Politics

Under fire for illegal political and financial wrongdoing, Oral Roberts University president Richard Roberts stepped down from his position and Billy Joe Daugherty was named acting-president. Richard and his wife, Lindsay Roberts, are also members of the ORU Board of Regents, and it is not mentioned if Richard and/or Lindsay stepped down from the board. On October 12 the plaintiffs of the original lawsuit amended it adding the university's Board of Regents, which includes George Pearsons, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Michael A. Hammer, Jo

Crude oil rose to an all-time high during trading in Asia to close at US$86.13 a barrel, up $2.44. The price of Brent Crude futures was at $84.40 at 6:39 a.m.. Crude stock futures at 6:08 a.m. (eastern time in the United States were trading at $87.52, nearing $90.00 a barrel. The spike is being blamed on fears that Turkey is going to attack Iraqi Kurdish Militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after they killed 13 Turkish soldiers on October 7. On Monday, the Turkish military asked Parliament for permission to lead a mission into Iraq t

The Chinese Communist Party's 17th National Congress gave cause for party officials to condemn a planned awards ceremony for the Dalai Lama, who is to receive the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday. President Bush receives him at the White House today. "We are furious," Tibet's Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, told reporters during the congress. "If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world." In 1950, the People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet and continues to occupy the territory.

Sam Brownback is perplexed. The U.S. Senator from Kansas and Presidential candidate is a Republican whose politics—he is against marriage for gay people, he is against abortion, and he has a clean image in a party tainted by scandal—should speak favorably to the party's base. But it has not. "I'm baffled by that myself," Senator Brownback told Wikinews reporter David Shankbone. "We haven't been able to raise money." A recent poll in Iowa has put him in eighth place, with 2% supporting his campaign. "If we don't finish fourth or better i

Russian President Vladimir Putin has received information from his special services regarding a possible plot to assassinate him during his visit to Iran later this week, say Kremlin officials. A "credible" source within the Russian national security services told the Russian Interfax news agency that multiple security agencies have received reports from various international sources warning of assassination attempts by several terrorist groups. According to the official, Russian intelligence has reason to believe that the terrorist groups hav

In late September, the Howard government announced that it would fund a AU$20 million engineering study into the construction of a Bells Line expressway across the Blue Mountains, linking Sydney to the Central West of NSW. At the time of the announcement, Federal opposition transport minister, Martin Ferguson accused the federal government of "pork-barreling" on the issue. In an interview with Wikinews, the shadow transport minister warned that a Bells Line expressway could not be built for many years, regardless of the outcome of any study an

Menzies Campbell, leader of the United Kingdom's Liberal Democrat political party, has resigned. Simon Hughes, the President of the Liberal Democrats, and deputy leader Vincent Cable announced the resignation outside the Liberal Democrats headquarters in London, saying that he had made the decision "in the interests of the party". Vincent Cable will become acting leader while a leadership election takes place. Home Affairs spokesman Nick Clegg and environment spokesman Chris Huhne are considered to be possible candidates. Campbell, 66, was

The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard has announced that the Australian federal election will be held on November 24, 2007. Howard visited the Governor General of Australia Michael Jeffries earlier today and then announced the news. Mr Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia for over ten years now, said that the country's "best years lie ahead", but only if the "right leadership" team is in power. "Is it a Government that has a proven track record in those areas? Or is it an inexperienced group of men and women, 70 per cent of whom ar

On Friday three fired professors filed more charges in their lawsuit against Oral Roberts University, University president Richard Roberts, and his wife, Lindsay Roberts. In addition to previous allegations of illegal political contributions, financial wrong-doing, and wrongful firings, the plaintiffs also added the ORU Board of Regents (Lindsay and Richard are both members of the board) to the lawsuit claiming regents did not oversee the university and its president Richard Roberts. One example cited in the lawsuit was that ORU allowed a man w

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso will arrive in the United States on Tuesday and will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush. On Wednesday he will attend a ceremony in his honor where he will be awarded the highest honor in the U.S. for a civilian, the Congressional Gold Medal. This also marks an historical moment as it is the first time ever that a sitting U.S. President will appear with the Dalai Lama at a public event. The honor has not gone without protest. China objected, accusing the Dalai Lama of "separatist activities." China also

The Council of Europe Parliamentary assembly (CoE) urged its member states to only teach creationism as nothing more than belief. The CoE stressed the potential threat to human rights that may result from creationist doctrines. The adopted resolution targeting creationism is a reaction to growing fear in the CoE member states that progressive scientific thought is threatened by the advancement of fundamentalism and its perceived dangers. The British government marginalized intelligent design into 'religious' belief even before the adoption

The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to former U.S. Vice President Albert Arnold Gore Jr. and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Nobel committee cited "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change" as the reasons for awarding the prize. The Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by th