Saturday, October 31, 2009 A French magistrate has ordered former President Jacques Chirac to stand trial on embezzlement charges dating back to the 1990s, when he was mayor of Paris. The order is unprecedented, and follows several other trials targeting former high-level politicians. Chirac did not respond directly to news he has been ordered to…
At least 53 killed, over 90 injured in Shanghai apartment fire
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 China’s Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that at least 53 people were killed in Shanghai during a deadly fire. The blaze, which occurred on Monday at 2:15 p.m. CST (0615 UTC), consumed a 28-story high-rise apartment building in the city’s Jing’an District. The building was being renovated at the time of…
Google blocks home device from responding to Burger King commercial
This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Friday, April 14, 2017 On Wednesday afternoon at around 2:45 PM US Eastern Time (1845 UTC), Google prevented its Google Home speaker from responding to prompts by a Burger King commercial advertising…
Belgian bus company knows solution for car parking problems
Monday, May 21, 2007 Do you have a hard time finding a parking space? Take the bus or tram if you go to the city. That’s the message Belgian bus company De Lijn (The Line) is sending to promote public transport as a solution for car parking problems. As a part of their media campaign,…
Keep your eyes peeled for cosmic debris: Andrew Westphal about Stardust@home
Sunday, May 28, 2006 Stardust is a NASA space capsule that collected samples from comet 81P/Wild (also known as “Wild 2) in deep space and landed back on Earth on January 15, 2006. It was decided that a collaborative online review process would be used to “discover” the microscopically small samples the capsule collected. The…
Warhol’s photo legacy spread by university exhibits
Tuesday, January 28, 2014 Evansville, Indiana, United States — This past week marked the opening night of an Andy Warhol exhibit at the University of Southern Indiana. USI’s art gallery, like 189 other educational galleries and museums around the country, is a recipient of a major Warhol donor program, and this program is cultivating new…
UK Serious Fraud Office to investigate MG Rover collapse
Sunday, July 5, 2009 The United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office is to launch an investigation into the collapse of car manufacturer MG Rover. The move follows the conclusion of a four-year enquiry started immediately after the firm became insolvent. The group of four who owned MG Rover — John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and…
India: Maharashtra plastic ban comes into force
Monday, June 25, 2018 On Saturday, the plastic ban in the Indian state of Maharashtra came into force. In an attempt to minimise pollution, the state government has introduced a ban on single-use plastics. The leader of the Yuya Sena political party, Aaditya Thackeray, said on Twitter, “The ban on single use disposable plastic cups,…
US stock markets reach 12-year lows
Thursday, March 5, 2009 US stock markets dropped to twelve-year lows on Thursday, amidst falling confidence in the financial sector and worries over whether the US automobile manufacturer General Motors will be able to keep operating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 4.08%, or 280.52 points, at the closing bell, reaching a level of…
Voluntary sterilization of poor women proposed by Louisiana state legislator
Thursday, September 25, 2008 A Louisiana representative has proposed a controversial solution to “generational welfare,” which would pay women on welfare to get sterilization. Republican John LaBruzzo said he thought of the idea because of his constituents’ outrage over paying for welfare. “You have these people who are just fed up with working their buns…