Tuesday, February 6, 2007 Official pressure on the Hare Krishna community near Almaty in Kazakhstan is mounting, according to Norwegian religious rights organisation Forum 18. Following on from the demolition of homes at the end of last year three more home owners have been issued with demolition notices. If the owners fail to demolish their own houses the authorities have warned they will do so themselves and charge them for the cost. Thirteen homes owned by members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness were bulldozed last November, although other…
Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigns as head of IMF
Thursday, May 19, 2011 Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned as the head of the International Monetary Fund after he was arrested and charged with sexually attacking a chambermaid at a hotel in New York. In a statement to the executive board of the IMF, he said he was resigning from his position “with immediate effect” to “devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence.” Officials at the IMF said they would soon be releasing information about his successor. In the statement to the board,…
Lady Bird Johnson released from Austin hospital
Friday, June 29, 2007 Former First Lady “Lady Bird” Johnson was released Thursday after a week at Seton Hospital after being admitted for tests because she was not feeling well. She is the widow of Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States from 1963 to 1969. She is best known for her conservation and beautification efforts involving wildflowers and roadsides. As President Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, criss-crossed States by road during the 1964 presidential campaign, she informed her husband of her feelings about the roadside junkyards…
Tanker crash kills driver, spills diesel fuel in Vermont, US
Thursday, May 31, 2007 A tanker truck travelling Northbound on Route 30 with 2,500 gallons of diesel fuel hit a guardrail, veered off the road and overturned into the West River near Newfane, Vermont. The West River is a tributary of the Connecticut River. The driver was ejected and killed, while the truck’s tank ruptured. The truck came to rest partially submerged in the river on its right side and immediately began leaking its payload. The driver has been identified as 30-year-old Eduard Lashway of Guilford. The vehicle was owned…
Annie Awards for animation Sunday; Wikinews will be there
Thursday, February 8, 2007 This Sunday, the International Animated Film Association (Association International du Film d’Animation) or ASIFA will hand out the Annie Awards in Glendale, California. As animation’s highest honor, the crowd is always a who’s who of direction, art design, character design, layout, visual effects, and voice artists. There are 23 award categories in the Annies, sorted into Individual Achievement and Production categories. Perhaps the most competitive category is “Best Animated Feature”, which will be a fight between Cars (Pixar Animation Studios), Happy Feet (Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow…
Cretaceous baby snake fossil found in Myanmar
Saturday, July 21, 2018 A team of researchers from China, Canada, the United States, and Australia published on Wednesday their discovery of an early fossilized baby snake, reportedly the oldest ever found, in a piece of amber in the middle of a sandstone deposit in Myanmar. The findings appeared in the journal Science Advances. The specimen, a piece of amber, was found in a sandstone deposit by fossil hunters who contacted scientists in 2016, and later donated it to the Dexu Institute of Paleontology in Chaozhou, China, where scientists were…
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to move into Kensington Palace, London
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 British media has reported that Prince William and his recently wedded wife, Kate, are to move their London residence into Kensington Palace, close to Hyde Park. Two units in the Palace, labeled Apartments 8 and 9, were previously occupied by Prince Charles and Diana, William’s parents, when they married in 1981. Prince William and his brother Prince Harry went to nursery and school nearby. Diana also lived in Kensington Palace after her separation and divorce from Prince Charles. However, the newlyweds will not live in Apartments…
James Brown dies of pneumonia
Monday, December 25, 2006 James Brown, often referred to as the Godfather of Soul, died in Atlanta due to congestive heart failure, combined with pneumonia. His death at age 73 was announced by his agent. After his dentist noticed something unusual with him, Brown was told to visit a doctor immediately. He was taken into the hospital yesterday for treatment of his pneumonia until his death at around 1:45 AM (6:45 AM GMT). It is not known whether he received a pneumonia vaccination, as recommended for people of his age.…
RuPaul speaks about society and the state of drag as performance art
Saturday, October 6, 2007 Few artists ever penetrate the subconscious level of American culture the way RuPaul Andre Charles did with the 1993 album Supermodel of the World. It was groundbreaking not only because in the midst of the Grunge phenomenon did Charles have a dance hit on MTV, but because he did it as RuPaul, formerly known as Starbooty, a supermodel drag queen with a message: love everyone. A duet with Elton John, an endorsement deal with MAC cosmetics, an eponymous talk show on VH-1 and roles in film…
US reveals Internet security efforts
Thursday, March 4, 2010 The United States announced the declassification of a portion of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, a major part of the US’s efforts to thwart cyber warfare, on Tuesday. The announcement came at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, and was given by Howard Schmidt, who is the current US cyber-security coordinator, having been assigned the position in December. While only a portion of the document was revealed at the announcement, and much remains classified material, including all material related to plans by the government for…