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Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols earned his first home run after joining the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Besides hitting his 446th Major League home run, Pujols ended a personal drought by claiming his first regular-season long ball after 33 games and 139 plate appearances, including his last St. Louis Cardinals at-bats. Pujols snapped back at Anaheim and capped a 4-3 home-team win against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim. The Dominican first baseman now has a career 1,336 runs batted in and a .326 batting aver

Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson received the 2012 presidential nomination of the U.S. Libertarian Party at Saturday's Libertarian National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Judge James P. Gray of California was selected as his running mate. Johnson's association with the Libertarian Party stretches back to 1993, when he was a dues-paying-member for about a year. In 2000, the party recruited him to run as their presidential nominee, but he rejected the offer, saying, "I'm a Republican, and I'm not going to run for President." As a Repub

Poison control centers across the US are monitoring a recent increase in the trend of teenagers getting drunk by consuming hand sanitizer. In an effort to educate the public about the trend's detrimental effects, these centers will be publicizing preventative methods, according to James Mowry, director of Indiana Poison Center. "We are going to keep a close watch on this trend," said Mowry. "We will be posting information on our Facebook page so our public will be aware of what could happen." Sixteen cases have been reported in California sin

A double-decker ferry capsized late Monday in the Brahmaputra River near Guwahati, India. The ferry was over capacity when a storm caused it to overturn and break in half. The ferry passengers were mostly women and children. Officials estimate there are at least 200 casualties. Inclement weather hindered rescue attempts and as of Tuesday, 103 bodies have been recovered. No life jackets or lifeboats were aboard the ferry at the time of the event. According to officials, many of the bodies may have floated 25 miles down river to Bangladesh, d

A court in Bosnia has jailed the nation's first female war crimes convict. Rasema Handanović, 39, admitted six killings in the village of Trusina in 1993. Only one other woman has been convicted of crimes relating to the 1992-5 conflict in Bosnia, Bosnian Serb ex-president Biljana Plavšić. Plavšić was jailed for eleven years by an international court in The Hague, Netherlands in 2003 and later released. Judge Jasmina Kosović noted mitigating conditions for Handanović: She had expressed remorse for the victims, she had co-operated and given te

On Saturday, a large tent near Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri was lifted from the ground with an estimated 150 people inside it. One person died at a nearby hospital and sixteen others were hospitalized. Almost 100 other people were treated at the scene for minor injuries including one broken arm, according to officials. The incident occurred just before 4 p.m. central time behind Kilroy's, a bar just south of Busch Stadium. The storm produced winds of 50 mph which lifted the tent and blew it into a neighboring railroad trestle. "I t

Australian billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer has announced plans to build a fleet of luxury cruise ships, including a replica of the famous RMS Titanic. Palmer has announced his new company Blue Star Line Pty Ltd has commissioned a close replica of the Titanic from CSC Jinling Shipyard in China. Construction would commence in 2013 and the maiden voyage would be in late 2016. Palmer said, "It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st century technology and the latest navigati

China has pledged US$10 billion in credit to back joint projects with Central and Eastern European countries. Visiting Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao announced the deal at a business forum in Warsaw, Poland, and said he hopes the deal will facilitate the two sides' cooperation. To boost business and trade, Wen said that China wants to help with infrastructure projects, including new technologies and green economy sectors. Also discussed at the Economic Forum was a new investment cooperation fund which would initially boast US$500 million to assis

United States political consultant and gay rights (LGBT) activist Fred Karger of California took some time to discuss his Republican Party presidential campaign with Wikinews reporter William Saturn. Karger holds the distinction as the first openly gay person to seek the presidential nomination of a major U.S. political party. Before entering electoral politics, Karger worked as an adviser for such prominent Republicans and former U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Since retiring as an adviser in 2004, he has b

Mount Stromlo, Canberra — Earlier today, Capital Punishment, the Canberra based 50km and 100km mountain bike race, was unofficially won by Shaun Lewis in the 100km distance in about four hours. Official results are set to be announced tomorrow at cyclenation.com.au because of a minor computer glitch. In a parallel youth competition run as part of the event, Zoe Cuthbert won the girls 10 and 11 year old three lap event. Last year's event was marred by rain, but this year the weather was ideal with no precipitation. First time on site, paramedi

In the United States, the state of Connecticut has repealed the death penalty, becoming the seventeenth state in the U.S. to do so. The state's governor Dannel Malloy signed the repeal into law on Wednesday and is to take effect immediately. "This afternoon I signed legislation that will, effective today, replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of release as the highest form of legal punishment in Connecticut. Although it is an historic moment – Connecticut joins 16 other states and the rest of the industrialized

Former President of Liberia Charles Taylor was today found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, Netherlands. Taylor was acquitted of actually ordering the offences or being part of a joint enterprise to conduct them. The eleven-count indictment produced a four-year trial that heard allegations of rape, murder, sexual slavery, cannibalism, arms dealing, "blood" diamond trade, and use of child soldiers. Prosecution witnesses totalled 94 whilst the defence had 21 including the accused. Taylo