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South African President Thabo Mbeki has agreed to a call from the ruling African National Congress to resign. The ANC announced earlier today that it wanted Mbeki, 66, to resign after two days of talks. He was just months from completing his full term of office, but is caught up in allegations that he influenced a corruption case being brought against rival and ANC leader Jaco Zuma. Zuma was cleared of all charges on September 12, with the court ruling that Mbeki's regime had interfered. Mbeki and others deny this. Half of the cabinet is rep

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Liberal candidate David Remington is standing for election in the riding of Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington. Wikinews contacted David Remington, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allo

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Christian Heritage Party candidate Steven Elgersma is standing for election in the riding of Haldimand—Norfolk. Wikinews contacted Steven Elgersma, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowin

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Christian Heritage Party candidate Ron Gray is standing for election in the riding of Langley. Wikinews contacted Ron Gray, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowing candidates to impart t

Stock markets around the world, particularly those in the United Kingdom, have increased dramatically today. This is due to the ongoing events in the financial world, including the United States government's announcement that it would buy billions of dollars of bad loans from US banks. The primary UK index, the FTSE 100, rose in value by 8.04%, which is 392.50 points, to above the 5000 mark at 5272.50. The Dow Jones, was up 3.10% at 14:58 UTC, an increase of 330.89. The Dow Jones currently has a value of 11350.58 points. The NASDAQ index has

Two new records for the largest known prime number have been set, both breaking the 10 million digit threshold. On August 23, Edson Smith, a systems engineer for the Program in Computing laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles in California, United States, confirmed the primality of the number through his work as a volunteer in the distributed computing project known as the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, or GIMPS. This new prime number is expressed as two to the 43,112,609th power minus one, and consists of 12,978,189 dec

Canadian Reverend Kevin Fast has set a new record in the "heaviest vehicle pulled over 100 feet", beating his previous best. The record was set on "Live's Guinness World Record Breaker Week", an annual feature on the American talk show program Live with Regis and Kelly. The previous record for this category, also set by Fast, was 125,660 lbs (57,000 kg). With the surprise addition of 92-pounder co-host Kelly Ripa to the International Loadstar truck being pulled, Last hauled a load of 126,292 (57,285 kg) lbs over 137 feet (42 meters). Between

Teen Andrew Dahl set an arcane world record today on the television show Live with Regis and Kelly. Starting before the show, Dahl started blowing up balloons with his left nostril, continuing for the next hour, hoping to beat the existing 213 balloon record. On finishing, Guinness World Records judge Stuart Claxton announced Dahl had "literally blown the record away", blowing 308 balloons in the 60 minute span. All balloons had to be at least 8 inches wide when blown, and could only be blown with one nostril; Dahl chose his left nostril. Dah

Following misleading reports that Rev Professor Michael Reiss had advocated that creation should be taught in science class, he left his post as director of education at the Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science. Last week at the British Association's science festival Rev Professor Michael Reiss said that creation should not be ignored if it come up in class. Professor Reiss, who was director of education at the Royal Society, said that since a substantial number of pupils have concerns about the issue, they are likely to "detach

In the lead-up to the 2008 Canadian federal elections much speculation was made about environmental issues and initiative, with various parties maneuvering to claim some portion of the green mantle. But it was the Liberal party which first brought a full-blown policy to the public. In the months since the Green Shift initiative was brought forth, the political pundits and activists have both talked about this year as the first election where the environment would be a major issue on the minds of voters, and possibly a decisive one for the elec

Late term pregnancy flu shots continue to protect newborns after birth, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. This gives reason for more expectant mothers to follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations and obtain a flu shot during flu season. Only 15% of women in the United States receive the vaccination during pregnancy, although the CDC has advised this preventive treatment for the past 11 years. The study was conducted in Bangladesh on a group of 340 pregnant women duri

The Russian government has continued to hold all stock markets closed until Friday, including the MICEX and RTS exchanges. Facing its worst financial crisis since 1989, the government is fighting to stem off a crash and restore consumer confidence. President Dmitry Medvedev went on national television to appease the public. "There is no more important task for Russian authorities than stability of our financial system under the current circumstances. This is our top priority," Medvedev said. "The market should be given all the necessary suppor