UN Report: Earth ecosystem in peril
April 4, 2022
Thursday, March 31, 2005A report Tuesday from a United Nations-backed project, consulting more than 1,300 scientists from 95 countries, and written over the last four years, warns that 60 percent of the basics of life on Earth — water, food, timber, clean air — are currently being used in ways which degrade them. Furthermore, fisheries and fresh water use-patterns are unsustainable, and getting worse. "The harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the...
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Canada’s Scarborough-Agincourt (Ward 39) city council candidates speak
April 4, 2022
This exclusive interview features first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter. See the collaboration page for more details. Friday, November 3, 2006 On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward's councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto's ridings is Scarborough-Agincourt (Ward 39). Two candidates responded to Wikinews' requests for an interview. This ward's candidates include Wayne Cook, Mike Del Grande (incumbent), Samuel Kung, Lushan Lu, Sunshine Smith, and John Wong. For...
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CanadaVOTES: NDP candidate Michael McMahon running in Prince Edward—Hastings
April 2, 2022
Friday, September 26, 2008 On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. New Democratic Party candidate Michael McMahon is standing for election in the riding of Prince Edward—Hastings. McMahon moved to Windsor in 1951, getting a degree in education, teaching locally and in Papua New Guinea. He served as Branch President of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), served on multiple of their major committees, and recently retired...
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Coordinated terrorist attack hits London
April 2, 2022
Thursday, July 7, 2005 Three bomb explosions have hit London Underground trains, and a further bomb destroyed a bus in the city centre. The Metropolitan Police Service has initially confirmed that 33 people have been killed in the four explosions on London's transport system this morning, and said the overall number of wounded was as high as 700, in what are believed to be terrorist attacks. (See later reports in the box at the side for...
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Irish economy sees biggest contraction in decades
April 2, 2022
Thursday, March 26, 2009 The economy of Ireland shrank by 7.5% in the last quarter of 2008 compared to the same period a year previously, according to official statistics. The decline is the worst in decades. For the entire period of 2008, the economy contracted by 2.3%, the first loss since 1983. The construction industry has suffered badly as a result of the recession, with a 24% fall in output, the largest decline ever recorded. Industrial...
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Israel seizes ship claimed to be carrying weapons for Gaza
March 30, 2022
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Israeli military forces today seized a ship claimed to be carrying weapons bound for the Gaza Strip. The ship, a German-owned and Liberian-flagged freighter named Victoria, had departed from a port in Syria before travelling to Turkey, from where it departed for Alexandria, Egypt. A French company had chartered the vessel, which was intercepted and boarded by Israeli commandos about 200 miles from shore while in international waters. Victoria was reportedly boarded...
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US: Melamine from contaminated pet food enters human food chain
March 30, 2022
Sunday, April 29, 2007 At least 45 people are reported to have eaten pork which came from a hog farm in Ceres, California in the United States, where pigs from the farm were fed pet food which was recalled because it was contaminated with the chemical melamine. So far none of the individuals have experienced signs of illnesses, but it is not known what effect the chemical, when ingested, has on humans because no major study...
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Chilean President visits Pichilemu to inaugurate Agustín Ross Cultural Centre
March 30, 2022
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 The Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, travelled to Pichilemu to inaugurate the Cultural Centre Agustín Ross last week, in the old Ross Casino, a National Monument since 1988, and the first casino in Chile. Bachelet passed by Cáhuil's bridge, where she and her parents regularly went on holiday to, according the documentary Pichilemu: Así éramos ayer, así somos hoy (Pichilemu: That's the way we were, that's the way we are), which will be...
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Virgin Atlantic jet fire investigation finds faulty wiring in A340 fleet
March 28, 2022
Saturday, February 14, 2009 Investigators in Ireland have found wiring problems in several Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340s as part of their investigation into a fire on board one such aircraft that was forced to divert to Shannon Airport. The Virgin jet was headed from London Heathrow Airport to Chicago with 143 passengers and thirteen crew on January 11 this year. A small fire was noticed in a waste bin storage area in the first class section's...
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IndyMac Bank placed into conservatorship by US Government
March 16, 2022
Saturday, July 12, 2008 In what regulators have described as the second-largest bank failure in the history of the United States, IndyMac Bank has been closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision and placed under the conservatorship of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) due to plummeting shares and the start of a run on the bank. This is the fifth FDIC-insured failure of the year. The FDIC has said that it will transfer all insured...
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