US president Obama, Congress call for blocking of executive bonuses at AIG insurance company

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 United States President Barack Obama stated Monday that insurance giant AIG is in financial trouble due to "recklessness and greed," and called for legal action to stop the company from giving out millions of dollars in bonuses to its executives. "It's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay," Obama...

British political candidate Nigel Farage injured in plane crash on polling day

Thursday, May 6, 2010 A political candidate for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has been injured in a plane crash. Nigel Farage, the former leader of the party, was in a two-seater plane when it crashed at an airfield in Northamptonshire. The plane crashed just one hour after voting had opened on polling day. Farage, 46, was taken to a Banbury hospital with non-life threatening...

Wikinews interviews World Wide Web co-inventor Robert Cailliau

Thursday, August 16, 2007 The name Robert Cailliau may not ring a bell to the general public, but his invention is the reason why you are reading this: Dr. Cailliau together with his colleague Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, making the internet accessible so it could grow from an academic tool to a mass communication medium. Last January Dr. Cailliau retired from CERN, the...

Wikinews interviews World Wide Web co-inventor Robert Cailliau

Thursday, August 16, 2007 The name Robert Cailliau may not ring a bell to the general public, but his invention is the reason why you are reading this: Dr. Cailliau together with his colleague Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, making the internet accessible so it could grow from an academic tool to a mass communication medium. Last January Dr. Cailliau retired from CERN, the...

Tyco executives found guilty

Saturday, June 18, 2005 The former CEO of Tyco International, Dennis Kozlowski, as well as CFO Mark Swartz are convicted of taking more than $600 million from the company. Charges include grand larceny, securities fraud, conspiracy, and falsifying business records. The first trial ended in a mistrial after one juror received a threatening letter. Nancy Salomon says of the second trial that the...

New method of displaying time patented

Saturday, October 14, 2006 An American inventor has patented a pair of new time formats with a footprint less than 50% of that of conventional four-digit time. The more unusual of the two new formats, called "TWELV", dispenses with numerals altogether. In place of clock hands or digits, the new clock uses color to convey the hour and a moon image to convey the minute, which moon slowly grows...

Retired U.S. vets sue Donald Rumsfeld for excessive service cutbacks

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 One thousand residents of the Defense Department-managed Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. filed a class-action lawsuit on May 24, asserting that the cut-backs in medical and dental services imposed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are illegal. The operating budget for the home was reduced from $63 million in 2004 to $58 million for 2005. The residents...

Toronto team-led research on Type 1 Diabetes ‘groundbreaking’

Saturday, December 16, 2006 A Toronto team of scientists have discovered a trigger for Type 1 diabetes, a breakthrough that could lead to the overall prevention of the common disease. The team discovered that abnormal nerve endings in the pancreas' insulin-producing cells (Islets of Langerhan) initiated a chain reaction that caused Type 1 diabetes in lab mice. However, when they removed the...

Former NZ Prime Minister confirmed as head of UNDP

Thursday, April 2, 2009 Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has been appointed as head of the United Nations Development Program. The appointment follows a unanimous vote by the UN General Assembly yesterday. Clark will take up the role by April 20, replacing current UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis. Clark is reportedly eager for the role, comparing it to winning her first election and...

On the campaign trail in the USA, July 2016

Tuesday, August 23, 2016 The following is the third edition of a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2016 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month's biggest stories. In this month's edition on the campaign trail: two individuals previously interviewed by Wikinews announce their candidacies for the Reform Party...