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Current Arizona senator John McCain won the South Carolina presidential primary in his bid to become the Republican candidate for President of the United States. With 97 percent of the votes counted, McCain was announced winner with 33 percent of the votes, followed closely by Mike Huckabee, who had just three percent less. "I know it's not easy and we've got a long way to go. There are some tough contests ahead," said McCain. In his concession speech, Huckabee vowed that his campaign will not falter. "The reason that I want to encourage you

Alain Jaubert, director of the famous art program "Palettes" by Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne (ARTE) was invited by Taiwan Public Television Service (PTS Taiwan) and the French Institute in Taipei to talk about productions on his art program on January 19 in Taipei City. He also talked about some experiences and functionalities on art programs with the Chairman of National Culture and Arts Foundation Mingchuan Huang. According to PTS Taiwan, Jaubert failed at his first attempt to produce "Palettes" in 1984, but finally succee

Wikinews has learned that according to an Internet posting made just over 24 hours ago, the Church of Scientology's website is being attacked by hackers, causing the site to shut down. The attack was launched on Wednesday by a user labelled "Anonymous", on the website "Insurgency Wiki", a spinoff of 4chan. The "History" section of the site explains, in a satirical fashion, that the incident was prompted by the Church of Scientology's attempts to remove a promotional video featuring Scientologist Tom Cruise from YouTube. Though YouTube is com

Senior first officer John Coward feared everyone on board British Airways Flight BA38 was going to die in a "catastrophic crash", the Sunday Mirror reports. Coward landed the Boeing 777, registration G-YMMM, by putting it down with a "series of thuds as it bounced along the grass" 400 metres short of the runway threshold, and just within Heathrow's perimeter fence at Hatton Cross last Thursday. All on board survived. Speaking from his family home in France last night he said "As the final approach started I became aware that there was no power

Following four days of prayer and discussions among the 217 electors representing more than 19,000 members worldwide, the Society of Jesus, whose members are also known as Jesuits, chose Adolfo Nicolás yesterday as their new Superior General. Father Nicolás, 71, born in Villamuriel de Cerrato, Palencia, Spain, is now the thirtieth "black pope", as the Superior General is known for his black priest's vestments, of the largest religious order of the Catholic Church. The Vatican reported that Pope Benedict XVI was the first to know of the Jesuit

The Standard Chartered Marathon, nicknamed "The Greatest Race on Earth", held its third stage in Mumbai, India today. Because of the scorching hot weather in India, marathon runners had to adapt to the weather to overcome the challenge. More than 30,000 runners participated in this race, joined by local NGOs and disabled who participated in a special charity short-distance running including 6km dream run, 4.3 km senior, and 2.5km wheel-chair classes. Gabriela Szabo, former Romanian Olympic Gold Medalist, named as charity ambassador of the race

In an exclusive report, Wikinews has learned that on Wednesday two users, one anonymous and the other only known as MODX, added code on the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia for a computer virus known as the LoveLetter or ILOVEYOU virus. The users inserted the VBScript code into various pages including the Wikipedia Sandbox, a page used for editorial testing. This was relatively harmless, as the code could not be activated despite causing some antivirus software to issue an alert. A Wikipedia administrator began blocking the users and reve

Israel has sealed its borders with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after a surge in cross-border attacks this week. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, the move is raising fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished territory. Israel has closed all border crossings into Gaza, in response to an escalation in Palestinian rocket attacks. The Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, has fired more than 100 rockets at Israel since Tuesday, when Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians, most of them Hamas gunmen. The rocket

An internal training manual developed by the Canadian foreign affairs department lists the United States as a country where foreigners risk torture and abuse, alongside countries such as Afghanistan, China, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Both Israel and the United States are officially allies of Canada. The manual is a 93-page PowerPoint presentation by the Foreign Affairs Department for Canadian diplomats and was accidentally given to lawyers for the human rights group Amnesty International. It aims to teach diplomats how to

Matthew Higa, 23, has been arrested in connection with the death of a 23-month-old boy. Higa is alleged to have thrown the child from a pedestrian overpass into oncoming traffic on Honolulu's H-1 Freeway. The local coroner's office noted that the child died on impact after falling 30 feet (9 meters) from the overpass. This occurred during Thursday's lunch rush hour in the heart of downtown. Upon impact, several cars struck the child, which caused traffic to grind to a halt. The toddler, Cyrus Nainoa Tupaʻi Belt, was pronounced dead at the s

George W. Bush, the president of the United States has suggested an economic growth package that could be worth almost 1% of the United States' GDP (the US GDP is appoximately US$15 trillion). The package is expected to come in the form of tax cuts. In a speech which took place yesterday Mr.Bush said that the economy is an area of "real concern," to the US government. He added that the US "economy is still creating jobs, though at a reduced pace." Democrats want the tax refunds to cover payroll taxes paid by lower-income groups and be combin

The popular video website YouTube has been blocked in Turkey once more. Several sources quote complaints against a video that insults Atatürk, founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, as the reason for the block. On Friday, internet users in Turkey found the website replaced by a notice saying: A Turkish court issued a similar order in March last year, after a row between Turkish and Greek users escalated and resulted in insults of Atatürk, a serious offense in Turkey. Internet service providers such as Türk Telekom (the largest