Media round-up: April Fools’ Day 2008

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 Many media outlets traditionally deliberately spread hoaxes on April Fools’ Day, including notable quality sources such as National Geographic and Science. The popular British tabloid The Sun wrote that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to undergo stretch surgery to make him taller than his wife, Italian artist and model Carla Bruni.…

G20 protests: Inside a labour march

Wikinews accredited reporter Killing Vector traveled to the G-20 2009 summit protests in London with a group of protesters. This is his personal account. Friday, April 3, 2009 London — “Protest”, says Ross Saunders, “is basically theatre”. It’s seven a.m. and I’m on a mini-bus heading east on the M4 motorway from Cardiff toward London.…

Australia: Victorian government to trial driverless vehicles on public roads

Saturday, August 12, 2017 Yesterday, the state government of Victoria, Australia announced their decision to trial self-driving vehicles on two of the state’s major connecting motorways, the CityLink and Tullamarine Freeway. The trial is to use autonomous vehicles from automobile companies including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Tesla. The two-year trial is to have three phases.…

Swine flu: recent developments worldwide

Saturday, June 6, 2009 The H1N1 swine flu virus has now spread to 66 different countries throughout the globe, with at least 19,273 confirmed cases and 117 deaths having been reported according to the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) tally. A majority of the cases were reported by the United States, which now has at…

US President Bush nominates new surgeon general

Friday, May 25, 2007 Yesterday, United States President George W. Bush nominated James W. Holsinger as the next Surgeon General of the United States. “ Today, I have announced my intention to nominate James W. Holsinger, Jr., to serve as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. Dr. Holsinger is an accomplished physician who…

Scientists find key human language gene

Thursday, November 12, 2009 Researchers have found a crucial genetic difference between humans and chimps that could help explain our language and speech abilities. The difference lies in a gene called FOXP2 which encodes for a protein of the same name. This acts as a transcription factor, controlling the activity of other genes. The human…