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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Wikinews attends 2021 Texas Haunters Convention}} Wikinews attended this year's Texas Haunters Convention held in the city of Mesquite on Saturday and Sunday. The three day event began on Friday and featured an array of vendors, actors, and makeup artists, among many other types of haunted attraction specialists. Held at the Mesquite Convention Center, the event drew at least 2500 ticket holders. Focused largely on Halloween-oriented events, speakers and classes covered a broad array of topics. One class focused on the topic

Yesterday, with 85 active cases of COVID-19 in the Australian state of Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews has extended the state's current lockdown by a week until July 27 at 11:59 p.m. (0159 UTC). Since a five-day lockdown was first announced last Thursday, cases have been recorded in areas across Victoria, including Phillip Island, Mildura and Barwon Heads. Notably, Mildura's COVID-19 case, which was recorded on Sunday, is their first in 15 months. Thirteen new cases of coronavirus were recorded in Victoria yesterday. Red zone travel permits

A week-long lockdown began at midnight yesterday in the City of Orange, Blayney Shire, and Cabonne Shire local government areas in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, after a local resident was infected with COVID-19 by a truck driver at the Nestlé Purina PetCare food factory in Blayney, which the driver had visited daily from July 13 to 16. The decision to go into lockdown follows what ABC News described as a "crisis cabinet meeting" of the New South Wales government. Under the new regulations, residents of the three areas will only be permitte

On Monday night, governor of the U.S. state of California Gavin Newsom signed a new US$262.6 billion budget bill for the state into law, with US$8.1 billion reserved for US$600 direct stimulus payments to Californians to aid in California's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill for the budget, SB 129, and the bill for the stimulus payments, SB 139, both passed both houses of the California Legislature for this fiscial year. The payments, dubbed the Golden State Stimulus II, are set to be paid out to eligible California taxpaying resid

The number of patients in England waiting for treatment by the National Health Service reached 5.3 million in May, data Thursday indicated, the highest since records began in April 2007 for the second consecutive month. Those on the health institute's waiting list increased by over 600 thousand in the past three months. However, the average wait time of just under eleven weeks has been steadily declining since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove total admissions to hospital down, according to The Guardian. Total admissions for su

On Friday, the Ministry of Defense of Georgia announced military units of Georgia had completed in Afghanistan. The personnel landed at th Tbilisi International Airport where Deputy Commander of the Georgian Defense Forces, Brigadier General Joni Tatunashvili; the Commander of the West, Brigadier General Koba Grigolia and representatives of the Western Command were present. Over 20 thousand Georgian servicemen had participated in international missions in Afghanistan since 2004. They served as a part of the 107 rotations at various levels

South Korean health authorities confirmed on Monday the country's first official death from a COVID-19 vaccine. The deceased, a man in his thirties, died last Wednesday after being diagnosed and admitted for thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), a rare side-effect of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as reported by Arirang TV. The man, who had received the vaccine in late May, suffered from severe headaches and nausea nine days following his inoculation. In a press conference, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency comm

On Monday, Canada, the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom and the United States imposed new sanctions on senior officials and entities in Belarus over the May 23 diversion of a Ryanair flight and subsequent arrest of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, as well as "repressive practices" committed by the Belarusian government. The joint action was aimed at putting pressure on Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko's "regime", a joint statement read, citing "continued attacks on human rights, fundamenta

Recent media reports indicate police are warning of increases in theft of auto-mobiles' catalytic converters across parts of the United States. As recently as Friday, authorities in the city of Corpus Christi, Texas told media the theft rate of the item is up 312% for their city. The parts contain an array of precious metals, which are quite valuable today. The converters serve to reduce harmful emissions. Prices of one of the metals, rhodium, has been increasing for past several months. According to multiple reports, one troy ounce, about

At least fifteen were reported killed on Tuesday in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia after a suicide bombing, claimed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabaab, at a checkpoint outside General Dhegobadan Military Camp. Army officer Mohamed Adan told Al Jazeera the perpetrator was disguised among army recruits, and put the death toll at "about 15" but suggested it could be higher. A Reuters witness also suggested the number at 15; army chief Odowaa Yusuf Rageh, the target of a 2020 assassination attempt by Al-Shabaab, initially told state media at lea

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Wikinews interviews candidate for Cleveland mayor Arthur Kostendt}} Arthur Oliver Kostendt, a candidate running in the mayoral election of the US city of Cleveland, Ohio set to take place November 2, discussed his campaign and policies with Wikinews this spring. According to Cleveland Scene, 29-year-old Kostendt is a member of the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Republican Party but has referred to his campaign as "casual". According to his web site's personal biography, he was a cadet for the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC

Taylor Swift's Evermore album has returned to the top position on the Billboard 200 chart this week, after an 8307% increase in sales. Evermore, which was released in December, only had its vinyl edition issued on May 28, although preorders were available from the moment of the album's release. In the week ending on June 3, Evermore sold 192 thousand copies, setting the record for the biggest sales week of the year. Billboard credited the rise of Evermore back to No. 1 to a number of factors, including "modern-era record-breaking vinyl LP sa