Nadal beats Raonic to reach Australian Open semis
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Today, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated Canadian player and current world number 3 Milos Raonic in three straight sets in the Australian Open’s quarter-finals. Defeating Raonic 6–4, 7–6, 6–4, Nadal is to face fifteenth seeded Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov in his fifth semi-finals appearance at the Rod Laver Arena. In the first set, Raonic served six aces, but committed ten unforced errors. Nadal won the first set 6–4 in 43 minutes. The second set lasted for 81 minutes, going to 6–6. Nadal bettered the two, in the tie breaker. Nadal registered only four aces in the entire match as compared to Raonic’s fourteen but won two break points. Nadal won the third set winning it 6–4 to register his 50th win in the Australian Open in two hours and 44 minutes. Nadal’s head to head record against the Canadian is 7–2. He recently lost against…
Adele and David Bowie each win five Grammys
Wednesday, February 15, 2017 On Sunday, British singer Adele won five Grammy Awards at the 59th Grammy Awards event in Los Angeles. David Bowie posthumously won five Grammys. Adele won Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo and Record of the Year for her song Hello, and Album of the Year for her album 25, becoming the first singer to win the Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year twice. David Bowie was nominated in five categories — three for his album Blackstar in Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, and Best Rock Performance; and two for his song Blackstar, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. Days after releasing his 25th album, Blackstar, Bowie passed away in January 2016, due to cancer. Before Blackstar, Bowie won a Grammy for his music video Jazzin’ for Blue Jean, and Lifetime Achievement Award in…
Texas ‘roadeo’ lets school bus drivers show their mettle
Monday, April 23, 2012 Bus drivers from schools all over East Texas, US showed off their skills on Saturday at a competitive driving “roadeo” held in Tyler, Texas. The annual School Bus Roadeo was held in the parking lot at Robert E. Lee High School. Drivers were required to adequately navigate a series of obstacles during the event. A driver with Tyler Independent School District told Wikinews that the event is more complicated than in previous years. She also indicated that she and her colleagues could eventually progress from this event to compete at the state competition, held later. During the event, drivers assigned to transporting special needs students must properly belt in a wheelchair within 90 seconds, as a part of the competition’s requirements. During the event, drivers were assessed on various techniques as they negotiated an array of obstacles along the course, simulating various roadway conditions. Officials even…
FEMA employees pose as fake reporters during press conference
Correction — September 10, 2013 The headline should not contain the word fake: the employees posed as reporters; they didn’t pose as fake reporters, on the contrary they were fake reporters posing as real reporters. We aopologize for the error. Friday, October 26, 2007 The United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is under fire after the agency held a fake press conference with fake news reporters in regards to individuals affected by the California wildfires and the assistance they could receive. The agency called a press conference on Tuesday, giving the press only 15 minutes to show up. When many did not, FEMA brought in agency officials to pose as fake reporters and ask questions. The option for reporters to call into the conference was also available, but the ones who did call in only got to listen to the press conference, and could not ask questions. No reporters were…
Biologist Nick Bos tells Wikinews about ‘self-medicating’ ants
Tuesday, September 1, 2015 Nick Bos, of the University of Helsinki, studies “the amazing adaptations social insects have evolved in order to fight the extreme parasite pressure they experience”. In a recently-accepted Evolution paper Bos and colleagues describe ants appearing to self-medicate. I have no doubt that as time goes on, there will be more and more cases documented The team used Formica fusca, an ant species that can form thousand-strong colonies. This common black ant eats other insects, and also aphid honeydew. It often nests in tree stumps or under rocks and foraging workers can sometimes be spotted climbing trees. Some ants were infected with Beauveria bassiana, a fungus. Infected ants chose food laced with toxic hydrogen peroxide, whereas healthy ants avoided it. Hydrogen peroxide reduced infected ant fatalities by 15%, and the ants varied their intake depending upon how high the peroxide concentration was. In the wild, Formica…
Calls for corporate tax reform in Australia goes unheeded
Friday, May 12, 2006 Peter Costello’s budget announcement has led to rejoicing for small businesses, but the lack of joy for those pushing for radical corporate taxation reform has led to many businesses asking “what about us?” Personal taxation and small business have been the big winners after this year’s federal budget. Although dampened by the twin economic threats of rising interest rates and petrol prices, there should be a reasonable amount of real income savings for both low and high income earners, with those receiving Medicare, or a superannuation benefit, privy to an even lower level of taxation (0% for those on super benefits). Small business also has benefited from the Howard government’s 11th annual budget, with them receiving a higher level of reducing depreciation, leading to a higher level of deductions in the years following the uptake of new technology or other capital. They are also privy to…
Wikinews interviews Ubuntu developer Fabrice
Saturday, October 9, 2010 The 10.10 version of Ubuntu (codename Maverick Merkaat), a free operative system is to be released in the next few days. French Wikinews contributor Savant-fou (Baptiste) has interviewed Fabrice (fabrice_sp on Ubuntu), an Ubuntu’s MOTU (Master Of The Universe), member of the development team of the operative system. Ubuntu is a computer operating system, based on Debian, which is created collaboratively by thousands of people. There are three official Ubuntu versions: Ubuntu Desktop Edition (for desktop and laptop PCs); Ubuntu Netbook Edition (for netbooks); and Ubuntu Server Edition (for use in servers).
Two fallen Canadian soldiers return home from Afghanistan
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 The bodies of two Canadian soldiers killed by a suicide bomber in Kandahar, Afghanistan were brought back to Canada. Both were from CFB Petawawa located in Petawawa, Ontario. Their vehicle has intercepted on a road by a suicide bomber. A helicopter came helping all injured and possibly dead soldiers into it where they received medical attention somewhere safe. This time, their vehicle was blown up by a man’s car when he drived into them and detonated his car. Two Canadians were killed, the rest were injured. Canadian, U.S., Dutch, and British soldiers stood at Kandhar Airfield Thursday to farewell Cpl. Albert Storm and Officer Robert Girouard. A piper played Amazing Grace as the Canadian flag-covered coffins were carried onto the C-130 Hercules aircraft for their flight home. “It’s very hard for me to do it but I know my colleague, my friend and soldier, is going…
Latest trial of the One Laptop Per Child running in India; Uruguay orders 100,000 machines
Thursday, November 8, 2007 India is the latest of the countries where the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) experiment has started. Children from the village of Khairat were given the opportunity to learn how to use the XO laptop. During the last year XO was distributed to children from Arahuay in Peru, Ban Samkha in Thailand, Cardal in Uruguay and Galadima in Nigeria. The OLPC team are, in their reports on the startup of the trials, delighted with how the laptop has improved access to information and ability to carry out educational activities. Thailand’s The Nation has praised the project, describing the children as “enthusiastic” and keen to attend school with their laptops. Recent good news for the project sees Uruguay having ordered 100,000 of the machines which are to be given to children aged six to twelve. Should all go according to plan a further 300,000 machines will be…
Cisco sues Apple for iPhone trademark
Friday, January 12, 2007 The iPhone only made its appearance as a prototype and there have been controversies aroused. The dispute has come up between the manufacturer of the iPhone (which was resented on Wednesday for the first time) – Apple Inc. – and a leader in network and communication systems, based in San Jose – Cisco. The company claims to possess the trademark for iPhone, and moreover, that it sells devices under the same brand through one of its divisions. This became the reason for Cisco to file a lawsuit against Apple Inc. so that the latter would stop selling the device. Cisco states that it has received the trademark in 2000, when the company overtook Infogear Technology Corp., which took place in 1996. The Vice President and general counsel of the company, Mark Chandler, explained that there was no doubt about the excitement of the new device from…