the US financial crisis, the debate began focused on economy. »»
Voters in swing states across the United States began receiving a one-hour DVD of Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West over the weekend. The video was produced and distributed by Clarion Fund, a non-profit organization connected with Zionist and pro-Israeli organizations. The DVDs were delivered with leading newspapers mostly in swing states such as Ohio, Florida, and Michigan. »»
A car bomb exploded early Monday near a military academy in the coastal town of Santona, in northern Spain, killing a soldier and wounding several others. The authorities blame the Basque separatist group ETA for the attack. It was the third car bombing in 24 hours believed to have been caused by ETA. »»
According to Pakistani intelligence officials, at midnight last night, two United States military helicopters entered Pakistani airspace and were fired on by local troops, a second such event to occur this week. Pakistani officials call the incident a "violation" of its airspace. »»
Unnamed officials from the United States have stated that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il may have suffered a "serious" stroke. Officials state that the rumors of his illness began to spread Tuesday after he failed to make an appearance at the nation's 60th anniversary lent credence, an annual military parade. »»
United States presidential candidate John McCain now retains a lead over Barack Obama in several polls conducted in the past few days. Both Zogby International and Rasmussen Reports have McCain with a slight, but not statistically significant lead. The most recent Gallup tracking poll has McCain with a statistical lead of 5.0 percent. The Day to Day Politics Poll Average also has a slight, but not statistically significantly lead of 0.4% for McCain. »»
The government of Italy has agreed to pay Libya US$5 billion as compensation for its occupation of the country from 1911 to 1943. The agreement was reached between the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and Baghdadi Mahmudi, Berlusconi's Libyan counterpart. »»
United States presidential candidate Barack Obama accepted the United States Democratic Party's nomination for president Thursday evening at Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado before a crowd estimated to be between 75,000 to 80,000 people. »»
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been selected by United States Presidential candidate John McCain as his vice-presidential running-mate. The official announcement was made at noon Eastern time (UCT+5) at a rally in Dayton. »»
The governing coalition of Pakistan split on Monday after Nawaz Sharif, former Pakistani Prime Minister, pulled his party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N), out of the government. »»
An Israeli-American was arrested on Tuesday and later released in Gaza City after arriving on a boat that was carrying pro-Palestinian activists. Professor Jeff Halper was going to Israel along with 40 other activists including the sister-in-law of Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lauren Booth, when he was arrested at a border crossing checkpoint. »»
Police in Denver, Colorado located in the United States say that three men who were arrested on August 25 for possessing drugs and weapons were not involved in a plot to assassinate US presidential candidate Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention that night. »»
Following Barack Obama's Saturday morning text-announcement of Joe Biden's vice presidential candidacy, a rally was held in Springfield, Illinois, at 3:00pm (UTC-5). »»
Senator Barack Obama from Illinois, the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, announced Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate. The announcement came via text message early Saturday morning, to people who had signed up to receive the announcement on the official Barack Obama campaign website. »»
On August 11, US Senator and 2008 presidential republican candidate John McCain gave a speech regarding the crisis between Georgia and Russia. Following the speech, a regular Wikipedia editor noticed that his speech was very similar to an article on Wikipedia also regarding the crisis, in what could be considered plagiarism. Wikinews was able to talk to that editor about how he found out about the similarities and what he did in response. Wikinews also took a deeper look at the claim and investigated further. »»
In what seems to be the strongest reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia, Poland agreed to place ten American interceptor missiles in a base in its territory. The deal, reached on Thursday, concluded almost two years of negotiations, so far delayed by Poland, reluctant to irritate its eastern neighbour. However, in view of the Russian offensive in Georgia, these concerns have been superceded. »»
Former United States Senator John Edwards admitted today to ABC News that he had an extramarital affair with novice filmmaker Rielle Hunter while his wife was in remission with cancer. »»
Three men held up a sign reading "What about the black community Obama?" at a town hall meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida where presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was speaking on stage Friday. »»
United States Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted by federal grand jury on seven criminal counts for making false statements in his Senate financial disclosure forms. The longest-serving Republican in the Senate, Stevens is the highest-profile politician ensnared in the corruption scandal surrounding VECO Corporation and its executives' attempts to influence politics. »»
Turkey's military said in a statement posted on their website that warplanes bombed thirteen Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets overnight in northern Iraq. »»
Alleged war criminal Radovan Karadžic was caught yesterday in Serbia by Serbian security forces after almost 13 years on the run from authorities. »»
Documents leaked on Wikileaks and seen by Wikinews have revealed that Cuba signed a confidential deal with Venezuela to ensure that Cuba gets access to a high speed internet connection by 2010. »»
For the first time a video showing the interrogation process at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp has been released. According to reports broadcast by Canadian media, the video shows Omar Khadr, one of the prisoners, being questioned by Canadian officials. The video was filmed with a hidden camera through an air vent. »»
Fifteen Italians including police officers, doctors and prison guards were found guilty of abusing and beating protesters at the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001. A judge handed down jail terms between five months' and five years' imprisonment. The charges include abuse, fraud, criminal coercion and inhuman and degrading treatment. Another thirty defendants were cleared of charges, including assault. »»
According to reports by local Israeli media including The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been training personnel and allegedly performing military exercises in Iraq. »»
Lebanese political leaders have agreed to the formation of a 30-member national unity government, in which paramilitary group Hezbollah and its political allies hold effective veto power in the new cabinet. The announcement came seven weeks after the Doha Agreement, which ended an 18-month-long political crisis in Lebanon. »»
Karl Rove, who served as Deputy Chief of Staff to United States President George W. Bush before resigning last year, failed to appear in front of the House Judiciary Committee today, refusing to testify about allegations of misusing his political power. »»
On Sunday, July 6, Jesse Jackson, a United States civil rights proponent, minister, and former presidential candidate, was in a television studio for a live interview. While the broadcast went off-air for a commercial, Jackson leaned toward a fellow panelist an uttered a few comments. Though not broadcast live, the cameras were still recording. »»
Donald Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, met today with President Lech Kaczyński to discuss the current state of the Polish-US anti-missile shield negotiations. The meeting, held in the Belweder Palace and proposed by Kaczyński, lasted two hours and ended at about 19:15 UTC. Donald Tusk did not want to talk with the journalists afterwards and there was no official press statement issued. »»
More than 50 years after the end of the Korean War, recently released documents provide more detail on the mass murder of around 100,000 South Koreans by their own government in the war's first weeks. »»
A statement has been released by member states of the G8 expressing 'grave concern' over the current situation in Zimbabwe. »»
Freed hostage Íngrid Betancourt arrived in France Friday, two days after being rescued from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who had kept her captive in the Colombian jungle for more than six years. »»
Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has been under house arrest since 2004 for his alleged involvement in exporting nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran, and Libya, says that North Korea's shipment of gas centrifuges in 2000 was under the supervision of Pakistan's army. »»
Former United States senator from North Carolina Jesse Helms has died today at the age of 86 after a long battle with vascular dementia. »»
United States President George W. Bush is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing on August 8, the White House said Thursday. »»
The border between Egypt and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has closed again after Palestinians attacked the border. The border opened again on Tuesday, but after Wednesday's events, was once again closed. »»
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says he will not participate in power sharing negotiations with President Robert Mugabe, who was widely accused of using violence and intimidation to win Sunday's run-off election. »»
A four-day state of emergency has been declared in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar after violent protests occurred after allegations of vote rigging and fraud in Sunday's elections. Reports state that 5 people have been killed, and over 300 injured. The injured were police and protesters alike, suffering from smoke poisoning, rubber bullets, and stoning. Among the injured was a Japanese citizen, who was reportedly flown to Japan in the morning. »»
Nelson Mandela has officially been taken off of the US list of terrorists by the United States government. This comes after a statement by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, who said that it was a "rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in ... the great leader Nelson Mandela," back in April. »»
George Charamba, a spokesperson for the widely criticized leader of Zimbabwe, has said that critics of the situation in the country should "go hang a thousand times". »»
Raila Odinga, the Kenyan Prime Minister, has said that Robert Mugabe should be suspended from the African Union until he allows free elections to take place in his country. »»
Abkhazia, a region located within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia, but which is a de facto independent republic without international recognition, has closed its border with the country following recent bomb blasts. Abkhaz officials accuse Georgia of being responsible. »»
United States President George W. Bush today signed a bill providing $162 billion for the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which intends to fund the wars for the rest of Bush's term and well into the first year of the new President's term. »»
Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal signed a controversial bill hailed by intelligent design supporters, such as the Discovery Institute, and Louisiana Family Forum, a creationist group. Critics of the bill, including several major science organizations, say it allows for the teaching of "creationism" in public schools. »»
Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president who has recently been widely criticized by world leaders, has claimed the the current results show that he will have a 'sweeping victory' in the unopposed presidential elections. »»
A year since taking up residence at No. 10 Downing street, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labour Party is already in trouble after losing a local election, finishing fifth after previously win-less political parties and popularity rating at an all time low. »»
Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet survived a bitter no-confidence vote called by fellow members of parliament. The opposition called for a no confidence vote over allegations of economic mismanagement, and Samaks's alleged disregard for Thai sovereignty. The final vote saw 280 votes against the motion, and 162 cast as no-confidence. »»
Setting aside their bitter rivalry for the Democratic nomination for President, New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate went up on stage together to with a theme of "unity" to party supporters in a small town called Unity in New Hampshire. »»