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The Royal Australian Navy towed back arriving asylum seekers to Rote Island, Indonesia, after claiming Christmas Island destination, Indonesian National Police reported Monday of last week. Last Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott supported lack of transparency on the issue. Indonesian police found the two ships reportedly forcibly towed back from Australia on December 19, and on January 6 after being towed on New Year's Day. A self-identified Sudanese asylum seeker from one of the boats reported the Navy ship numbers, identifying

The cabinet of the island nation of Nauru endorsed rise of the cost of an application for single-entry three-month media visa from AU$200 to $8,000 last Thursday. The rise followed a scandal last weekend involving 60 Lebanese asylum seekers voluntarily deciding to return home from the Nauru offshore processing facility, an Australian immigration detention facility, after facing harsh physical conditions and disorientation. Nauru's Government Information Office Director Joanna Olsson appeared to be unaware that the new visa fee had yet to take

As news broke today of the death of legendary Portuguese footballer Eusébio, the government of Portugal declared three national days of mourning. The 71-year-old died this morning at at 4:30am Portuguese time (0430 UTC) in Lisbon of a heart attack. Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, known at the Black Panther, scored 41 goals in 64 appearances for the Portuguese men's national football team, was voted the best player in the world in 1965, and won the World Cup Golden Boot in 1966 after scoring nine goals. He led the country's national domestic compet

As part of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, Israel released on Tuesday early in the morning 26 Palestinian prisoners imprisoned before the 1994 Oslo accords for murder or attempted murder of Israelis. As a prerequisite for the peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians led by the US, Israel committed in July to free 104 prisoners imprisoned before the Oslo accords. In this wave, the third out of four, Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners out of 'Ofer' prison in Israel. The prisoners, who had been

Early media reports today indicate experts are predicting a massive blizzard to hit the northeastern United States late this evening. Such storms, coloquially called "Nor'easters", often wreak havoc across cities and smaller towns. The storm itself may ultimately stretch across 22 states, potentially effecting about one-third of the country's population. The city of New York came under a winter storm warning late yesterday evening, with nine inches of snow predicted to fall. Sources also indicate Long Island may experience wind chills as sever

Samer al-Issawi, a Palestinian prisoner who went on a hunger strike in an Israeli prison as a protest against his imprisonment, was released on Monday to his home in East Jerusalem. Issawi returned Monday to his home in the Issawiyeh neighborhood in East Jerusalem after his release from the Shatta prison in northern Israel. Hundreds of people came to welcome him home and celebrate his release, despite an Israeli order given to his family not to have a public party for his arrival. After his release, Issawi said during a TV interview, "It

The UK government announced yesterday the British mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing would be posthumously pardoned for his 61-year-old "gross indecency" — homosexual activity — conviction. At Bletchley Park, Turing had worked on breaking the Enigma code used by the Nazis during World War II. The ability for the British to decode German communication may possibly have shortened the war by two years. In 1952, Turing was convicted of gross indecency after he had a relationship with another man. He was subjected to chemical castration

Ian Watkins, frontman of Welsh rock group Lostprophets, was sentenced to 29 years in prison yesterday for his involvement in a series of sex-related offences involving children. He pleaded guilty to offences including attempted rape and sexual assault, conspiracy to rape a child, sexual assault of a child, possession of indecent images of children, and possession of an extreme pornographic image involving sex with an animal. Watkins had pleaded guilty to the offences along with two others, the mothers of two of the children he abused. The two

Earlier this week, Wikinews interviewed Sarah Walsh, a former Australian women's national soccer team (Matilidas) player, about women's football in the country. The Australian women's team is currently ranked ninth by FIFA, down one spot from the previous quarter when they were tied at eighth with the North Korea women's national football team. Meanwhile, Australia's men (Socceroos) are currently ranked 59th in the world, between the Burkina Faso and Slovakia national football team. Walsh retired from the national team in September of last y

Glasgow — Last weekend, December 8, The Reid Foundation, a left-leaning think-tank, launched The Common Weal, a vision for a more socially just and inclusive post-Independence Scotland. Five- to six-hundred turned up for the event, billed as "[a] 'revolution' ... with T-shirts and dancing" by the Sunday Herald, and held in The Arches club and theatre, under Glasgow's Central Street Station. Wikinews''' Brian McNeil travelled to Glasgow to attend, walking through the city's festively decorated George Square, and busy shopping streets, to the ve

In a wheelchair basketball game Saturday night at Colegio San Agustin in Madrid in Spain's top level league, La Liga de Honor, CD Fundosa ONCE defeated Servigest Burgos 80–20. ONCE led the whole game, and ten of Burgos's points came in the last four minutes with Helder Da Silva scoring eight of them. Burgos lost the game on poor shooting and an inability to control the shot clock. Earlier in the season, ONCE defeated Burgos 89–23. Burgos has not won a game against ONCE in the six total matches they have played against ONCE in La Liga de Honor

Wednesday was the first of three days for the body of former South African President Nelson Mandela to lie in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, at the same amphitheatre where he was inaugurated on May 10, 1994. The amphitheatre was renamed The Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre, by President Jacob Zuma at the Mandela memorial service held in FNB Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday. The weather for the memorial service on Tuesday was inclement, as the day was filled with rain and cold wind. There were logistical "glitches" in ferrying the public to t