Latest

Porsche and Volkswagen family owners agreed on Wednesday to merge the companies, creating one large “integrated car-manufacturing group”. "In the final structure, 10 brands shall stand below an integrative leading company alongside each other, whereby the independence of all brands and explicitly also of Porsche shall be ensured," said the Porsche Automobil Holding SE company. A task force has been set into place to discuss details of the merger over the next month. This task force embraces managers and representatives from the works council

Major League Baseball player Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has stated that he has been tested positive for a banned substance. As a result, he will be benched for 50 games. The baseball players' union stated, Ramirez said the positive test resulted from a medication prescribed by a doctor, and not from a steroid. Ramirez waived his right to challenge the suspension. Said Ramirez: "Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the

United States automobile company General Motors announced it has lost US$6 billion in the first quarter of 2009, amidst heavy declines in revenues. Not including special items, the firm said it had lost a net $5.9 billion dollars, or $9.66 per share. In the first quarter of last year, GM had reported a loss of $381 million, or $0.67 per share. Most financial analysts had forecast the automaker's losses to be over $6.7 billion, or $11.05 per share. GM had also reported that it had spent $10.2 billion in an effort to prevent bankruptcy. The man

Wikinews contributors have discovered that members of the United States Congress or members of their staff have recently been making questionable edits to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia anyone can edit. This continues the trend identified by four exclusive Wikinews reports over a four-year period exposing questionable and fraudulent edits made beginning in 2005 by Congress members or staff. Beginning in 2006, Wikinews reported that members of Congress or their staff were vandalizing Wikipedia by removing critical information in variou

American actor Dom DeLuise has died, according to reports from his family. DeLuise had been battling cancer previously. Born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, DeLuise came to be known for his roles in several Mel Brooks movies: The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. DeLuise also co-starred with Burt Reynolds in several movies: The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and All Dogs Go to Heaven. He was

U.K. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced a voluntary pilot scheme for identity cards. Greater Manchester has been chosen for the pilot and passport holders over sixteen will be able to submit applications for the card at post offices and pharmacies. A number of other high street retailers are negotiating with the government to be permitted to take photographs and fingerprints for the scheme. Opposition leaders stand against the planned compulsory nationwide scheme, calling for the £5.3 billion programme to be scrapped. The pricetag does

Afghan officials warned that a United States raid had killed 100 people, "mostly civilians", in the Afghani province of Farah. Among the dead was a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and his family. "Twenty-five to 30 of them are Taliban, including from Chechnya and Pakistan, and the rest are civilians including children, women and elderly people," said police official Abdul Rauf Ahmadi. The governor of the province, Rohul Amin, said that he thought that as many as 100 civilians were killed in the raid. A spokeswo

As many as 45 people have been killed and six others were injured after at least four gunmen with grenades stormed a wedding reception in the village of Bilge located in Turkey. Many of those killed were women and children. The attack is not believed to be related to terrorism. "According to our investigations so far nothing indicates that this is a terror attack but a larger investigation is being run by the regional prosecutor," said the interior minister of Turkey, Besir Atalay. The attack is believed to be part of an ongoing blood feud bet

Eighteen-year-old Joseph Randay and Dilsher Singh Gill, seventeen, were kidnapped Thursday evening and found dead Friday morning on Lower Sumas Mountain Road near Abbotsford, British Columbia. "All we know is that they were kidnapped at gunpoint and now they have found their bodies. The police said they are both dead...police have no leads," said Amarjit Randay, father of the one of the slain teenagers. "We're going through all our steps to try and get to the bottom of it," Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Unit said, "I

__NOTOC__ The United Nations' World Health Organization reported on Monday that the total number of confirmed cases of the H1N1 swine flu virus worldwide has surpassed one thousand. The chief of the WHO, Margaret Chan, told the UN General Assembly in New York that 1,003 confirmed infections have been reported throughout the world since the outbreak began. Chan said that there was "no indication that we are facing a situation similar to that in 1918," when an outbreak of the flu killed fifty million people. She did, however, warn that if the vi

Media reports suggest that the deadly H1N1 swine flu virus, which has killed sixteen people and infected hundreds worldwide, is continuing to spread. According to the United Nations' World Health Organisation, there are a total of 331 confirmed cases of swine flu throughout the world, with hundreds more suspected cases. The WHO raised its pandemic alert level to its fifth level on Friday, on a scale of one to six, and has said that it is possible a transition to the highest level will be made. Canada The Canadian government increased the nu

Iranian authorities executed Delara Darabi on Friday for a murder she allegedly committed when she was 17. Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of the Iranian judicial system, recently granted Darabi a two month stay of execution, but it appears this was ignored. Darabi initially confessed to this murder, but withdrew her confession, claiming she was just trying to protect her boyfriend. According to Amnesty International, Iran has executed 42 juvenile offenders since 1990. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child forbids peopl