Total S.A., a French oil company has fired 900 contract workers at Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Killingholme, North Lincolnshire, England in response to a wildcat strike which took place at the facility this week. Total is calling the strike "illegal" and "unofficial"; the oil workers, meanwhile, accuse Total of having broken an agreement not to cut jobs by giving 51 workers redundancy. Total claims no such agreement exists. The workers were employed by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., a contractor at the site, who are constructing a new hydro-d
A research team from the Institute of Biomedical Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico has developed a therapy that extends survival for locally advanced cervical cancer patients. The study was started at the National Oncology Institute, before trials were conducted worldwide.
The new treatment, which serves as a guideline worldwide, involves using the drug gemcitabine as a radiosensibilizing agent to potentiate the effects of a regime of cisplatin chemotherapy and radiotherapy, explained Alfonso Dueñas González, who led th
Henry Allingham has become the world's oldest man at the age of 113, after the death of Tomoji Tanabe, a 113 year old man in Japan. Mr Allingham, the only surviving founding member of the RAF and one of only five living World War I veterans, was born on June 6, 1896 in Clapton, London.
Mr Allingham has five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild. The majority of his family live in the USA, but his nephew still lives in Britain.
He joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915, b
An airliner has suffered an explosion and caught fire at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia. The plane was being dismantled for spare parts and there were no injuries.
The plane was at a maintenance facility operated by Garuda Maintenance Facilities, a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia. Ownership of the plane is unclear, with Tempo Interactive saying that reports indicated Thailand's Phuket Air owns the plane and the Jakarta Globe quoting GMF corporate secretary Dwi Prasmono Adji as saying the plane belonged to Global Air Serv
According to the BBC, the Metropolitan Police Service of London in the United Kingdom announced today that its Specialist Crime Directorate will start an investigation into members of the U.K. Parliament, or MPs, who have been implicated in the on-going scandal about MPs' expense claims. The investigation will be overseen by Janet Williams, a former special branch commander and run by the economic and specialist crime command unit.
Since the The Daily Telegraph published details of MPs expenses, which ranged from a floating duck house to a po
Fans throughout the world have been queuing up outside stores for the release of Apple's new iPhone, titled the iPhone 3GS. The phone went on sale on Friday morning around the world. According to CNN, around 300 people were queuing outside Apple's New York store while employees were briefed inside.
Lines however, were not as long as was anticipated, with surplus metal barriers outside stores. An Apple employee was quoted as saying that the lines were shorter than this time last year.
The new iPhone contains a faster processor, a digital comp
Wikinews has learned that the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website has been hacked and is suffering from an apparent Distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS). As of this report, the main IRIB website could be reached. Just after 6:00 p.m. (EDT) the site came back online with only a few connection issues.
On further investigation, it was discovered that an individual or group claims responsibility for attacking the website on an Iranian internet forum. As part of the attack, at least one section of the IRIB website, an appare
At Friday prayers today at the mosque of Tehran University, Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei spoke about the disturbances in Iran that have followed its recent presidential election. He stated that the elections had been fairly run, urged the opposition to stop the protests by demonstrators, and accused foreign countries, singling out the United Kingdom in particular, of interference in internal Iranian affairs.
Ali Khamenei issued a veiled warning to opposition leaders, including Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was not present in the prayer hall
Several organizations have increased their Farsi services in the wake of the events surrounding the recent presidential election. Google has added Farsi-to-English translation as one of its translation options to its Google Translate service. Similarly, Facebook has launched a Farsi version of its web site. The BBC has increased the number of broadcasting satellites that it uses for its Farsi news channel, BBC Persian Television.
Google's translation services currently only provide translation from Farsi to English. Franz-Josef Och stated
On Friday, German automobile manufacturer Porsche reported that its August-April sales saw a drop of 28%, to 53,635 vehicles, after demand for luxury vehicles plunged as a result of the ongoing global financial crisis.
The firm also reported the revenue in the first three quarters of its fiscal year, which was at 4.64 billion euros after having fallen 15%. The overall decrease in revenues was due, in large part, to the decrease in sales of the company's 911 model, which accounts for a significant portion of sales. The 911 unit sales were lower
On Saturday, June 13, at the Klafthmonos (Κλαυθμωνος) square in Athens, Greece, the Athens Pride 2009 was held in support of LGBT issues. This Greek gay pride festival was held under the slogan "100% ισότητα" or "100% equality." On the square, organisations had stands representing issues such as representatives from human rights organizations, AIDS related health organizations, LGBT groups and political parties supporting LGBT rights.
About 18:00 local time, a parade was held through Athens, and later a party with music, concerts and performan
On Tuesday, United States President Barack Obama branded North Korea a "grave threat" to the world with regards to their nuclear weapons production.
President Obama's speech, delivered alongside South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, comes after North Korea claimed they will take action if any nation blocks the passage of its ships. Officials at the Pentagon have said North Korean missiles could be capable of reaching the US within the next three years if they continue military expansion at the rate of the past year.
Obama said that the Unite
