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Rescue crews have called an end to the search for eight mountaineers who went missing on the French side of Mont Blanc after an avalanche that occurred on at 0100 GMT August 24. Eight other climbers were also injured. Five of the missing are said to be Austrian and three were from Switzerland. "[There is] no longer any chance of finding someone alive," stated the interior minister of France, Michele Alliot-Marie who also added that are more people trapped beneath the snow. "Thanks to technology, we know for certain there are people buried unde

Cuban Taekwondo athlete Ángel Matos was banned for life yesterday after an assault on Swedish referee Chakir Chelbat during the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Matos was competing in the bronze medal match against Arman Chilmanov of Kazakhstan when he sustained an injury. As he lay on the mat with medical attendants, Matos was disqualified for exceeding the one minute injury time limit. When Chilmanov was declared the winner of the bout, Matos delivered a kick to the face of Chelbat. Touch judges rushed in to try to control the situation. Matos pu

The 2008 Summer Olympics were formally declared closed during a colourful ceremony at the iconic Beijing National Stadium with the Olympics flag being handed over to the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. It began at 8:00 P.M. China Standard Time (UTC+8), and took place at the Beijing National Stadium. People's Republic of China topped the medals table at the Beijing Olympics with 51 golds while the United States of America came second with 36 and the Russian Federation finished third with 23. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rog

Nematullah Shahrani, the Afghan government minister, has said that an investigation found that more than 90 civilians were killed in American led NATO air strikes early Friday in Azizabad, a village in Herat province. "Most are women and children" She continued: "They have claimed that Taliban were there. They must prove it, so far, it is not clear for us why the coalition conducted the air strikes." Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military, said 30 Taliban insurgents were killed. The operation targeted a local Taliban

An Itek-Air Boeing 737 flight 6875, operated by Aseman Airlines and traveling to Iran has crashed in Kyrgyzstan only 10 minutes after taking off. It is unclear how many were on board, but reports say there were at least 90 people on the plane with the crash killing 68. At least 22 are reported to have survived, including all crew members. "According to updated information, 68 passengers were killed, including 24 Kyrgyz, five Iranians, one Turkish national, three Canadians, three Kazakhs and one Chinese," said a spokesman for Igor Chudinov, Kyr

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa won the FIA Formula One 2008 Telefónica Grand Prix of Europe at the street circuit of Valencia, Spain on Sunday after his engine failed on a dying laps of the previous race. It became 10th win in Formula One for the Brazilian driver. His victory was approved by stewards when after the race they had investigated his second pit stop on lap 37 and ruled a fine to Massa without any further sanctions for a potential collision with Adrian Sutil (Force India’) while exitting from the pitlane. Lewis Hamilton performed well

On August 11, United States Senator and 2008 presidential Republican candidate John McCain gave a speech regarding the crisis between Georgia and Russia. Following the speech, a regular Wikipedia editor noticed that his speech was very similar to an article on Wikipedia also regarding the crisis, in what could be considered plagiarism. Wikinews was able to talk to that editor about how he found out about the similarities and what he did in response. Wikinews also took a deeper look at the claim and investigated further. McCain gave his speech

Former President Pervez Musharraf, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, has vacated the presidential home of Aiwan-e-Sadr after stepping down from the office of President. On Monday Fahmida Mirza, Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, signed and accepted the resignation of President Musharraf. He was accorded a guard of honour before leaving the President’s House. President Musharraf resigned after remaining in power for nine years. He had been facing impeachment on charges of violating the constitution and gross misconduct. The movem

Senator Barack Obama from Illinois, the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, announced Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate. The announcement came via text message early Saturday morning, to people who had signed up to receive the announcement on the official Barack Obama campaign website. Friday afternoon, several campaign officials had informed the media that the text message announcement would be distributed Saturday morning. Reportedly, the announcement would come a few hours ahead of a scheduled rally at the Old State

London, Ontario is the latest in a string of Canadian cities to have acted on increasing public demand to ban bottled water. On Monday, the decision to eliminate bottled water sales in city-run facilities was passed by London's city council with a vote of 15-3 in favour. The move was driven by a desire to reduce waste and shipping, have a lower impact on the environment and promote tap water as a cheap and safe alternative. London's new restrictions will be implemented over the next several months in buildings that are already equipped with wa

August 23, 2008 is the 14th major day of the 2008 Olympic games, the below article lists some of the highlights. Events Men's javelin throw final Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen took home the gold on Saturday, with a final score of 90.57, a new olympic record. Silver went to Ainars Kovals, who represents Latvia, with a final score of 86.64, a new personal best for him. Tero Pitkamaki of Finland received bronze. Men's 5000m final With a final time of 12.57.82, a new olympic record, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia took home gold in the 5000m dash. F

Following Barack Obama's Saturday morning text-announcement of Joe Biden's vice presidential candidacy, a rally was held in Springfield, Illinois, at 3:00pm (UTC-5). The rally was held on the steps of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield. In a email sent out to supporters of Obama who signed up on the Obama campaign website, Obama said that "Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois—the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago." The rally was broadcast at the offic