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A man was beaten to death in London after he attempted to retrieve a Halloween hat that had been stolen from his girlfriend. Ben Gardner was on a night out with his girlfriend to celebrate Halloween when his girlfriend's witch’s hat was stolen and spat in by a gang of people. When Gardner tried to get the hat back he was repeatedly punched and kicked by a group of people who appeared to be both men and women. The attack happened at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. His girlfriend was also punched during the attack. Gardner died in hospital on S

The wife of English football player Wayne Rooney has given birth to a baby boy in Liverpool, England. Coleen Rooney gave birth to the child in the Liverpool Women's Hospital at 1420 GMT, after being nine days overdue. The child has been named Kai Wayne Rooney. The father was present at the birth. The birth itself was natural, however Coleen did have to be induced. A spokesperson for the married couple has said: "Mother and baby are both absolutely fine. Wayne and Coleen are thrilled with the wonderful addition to their family life." Wayne Roo

An elderly man in Scotland has died after contacting the H1N1 virus, or swine flu. The Scottish Government made the confirmation of the information on Monday. The victim is said to have been suffering from underlying health problems. He came from the NHS Fife area. With the death of this victim, the number of deaths that have occurred in Scotland from the virus has now reached 30. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Secretary, made a statement about the incident, and encouraged eligible persons to receive antiviral vaccines. "My deepest symp

The US automobile manufacturer Ford has said that it posted a net profit of US$997 million in the third quarter of this year, and predicted that it would be "solidly profitable" by 2011. The reports surprised most analysts, who had forecast that the auto company would lose money. Ford's profits equate to 26 cents per share, a large difference to the 12 cent per share lost that had been anticipated by most economic analysts. "Our third-quarter results clearly show Ford is making tremendous progress despite the prolonged economic slump," said t

The Church of Scientology's European website was hacked and defaced earlier today by hackers claiming to be members of Anonymous. Anonymous proponents previously hacked Scientology's main website, www.scientology.org. The group also protested the church in February 2008. Another website run by the church, freedom-belgium.org, was also hacked and defaced. The hacked websites contain content taken from .whyaretheydead.info, a website critical of Scientology which lists members of the Church who are alleged to have died while in its care. Anonymo

Scientists at the Ohio University predicted that the ice sheets of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain peak, will melt in the next twenty years due to global warming. The ice that was present in 1912 gradually decreased by 85% by 2000, and by 2007 another 26% of the amount in 2000. This was the first time that the volume of the ice in Kilimanjaro was measured. The tests were conducted by Lonnie Thompson, a professor at Ohio University. "The fact that so many glaciers throughout the tropics and subtropics are showing similar responses

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Palestinian negotiators yesterday that they should resume talks with Israeli negotiators without the preconditions that Israel stop all settlement building in the occupied territories. Mrs. Clinton's statements came after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told Israeli negotiators that all negotiations would be postponed until Israel stopped building settlement houses in Palestinian territory. Secretary of State Clinton praised what she called "unprecedented" concessions on settlement buil

With two by-elections coming up in Australia, many minor parties and independents will be looking to gain a seat in the House of Representatives. Dr Clive Hamilton AM is one of the independents / candidate for the Australian Greens. Dr Hamilton was awarded Member of the Order of Australia honours for his contributions to public debate and public policy earlier this year. Wikinews reporter Patrick Gillett held an exclusive email interview with Dr Hamilton, candidate for the Division of Higgins. In participating in this interview, Dr Hamilton w

A man suspected of being involved in a bombing targeting Iraqi ministries stole a gun from an officer, wounded a officer and mortally wounded a senior investigator, reported Iraqi officials Sunday. After being wounded, investigator Arkan Hachim returned fire at the suspect and fatally wounded him, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Officials declared the incident "a dereliction", and said they would investigate further into the shooting. The Ministry has not yet identified the suspect, and did not give any information concerning evide

A suicide bomber has killed at least 24 people near the Pakistani army headquarters in Rawalpindi when he detonated explosives while riding on a motorbike outside a bank, several hundred metres away from army headquarters. Gunmen had kept up a 24-hour hostage-taking assault last month at those same headquarters. Many people, such as retired and serving military officials, civilians, had come to the bank to collect their salaries, were killed or wounded by the blast. Many hospitals declared emergency services and rushed to help the people out.

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission stated today that it cancelled the presidential runoff, originally scheduled for November 7, and officially declared president Hamid Karzai the winner. This announcement comes a day after President Hamid Karzai's main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the race. "We declare that Mr. Hamid Karzai, [who] got the majority of votes in the first round and [who] is the only candidate for the second round of elections of Afghanistan in 2009, we declare [is] the elected p

Police have arrested a man in the murders of a family of six found stabbed to death in their burning apartment near Tel Aviv, Israel. Damian Kirilik, 38, is believed to have killed the Oshrenko family at their home in Rishon LeZion after being fired from their restaurant. Kirilik gave a re-enactment of his alleged actions which saw him wait at the house for each person to return home before killing them. The deceased were 56-year-old grandparents Edward and Lyudmilla Oshrenko, their son and daughter-in-law Dmitry and Tatyana Oshrenko and the c