Friday, March 30, 2012 Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is the lone holdout preventing a vote on synthetic marijuana legislation in the US Senate through a procedural block that is allowed under the rules. Until Paul lifts his block, the Senate will not be able to act on legislation that has already passed the US House of Representatives last December. Wikinews has investigated the block on the legislation. Synthetic marijuana

Friday, March 31, 2006 Canada has become the first western country to freeze aid and cut diplomatic ties to Palestine after the Palestinian Legislative Council installed a government led by Hamas. No other country has yet followed through on threats to end aid to the Palestinian Authority. Aid may still go to Palestine through the United Nations. The Canadian Arab Federation head, Faraj Nakhleh, later expressed his dismay at the

Saturday, April 4, 2009 The Republican Party of Alaska is requesting United States Senator Mark Begich, Democrat, to resign to pave way for a new election. This request is based on the U.S. Justice Department withdrawing charges against former Senator Ted Stevens. Stevens was originally convicted in October just before the November election. He lost the election to Begich by a narrow margin. Given that the U.S. Justice Department has

Friday, June 22, 2012 Julian Assange, founder of whistle blowing site Wikileaks, has spent a third night in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He entered the embassy on Tuesday to claim asylum, breaking strict bail conditions, after losing an appeal in the British high courts over extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over allegations of sexual assault in 2010. Assange, 40, awaits a decision from diplomats on his asylum

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 Wikinews extended invitations by e-mail on March 23 to multiple candidates running in the Texas’ 6th congressional district special election of May 1 to fill a vacancy left upon the death of Republican congressman Ron Wright. Of them, the office of Democrat Daryl Eddings, Sr. agreed to answer some questions by phone March 30 about their campaigns and policies. The following is the interview with Ms

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 A federal court in New York, New York ruled Monday that American financier Bernard Madoff can remain free on a US$10 million bond. Madoff faces charges of securities fraud in case that may reveal losses as large as US$50 billion. He was originally arrested on December 11, 2008. Federal prosecutors had argued that Madoff had violated terms of his bail by mailing valuables to relatives from

Thursday, November 2, 2006 Winter Haven, Florida police chief Paul Goward was tired of seeing fat hanging out over the belts of some of his officers. So he posted a memo to encourage the so-called ‘jelly bellies’ to get in shape. The memo, entitled ‘Are You A Jelly Belly?’ didn’t single anyone out, and, apart from the title, didn’t call anyone names. Goward, a former deputy police chief in Wichita,

Sunday, October 21, 2007 Torture proliferates American headlines today: whether its use is defensible in certain contexts and the morality of the practice. Wikinews reporter David Shankbone was curious about torture in American popular culture. This is the first of a two part series examining the BDSM business. This interview focuses on the owners of a dungeon, what they charge, what the clients are like and how they handle their