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At least three people, among them a child, have been wounded after a group of gunmen opened fire at one of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election offices. The shooting happened in the city of Zahedan, located in southeastern Iran. The incident occurred at approximately 19.00 IRST (UTC+3:30), the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said. "Three knife-wielding people on motorbikes stopped outside the centre on Saadi Street, cursed, made threats and tore up billboards," said Mohammad Reza Zahed Sheikhi, the head of Ahmadinejad's Ze

Frank Cook, Labour Member of Parliament for Stockton North, has criticised the deportation of Blaise Kamba, a failed asylum seeker, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kamba had been in the United Kingdom since 2006; he fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo, because he feared for his life due to his political beliefs. Kamba was deported by the UK Border Agency to Kinshasa, the capital, on Tuesday night. A church group planned to meet Kamba there, but on arrival, he was detained by Congolese authorities and taken to a high security s

Music producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to life imprisonment, of which he will serve a minimum of nineteen years in prison. This for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson who was shot through the mouth in Spector's Los Angeles home in 2003. The 69-year-old man had spent two trials and millions of dollars before conviction, with his defense being the claim Clarkson had killed herself due to depression. Spector's chauffeur testified he heard a gunshot before Spector told him "I think I killed somebody" and five separate woman said Spector h

According to Chinese state media, at least 30 people were killed and a further 57 were injured, 4 in critical state, after a gas leak resulted in an explosion in a coal mine in the country The incident occurred on Saturday in a mine in Chongqing, lcoated in central China. The Xinhua news agency reports that rescuers have managed to recover 30 bodies, but have not managed to reach twenty other trapped miners due to dangerously high levels of gas in the mine. An investigation is currently ongoing as to what caused the explosion. China has amo

Oil prices attained a six-month high on Friday, on new signs that the U.S. economy may not be contracting as fast as was believed. U.S. crude oil prices reached US$66.47 a barrel, a level not seen since last November. Brent North Sea crude oil was up $1.13 to $65.52 at the end of the week, after peaking at $65.70, also the highest level since November. This comes soon after a report released by the U.S. Commerce Department showed that the U.S. GDP fell by 5.7%, revised from the original figure of 6.1%. Analysts predict that oil prices will c

The latest console data from the NPD Group shows that, in April, Nintendo's DSi handheld console outsold all other consoles in America in its first month of release. Apart from the Nintendo Wii and the original Nintendo DS, all other consoles sold under 200,000 units. A worrying trend for the industry is that the Xbox 360, Wii and the Playstation 3 all had lower sales on a month-over-month and a year-over-year basis. Hardware sales for the month in America fell 8% year-over-year, down to $391 million. Year-to-date sales are down 1%, sitting

Claiming their major trophy of the season, FC Barcelona dominated reigning champions Manchester United F.C. at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome Wednesday to win the 2009 Champions League Final 2 – 0. After a shaky start, Samuel Eto'o shot the ball past Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in the tenth minute, the only goal Barcelona would need. Manchester had several great chances in the opening ten minutes, with Christiano Ronaldo forcing a save from Barca keeper Víctor Valdés in the second minute. However it was Eto'o who capitalized o

Anna Mikkola is running for European Parliament in Finland as a member of the eco-socialist Left Alliance party. At the age of 28 she's the youngest member of the 14 candidates on the Left Alliance's list for the multi-national body. She spoke to Wikinews during a break in campaigning. Finland votes in the European Parliament election on June 7. Thanks for joining us, Anna. Thanks for asking. I had a convenient break in the campaign this afternoon. You're the youngest member of your party's list in the Euro elections; but you've also had an

Contributors to Wikipedia, the self-described free, online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, have voted to block the Church of Scientology from editing the encyclopedia. The arbitration committee voted to block the Church with 10 supporting the ban and 1 against it. "All IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates, broadly interpreted, are to be blocked as if they were open proxies. Individual editors may request IP block exemption if they wish to contribute from the blocked IP addresses," a statement on Wik

A 48-year-old man in Ohio has been arrested and is facing charges of obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct after refusing to stop cutting the grass at a local public park. John Hamilton of Sandusky says on Thursday the grass in Sandusky Central Park was over 12 inches long. He decided to take up the task of cutting it after driving around his city and seeing how long the grass was in vacant lots and in public parks. He was also inspired by Toledo's mayor, who spent his time off cutting the grass in his local parks. "I was only trying

Police forensic investigators in Canada continue the search for the body of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford, whom they now believe was murdered on the same day she was abducted, April 8, 2009 from her Woodstock, Ontario school. Counselors have been providing support to students at Oliver Stephens Public School. There have been two arrests made, one for the first-degree murder and abduction of Tori Stafford and the other person has been charged with being an accessory and abduction. The next court appearance is May 28. Police and neighbours

Australian national football coach Pim Verbeek has named the Socceroos team to participate in the teams remaining qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All but one of the squad play in foreign leagues. Jason Čulina, who has signed with Gold Coast United FC, is the exception. Rhys Williams and Dario Vidosic were called up to the national team for the first time after impressing for their respective clubs. Williams has previously represented the Wales national under-21 football team on ten occasions but recently declared his desire to be sel