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Canadian Minister of Defence Peter MacKay just narrowly escaped a rocket attack by the Taliban in Afghanistan yesterday morning. He was visiting Forward Operating Base Wilson 20 kilometres west of Kandahar. MacKay escaped into a Jeep as the first explosion went off at 11:00 a.m., local time (UTC+4:30). The second rocket, which struck 15 minutes after, hit four Canadian soldiers. The soldiers are now in good condition. MacKay was picked up by a helicopter an hour later. Some military experts and reporters on the scene suggested that the attac

After a series warm-up matches at Hualien, Kaohsiung, and Taichung, the special "Charity and Kids Running" event came back to Taipei yesterday at Taipei Municipal Datung Senior High School. Before the event, John Wylie (President & CEO of ING Antai) encouraged citizens in Taiwan to add their signatures to the "Charity Ambassador of ING Taipei Marathon" on the official website of the 2007 ING Taipei Marathon and hoped this competition will renew the scale of participation again next month. Taipei City Government, the main organizer of 2007 ING

Following the success of "Chinatrust Global Leaders Forum" in 2005, Chinatrust Commercial Bank (CTCB), the forum organizer, invited Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, to give the main address on the subject of "Cross-Strait e-Commerce Development" yesterday. "We (CTCB) held this forum originally with a speech-style type, and hoped participants absorb good experiences from some world-class notabilities. At the first holding, we invited Dr. Edward Prescott forecasting the future of global economics and this invitation was finally respected by fi

After federal elections on June 10, 2007, coalition talks in Belgium have still failed to result in compromises on the main electoral issue. The previous record from 1988 was broken today after 149 days without a new government. Christian Democrat Yves Leterme won the elections in Flanders together with his nationalistic coalition partner, and they promised more powers for the Dutch-speaking majority. Wallonian parties however remain reluctant to give in to unilateral demands and are asking for symbolic gestures and compromises in symbolic deb

On Monday, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official state visit to the United States. During his visit, he met with President George W. Bush in the White House for talks that centered on the Turkey-PKK conflict and the Iraq War. Turkey is concerned about attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that originate from within the borders of Iraq. There have been cross-border clashes between Turkey and the PKK. Turkey has threatened a major incursion, something the US seeks to avoid, as it could upset the relative calm

In late October, supporters of United States Republican candidate-for-President Ron Paul set up a website soliciting a "money bomb" of campaign donations to coincide with November 5th, the anniversary of Guy Fawkes Day, at ThisNovember5th.com. The fund-raising campaign fell short of its original goal of 100,000 donors each donating US$100 to generate $10 million for Paul's campaign. However, the final amount raised by over 35,000 Ron Paul donors was over $4 million. This is the largest fundraising day in primary history since John Kerry's 20

Daniel Snaith, better known as Caribou, formerly known as Manitoba until a lawsuit by musician Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba, recently played New York City's Bowery Ballroom. Below is Wikinews reporter David Shankbone's conversation with the electronica pioneer. David Shankbone: How is the tour going?Caribou: It’s been really good so far. We started with a few festivals in Europe and then did a month around the UK, Germany and France. Over here we just did Canada and this is the start of a big tour for us around the States. Then Euro

The racehorse Efficient has won the 2007 Melbourne Cup. Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia was abuzz today as the Melbourne Cup was raced for the 147th time. The New Zealand horse Efficient finishing the 3200m race in a time of 3:23.24. The horse, which had won the 2006 Victorian Derby, became the first horse since Phar Lap (also a New Zealand horse) to come back and win the Melbourne Cup a year later. The race ended with a stunning finish as Efficient and his jockey Michael Rodd came from behind to overtake Purple Moon in the fin

An Australian soldier has been found dead with a gunshot wound in a barracks area in Dili in East Timor. The soldier, working with the International Stabilisation Force in the turbulent country was found dead on the afternoon of November 5. The exact details of his death are still unknown but Air Chief Angus Houston said an inquiry will be launched as part of the investigation. "The soldier's next of kin have been informed and our priority is to ensure the family is receiving the support and care they need," Houston said. About 850 Australi

Two prominent South Carolina supporters of Barack Obama pressured the state Democratic council to keep Stephen Colbert off the primary ballot. The Council voted 13-3 last week against Colbert's placement on the ballot. According to an anonymous member of the council who felt pressured, one of those people was State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, who admitted she had made the calls. "I think lobbying was too strong a word," she said in an interview with CNN. "I called them to see what they were thinking, and if they had made up t

The bodies of 22 people have been found in a mass grave according to the United States military in Iraq, in the Lake Thar Thar region of Baghdad. The bodies, discovered by Iraqi troops working with U.S. coalition forces on Saturday, were found during an operation known as Operation Fahwat al Asad 2. Military personnel were searching for insurgents from both the ground and air, when the bodies were discovered. The bodies have not yet been identified. Reports quote an estimate that the bodies may be three months old, and suggest that there is

The United States Air Force suspended non-mission critical F-15 flight operations on Nov. 3 following the crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C aircraft Nov. 2. The F-15 will continue to fly in some emergency situations and a few others according to Air Force spokesperson John Elolf. The crash was 125 miles south of St. Louis on private property surrounded by the Mark Twain National Forest in Dent County, Missouri during dogfight training by four 131st Fighter Wing craft. The pilot ejected and suffered minor injuries. The cause of that