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YouTube announced that Taiwan Traditional Chinese website has been released yesterday in Taipei City, Taiwan, and the unique web address will be shown as "www.youtube.com.tw" or "tw.youtube.com". Users from YouTube Global Sites can access Taiwan Site. This site launch will be a benefit for users preferring reading Chinese more than other languages. In the press conference, co-founder Steve Chen explained the reason choosing ".tw" address, "With lots of good experiences using Traditional Chinese Site in Hong Kong, I think Taiwan should also be.

Labor has released its tax plan, following the announcement from the Liberal/National coalition that they would provide tax cuts costing AU$34 billion if re-elected. The government has placed pressure on Labor since their announcement on Monday, urging Mr Rudd to release the opposition's tax plan. Under Labor's system, the government's planned tax cuts for Australians earning more than $180,000 per year would be scrapped, saving $3 billion. The savings would be spent on health and education for working families. Speaking in Canberra today, Mr

An explosion rocked an upscale mall in the main financial district of the Philippine capital Manila. The explosion damaged the Glorietta Mall in the financial district of Makati and killed at least eight people and injured at least 126 people, 98 of those needed hospitalization and the other 28 were given first aid at the blast site for minor injuries. The explosion happened past 1:30 p.m. just after employees of the different companies in Makati finished their lunch breaks. Police investigators initially said the cause of the explosion was f

Ben Cousins, the former West Coast Eagles AFL team captain has been forcedly removed from the West Coast Eagles and is 'no longer a registered player', according to an AFL spokesperson. Cousins was pulled over by police on Tuesday for erratic driving. Police charged the player with one drug charge and failing to provide a blood test. The drug charge was dropped today but the blood test charge still lingers, after police had found the drug Valium solely in pill form - the drug is only illegal in the liquid form (for injection). Cousins had al

The leadership election for the Liberal Democrats, the UK's third party, is looking increasingly likely to be between two candidates. Environment spokesman Chris Huhne, who launched his leadership bid on Wednesday 17 October, has been joined in the race today by his frontbench colleague Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman. All other likely contenders have ruled themselves out. Steve Webb, chair of the party's manifesto group and considered to be on the left wing of the party, gathered enough support from Liberal Democrat MP

At least 31 people have died and 35 more are missing after wooden passenger ferry Acita III sank off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia. At least 125 more have been rescued. The vessel capsized and sank at approximately 9 p.m. local time last night, going down near the port town of Bau Bau. It has been suggested that bad weather was the cause of the disaster, but Bau Bau mayor Amirul Tamin has told reporters that he believes overcrowding was a much more likely cause. An alternative explanation was offered by local police chief Mochammad Badrus

One person was killed and two were injured when a small plane crashed into a residential tower shortly after taking off from Vancouver International Airport. The twin engine Piper Seneca hit the ninth floor of the 15-storey building in Richmond, where the airport is located, but it did not cause a fire. The male pilot of the plane was killed, while two people in the building were hurt -- one seriously, the other suffering minor injuries. The plane appears to have hit the building at an angle, with damage spread between the eighth and ninth

On Wednesday, Turkey's Grand National Assembly voted 507-19 to authorize sending troops into northern Iraq to pursue Kurdish rebels. Although the authorization is valid for one year, Turkish officials made clear that it would not necessarily result in military action. Both the United States and Iraq have recently warned Turkey against such an incursion. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that although the motion does not indicate that a military operation is imminent, it is necessary for Turkey to be able to respond to bomb a

The Associated Press is reporting that Republican Kansas Senator Sam Brownback is expected to drop out of the presidential race on Friday in a speech scheduled in Topeka, Kansas. "I know Senator Brownback enjoyed campaigning and meeting new people in talking about ideas for the future of America, but I think it came down to money," an anonymous source told AP. "It's just time," said a source to Reuters. "He is not going to endorse anyone else right away." In an interview with Wikinews, Brownback confirmed money was an issue. He reported ra

For the first time in 14 years, an Avro Vulcan heavy bomber has taken to the skies over England. The newly-restored aircraft took off from Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, Leicestershire. The craft flew for about 25 minutes in the first of three planned test flights from Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, meant to prove that the craft is officially "airworthy", the only Vulcan to hold such a distinction. It has taken £6 million to return the aircraft to service. The aircraft, XH558, bombed the Argentinian-held Port Stanley in the Falkand Islands during the

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was the target of a bombing which killed at least 136 people Thursday night, hours after landing at Karachi Airport. Bhutto's arrival in the country with more than 100 supporters, breaking eight years of self-imposed exile, was met by more than 20,000 police and military troops. Security was tight, after a warning that militants could attempt to assassinate the former leader. Bhutto is disliked by many traditionalist Pakistanis who consider her rule to have brought the country too close to the

It can be difficult to be John Reed. Christopher Hitchens called him a "Bin Ladenist" and Cathy Young editorialized in The Boston Globe that he "blames the victims of terrorism" when he puts out a novel like Snowball's Chance, a biting send-up of George Orwell's Animal Farm which he was inspired to write after the terrorist attacks on September 11. "The clear references to 9/11 in the apocalyptic ending can only bring Orwell's name into disrepute in the U.S.," wrote William Hamilton, the British literary executor of the Orwell estate. That