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José Ramos-Horta, president of East Timor, has pardoned rebel leader Gastão Salsinha and 22 of his followers, involved in the 2008 attacks during which he was shot in the back and nearly died. Dr. Ramos-Horta was shot by rebels on 11th February 2008 and survived only after being flown to the Royal Darwin Hospital in Australia, where he underwent five operations. He told the Sydney Morning Herald this year that one of the rebels, Marcelo Caetano, had admitted having shot him, and had apologised, saying he had not intended to kill him. Accordin

A former Filipino policeman has kept Hong Kong tourists hostage by hijacking their bus in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Rolando Mendoza fired his M16 rifle at the tourists. Several hostages have been rescued and least six have been confirmed dead so far. Six hostages, including the children and elderly, were released early, as were the Filipino photographers. The photographers later took the place of an aged lady as she needed the lavatory. Mendoza was gunned down. Mendoza was fired from the Police Force after robbery and drugs claim

This article's primary contributor, Patrick Gillett, is an alumnus of Sunshine Coast Grammar School. Wikinews has obtained a list of middle management teaching staff allegedly made redundant, or laid off due to restructuring, by Sunshine Coast Grammar School (SCGS), in Queensland, Australia. Sources say that those staff have been told that they can apply for new positions that have opened up. The list, published on the SCGS alumni Facebook page, contains the names of twenty-two staff members, eight of which taught this article's primary contr

Tropical Storm Danielle is now a Category 1 hurricane, with winds up to 130 km/h (80 mph). The storm is headed towards Bermuda and forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida expect it to strengthen over the next two days. Hurricane Danielle is the second hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. North America is simultaneously threatened by Tropical Storm Frank. The 80 km/h (50 mph) storm in the Pacific Ocean is about 210 km (130 miles) south-south west of Acapulco, Mexico. Mexico has issued a tropical storm watch

Australia's parliament will be hung after this year's federal election. With 73% of the nation wide vote counted, the governing Australian Labor Party has been confirmed to have 50.7% of the two party preferred votes, and predicted to win 73 seats in the House of Representatives, 3 short of majority. The coalition of the Liberal and National parties has 70 secure seats and predicted to win 73 seats. This figure includes Queensland's Liberal National Party and the Northern Territory's Country Liberal Party, both of which are mergers of the loca

Tropical Storm Danielle, fourth named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, has formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The storm, located approximately 3,000 miles from Miami, Florida, has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (64 kph). Scientists at the National Hurricane Center predict that Danielle will strengthen to a hurricane by Wednesday. As the storm is far from landfall, it remains difficult to assess potential impact to the United States or Caribbean. The storm formed near the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of West Africa, being

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella announced Sunday that he will retire from Major League Baseball after almost fifty years of coaching, managing, and playing the sport. Piniella's announcement came after the Chicago Cubs lost to the Atlanta Braves 16-5 at the Cub's Wrigley Field. The 66 year-old Piniella said that he was retiring because of family issues. For much of the 2010 MLB season, Piniella's 90 year-old mother has been ill. "This will be the last time I put on a uniform. This has been very special for me. I'll go home, do what I have

German director Christoph Schlingensief has died at the age of 49. His death was announced by Oliver Golloch, a spokesman for the Ruhrtriennale festival. Schlingensief had been suffering from lung cancer but no official cause of death was given by the spokesman. The film and theatre director worked on several films, plays, and operas throughout his controversial career. Schlingensief directed films such as "100 Years of Adolf Hitler" and "The German Chainsaw Massacre". He was arrested in 1997 for his exhibition of work called "Kill Helmut Ko

Former Yugoslav footballer Stjepan Bobek has died at the age of 86. His death was confirmed by doctors at the Belgrade emergency clinic. However, the cause of death was not given. Born in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, Bobek gained fame while playing for Partizan Belgrade. He joined them in 1945 and stayed until 1958. During his time with the team, he scored 403 goals in 468 appearances. No one else has ever made more appearances or scored more goals for the club than Bobek. In 1995 he was voted the best player in Partizan's history. Bobek als

Scottish poet Edwin Morgan has died at the age of 90. The cause of death was announced as pneumonia. Morgan's writing career spanned for more than 60 years. He was Scotland's first national poet, known as the "Scots Makar". His death was confirmed by his publisher. Born in Glasgow in 1920, Morgan grew up in Rutherglen. He later returned to his birth town where he studied at Glasgow University in 1937. Morgan published his first book, The Vision of Cathkin Braes, in 1952. He later began to write experimental poetry. In the early 1960s, Morga

New research identifies cracks over the moon's crust that may have been created by the cooling and shrinking of it over the past billion or so years. Scientists have discovered landforms littered across the moon's surface called lobate scarps that have apparently resulted from the moon's shrinking very slowly. These scarps were found all over the moon and appear to be minimally weathered, indicating that the geologic events that created them were fairly recent. This theory contradicts the claim that the moon is completely devoid of geologic a

Seven people were killed and fourteen injured after a man detonated explosives in a crowd Friday around 10:30 local time in Aksu, Xinjiang, China. Most of the victims of the blast were ethnic minorities. The man allegedly drove a three-wheeled vehicle armed with explosives into a crowd. The man suspected of detonating the bomb was detained, after sustaining injuries from the blast. His name is still unknown to authorities, although they do know he is a member of the Uighur ethnic group. "The suspect is a Uighur. Most of the victims are Uighu