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Randall Munroe is the writer of the popular webcomic xkcd. The comic is known for its geeky humor and minimalist drawing style that generally uses stick figures. Munroe worked as a contractor for NASA before writing xkcd full time in 2006. Wikinews reporter Joshua Zelinsky interviewed Munroe at Vericon, Harvard's annual science fiction convention. Interview with Randall Munroe So could you tell us a little about yourself and xkcd? RM: xkcd is a webcomic that I started while I was in the middle of more productive things, school and work,

Nepal's controversial "living goddess" has voluntarily retired from her position at age 11. Eleven-year-old Sajani Shakya has retired from her status as the Kumari of Bhaktapur at the request of her family, an official said Saturday. "She is no more a Kumari," said Dipak Pandey, a senior official of the state-run Trust Corporation that oversees the cultural affairs in Nepal, a deeply religious nation. Pandey said that Shakya's family wanted to partake in another religious ritual, a symbolic wedding with a bael fruit, that ensures young Newa

Musician Jeff Healey, 41, has died in Toronto, Canada from cancer, it was announced Sunday. Healey is internationally known for his 1988 album See the Light and for his appearance the following year in the movie Road House with Patrick Swayze. His hits included Angel Eyes. He was born Norman Jeffery Healey on March 25, 1966 in Toronto. At the age of 1, he was blinded from retinoblastoma, but still learned how to play the guitar by positioning the instrument on his lap. Healey was host of various Canadian radio programs in recent years and was

There were 7 games played in the National Hockey League on March 2, 2008. Game summaries Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Rangers Vaclav Prospal put the Flyers on the scoreboard first early in the first period. Martin Straka scored a power play goal 4:20 into the first period to tie the score. Braydon Coburn scored a power play goal of his own to retake the lead for the Flyers. Fredrik Sjostrom retied the score at 11:36. Ryan Callahan scored a goal at 13:58, giving the Rangers their first lead of the game, but it wouldn't last long, as Jeff

The website wikileaks.org has recently been brought back online following the lifting of a court injunction forcing the site to be taken down. According to a Wikileaks press release from when the site was taken offline, the injunction stated that "Dynadot [Wikileaks host] shall immediately clear and remove all DNS hosting records for the wikileaks.org domain name and prevent the domain name from resolving to the wikileaks.org website or any other website or server other than a blank park page, until further order of this Court." As Wikleaks is

__NOTOC__ Dmitry Medvedev, age 42, has won the presidential election in Russia and is expected to take office on May 7, 2008, replacing Vladimir Putin who has served two 4-year presidential terms since 2000. The elections were held on Sunday, March 2, and participation among registered voters was 69.65%. On Monday morning, Russian Central Election Commission announced that almost all of the votes were counted with Medvedev receiving 70.21% of votes that were cast. In second place was Communist Party leader Gennady Zuyganov with 17.77%, follow

The website wikileaks.org has recently been brought back online following the lifting of a court injunction forcing the site to be taken down. A representative of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which supported Wikileaks, has told Wikinews their opinion of the court injunction. They have claimed that the lifting of the injunction was a "victory for the first amendment." The representative stated that the ACLU hopes this injunction acts as an example to other judges who take part in similar cases. This opinion was shown when the repr

Speaking at a press conference Monday, Colombia's national police chief Gen. Oscar Naranjo said evidence from the computers of slain members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) suggests the Venezuelan government recently paid the militant guerrilla group US$300 million. He suggested that this may have been part of a deal to release several hostages held by the FARC. "This unmasks the relations of the FARC with a series of governments, with a series of personalities, some public, some more sinister," Naranjo said. A representa

Dr. Joseph M. Juran, an American industrial engineer and philanthropist, has died from a stroke on February 28 at the age of 103. He was born on December 24, 1904 in Brăila, Romania. In 1924, with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota (he would later earn a law degree), Juran joined Western Electric at the Hawthorne Works. His first job was in the inspection branch. Juran was promoted to a managerial position in 1928, and the following year became a division chief. He would publish his first quality re

Armenian president Robert Kocharyan declared a state of emergency in Armenia Saturday, after policemen used tear gas and firearms to disperse protests over alleged fraud in last month's presidential election. At least eight persons were left dead in clashes between police and opposition. The announcement came from President Kocharyan's office shortly after riot police suppressed the rally of roughly 15,000 protesters. Earlier, demonstrators living in tents near the city of Yerevan's mayor's office were forcibly evacuated using batons. "They a

Philip "Flying Phil" Rabinowitz was a sprinter from South Africa who, on July 10, 2004, entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest 100-year-old in the 100 meters. He was born on February 16, 1904 in Lithuania to a Jewish family and died on February 28, 2008, aged 104. Rabinowitz finished in a time of 30.86 seconds; breaking the previous mark of 36.19 set by Erwin Jaskulski of Austria. A week before, the centenarian broke the record, but a faulty electronic timer kept the mark out of the books. For comparison, the world record

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has deplored Israel for using excessive force in the Gaza Strip after troops killed 61 people Saturday including eight children, the bloodiest day for Palestinians since the 1980s. Addressing the Security Council, Ban condemned Israel's excessive use of force, but also criticised Palestinian rocket attacks. "I condemn Palestinian rocket attacks, and call for the immediate cessation of such acts of terrorism, which serve no purpose, endanger Israeli civilians, and bring misery to the Palestinian peop