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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 Human Rights Watch yesterday released a detailed study of attacks on civilians by members of the Iraqi insurgency. The 140-page report, “A Face And A Name: Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq” claims to be the most comprehensive account yet produced of abuses by the Iraqi armed opposition. In the report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) also analyses and challenges a number of arguments put forward by insurgent leaders attempting to justify their attacks on civilians. HRW argues that all such attacks are illegal under international…

Friday, June 19, 2009 Several organizations have increased their Farsi services in the wake of the events surrounding the recent presidential election. Google has added Farsi-to-English translation as one of its translation options to its Google Translate service. Similarly, Facebook has launched a Farsi version of its web site. The BBC has increased the number of broadcasting satellites that it uses for its Farsi news channel, BBC Persian Television. Google’s translation services currently only provide translation from Farsi to English. Franz-Josef Och stated that this was to enable people in…

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Local municipal and provincial volunteers in Manitoba, Canada are exhausted in their efforts to divert the rising waters of the Red River of the North. It has been hard work with little sleep for the residents who live on the shores of the Red River to shore up their defences with sandbags, build dikes, clear frozen culverts and break ice jams Volunteers to spell relief for local volunteers and food are desperately needed. “It’s a week now we’ve been doing this … you’re talking four, five,…

Friday, June 27, 2008 After 33 years of managing software giant Microsoft, founder Bill Gates will retire from day-to-day management today. Gates will retain the title of Chairman but without executive functions and will only report for work once a week. The man who took a gut feeling of seeing personal computers in every household, each requiring a stable operating system will now pursue philanthropic activities under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Microsoft did not announce any major event to mark the day when its founder steps down but…

Thursday, May 13, 2010 Wikinews reporter Iain Macdonald has performed an interview with Dr Isabella Margara, a London-based member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). In the interview Margara sets out the communist response to current events in Greece as well as discussing the viability of a communist economy for the nation. She also hit back at Petros Tzomakas, a member of another Greek far-left party which criticised KKE in a previous interview. The interview comes amid tensions in cash-strapped Greece, where the government is introducing controversial austerity measures…

Monday, March 19, 2007 A 34 year old obstetrician from Forestville on Sydney’s Northern Beaches has escaped after he was robbed, car-jacked and locked in the boot (trunk) of his BMW, which was set alight. Police say the doctor was locked in the boot while his car was set alight, but was allowed to escape before flames engulfed the vehicle. The Doctor was believed to have been heading to The Mater Hospital in North Sydney when he was waiting at the intersection of West and Falcon Streets in Chatswood around…

Friday, September 2, 2005 The United States Senate has cut short their summer recess and has arrived in Washington to approve a $10.5 billion aid bill to victims of Katrina as requested by President George W. Bush. The United States House of Representatives is expected to pass a similar bill later today. Bush has told Congress he will ask for more funds in the coming weeks. Most of the money will go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the rest will go to the Pentagon which is dispatching ships…