Tuesday, October 14, 2008 The San Diego, California suburb of Chula Vista has responded to the recent housing crisis with an aggressive blight control ordinance that compels lenders to maintain the appearance of vacant homes. As foreclosures increase both locally and throughout the United States, the one year old ordinance has become a model for…
Robin Cook dead after collapsing
Saturday, August 6, 2005 Robin Cook, the former British foreign secretary and current Member of Parliament, has died of a suspected heart attack after collapsing on a walk with his wife on Ben Stack hill, Scotland. Cook, aged 59, was flown to a hospital in Inverness by a rescue service helicopter half an hour after…
Danish PM pushes for new referendum on euro
Friday, November 7, 2008 Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Prime Minister of Denmark, said on Tuesday that he will seek broad parliamentary support for a national referendum on joining the euro, the common currency of the Eurozone. “I’m convinced that we need broad support in parliament to hold a referendum, because it’s about the Danish currency…
Study says to clean your sponge, microwave it
Thursday, January 25, 2007 Studies done on germs and bacteria performed by researchers at the University of Florida show that a dirty kitchen sponge can be cleaned and “sterilized” by microwaving it for 2 minutes, but researchers warn to wet the sponge first. “People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if…
Dog’s throat cut in Cairns, Australia
Thursday, July 15, 2010 In what the RSPCA calls a “horrific” case of animal cruelty, a dog’s jaw was taped shut, and its throat cut, in Cairns, Australia. The Staffordshire mix, who was found by police in a critical condition last Thursday, was reportedly struggling to breath and bleeding heavily due to her throat being…
Iranian International Master Dorsa Derakhshani discusses her chess career with Wikinews
Tuesday, April 14, 2020 In February 2017, the Iranian Chess Federation announced two teenage chess players, Dorsa Derakhshani and her younger brother Borna Derakhshani, were banned from representing the national team. The federation announced their decision although Dorsa Derakhshani had previously decided and informed the chess federation she did not wish to play for Iran….
Major US bankruptcy reform bill signed into law
Thursday, April 21, 2005 U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law Wednesday a major bankruptcy reform bill, making the most sweeping changes to the laws of personal bankruptcy in the past two decades. Bill S.256 is predicted to reduce the chances of filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy for 30,000 to 210,000 families per year, according…
Police report drug haul seizure worth up to £30 million in Brownhills, England
Monday, December 2, 2013 Police in the West Midlands in England today said nearly 200 kilograms worth of drugs with value possibly as great as £30 million (about US$49 million or €36 million) has been seized from a unit in the town of Brownhills. In what an officer described as “one of the largest [seizures]…
Teen hacker admits to attack on scientology.org
Monday, October 20, 2008 A teenager, belonging to the anti-scientology group Anonymous, has admitted that he launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the official website of the Church of Scientology, scientology.org. Dmitriy Guzner, aged 18, will admit to the charges related to carrying out the DDoS attack. He now faces a maximum…
Yale graduate student who went missing before wedding found dead
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 A graduate student attending Yale University who went missing five days before her planned wedding was found dead on Sunday, police said. Annie Le, an American doctoral student seeking a degree in medicine, went missing on September 8, five days before her planned wedding. Investigators reviewed footage from the security cameras…