Culture

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) has urged the Australian government to increase funding for community broadcasters. CBAA is asking for an extra $AU14 million for "vital community broadcasting services." According to CBAA President Deborah Welch, community television is the training ground for the Australian media industry. "It is the launching pad for the career of thousands of Australian musicians. It is an incredible source of local news, music and culture targeted specifically to local communities and produced by

Valuable personal items belonging to Mahatma Gandhi, The father of India were auctioned for US$1.8 million by Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York City, New York. Documentary filmmaker James Otis owned these items and put these up for auction. The items were bought by the owner of the United Breweries group and Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallaya, a Bangalore based Indian entrepreneur. The list of rare personal belongings included a Zenith sterling silver Pocket watch, a pair of eyeglasses used by Gandhi, a pair of leather sandals, his blood work

The small archipelago of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea takes the Eurovision Song Contest very seriously. Leading a fight to remove a cap on the number of competing countries brought them back to the Contest in 1991 after a 16-year absence, and ever since the nation has had perfect attendance. Since then, Malta's dependable "shining star" has been Chiara Siracusa, who goes by her first name in her music career. First competing in 1998 at the age of 21, she was pushed to the brink of victory until the votes from the final country that evening

Dubbed as the 'King of Pop music', Michael Jackson says he will go one last concert tour in the United Kingdom beginning in July. Jackson had said after a performance at the O2 Arena in London, England on Wednesday that he calls the tour his "final curtain calls". "These will be my final shows ... performances in London. When I say this is it, I mean this is it. I'll be performing the songs my fans want to hear. This is it, this is really it, this is the final curtain call," said Jackson after the concert. Tim Leiweke, CEO of Anschutz Entert

When she was barely 20 years old, Dutch singer Edsilia Rombley got her first large taste of international acclaim. Already a winner of the smaller imitation contest Soundmix Show, she decided to shoot higher. With a great deal of determination, she performed in front of hundreds of millions of television viewers at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Her song, the R&B flavored "Hemel en aarde" (Heaven and earth), placed fourth and gave her country their highest placing at Eurovision since their last win in 1975. No D

Sunday, Hollywood stars gathered in the Beverly Hilton ballroom in Beverly Hills, California, for the 10th Annual Children Uniting Nations Oscar viewing party for the 81st Academy Awards. Wikinews reporter Ilya Haykinson attended the party; the two prior years were covered by outside volunteer photographers. The following is a selection from the hundreds of images taken by Haykinson, of the guests at this party.

According to the chief of the agency investigating the Turkish Airlines aeroplane crash at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands yesterday, engine trouble may have been a factor in the accident. Addressing Dutch state television, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board Pieter van Vollenhoven said that the way the aircraft dropped from the air suggests that the engines may have failed. "If you then lose speed, you then literally fall out of the sky," he said. However, he noted that the reason for the apparent engine failure had not yet bee

Today, Israel President Shimon Peres has selected Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form the government of the 18th Knesset. 65 Members of Knesset informed the President of their preference of Netanyahu to head the government. President Peres was persuaded by two factors to choose Likud over Kadima. The Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) supports Likud in its attempt to form a government. Kadima Leader Tzipi Livni would not join in a unity government with Likud that the Israel President was attempting to broker between the three largest p

Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza has today rejected a motion by lawyers for French film director Roman Polanski to have charges of unlawful sex with a child dismissed. In 1977, Polanski was arrested charged with sodomy, sexual assault and rape of a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's house in California, United States. Polanski agreed to plead guilty to unlawful sex with a child, often called statutory rape, in exchange for having the more serious charges dropped. However, in 1978, before his sentencing, Polanski fled the United States.

The Discworld author Sir Terry Pratchett is to appear in a BBC documentary covering a year of his struggle with the brain disorder Alzheimer's disease. Pratchett, 60, asked the BBC to spend a year documenting any decline in his condition and seeing him experiment with various supposed cures. One alleged cure involved firing infrared light at his brain via a helmet invented by a general practitioner doctor. Pratchett also examines the serious research into dementia and its cure. The author has donated £500,000 to the Alzheimer's Research Trust

British singer, song-writer and guitarist John Martyn has died at the age of 60. He died while in a hospital in Ireland. "With heavy heart and an unbearable sense of loss we must announce that John died this morning," said a statement posted on his website. The details surrounding his death are not known, but Martyn has admitted to past drug and alcohol abuse. Martyn had to have his right leg amputated in 2003 because of a cyst, but despite the loss, he continued to play his music from a wheelchair. On December 31, 2008 during the UK's New Ye

__NOTOC__ A powerful blast has razed a fireworks factory 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of the Philippines capital Manila shortly before noon on Thursday, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 70 others, Cavite Governor Ayong Maliksi said. Four of the eight fatalities have already been identified by factory officials. They are: Clodelio Iso, Rodelio Iso, Marlon Rodrin, Angelo Francisco and Gerardo Amparo. The fire was declared to be out at around 2:33 p.m. local time (UTC+8). Most of the explosion victims were employees of th