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Wikinews interviews Dalai Lama's representative Pakistan gets caretaker government to oversee January elections The parliament of Pakistan dissolved itself at midnight and President Musharraf appointed Mohammadmian Soomro as interim Prime Minister through parliamentary elections scheduled for January.

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FBI document exposes symbols used by pedophiles‎ In an exclusive report, Wikinews has obtained an internal FBI document from Wikileaks detailing symbols used by organized pedophiles to identify one another.

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Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds is indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco for perjury and obstruction of justice, having allegedly lied under oath about his use of steroids. Nuclear program of Iran: The International Atomic Energy Agency reports that Iran is still enriching uranium. The Supreme Court of Canada denies asylum to Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, two United States soldiers who deserted the Iraq War. The United States Army announces it has killed 25 insurgents in Taji, but the Taji Awakening Council says airstrikes killed 45 pro-U.S. fighters. A Saudi Arabian gang rape victim is sentenced to jail and 200 lashes for being in the car of an unrelated man. Celestin Chibalonza, the governor of Sud-Kivu, is impeached for failing to curb violence and mismanaging finances. The United States Treasury freezes all assets of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation, claiming that it acts as a "front to facilitate fundraising" for the Tamil Tigers. The execution of Mark Dean Schwab in Florida is suspended while the United States Supreme Court decides if lethal injection is unconstitutional. Powerful aftershocks hit Chile after the Antofagasta earthquake, as President Michelle Bachelet visits the affected areas. United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro visits political prisoners, including Su Su Nway, in Burma's Insein Prison. Rift Valley fever kills at least 96 people in the White Nile, Sennar and Gazeera states of Sudan. The Russian Ground Forces shut down their latest remaining base in Georgia, located in the city of Batumi. President Pervez Musharraf appoints Muhammad Mian Soomro, Chairman of the Senate, as interim Prime Minister. Pakistan's Attorney General, Malik Mohammad Qayyum, says he expects President Pervez Musharraf to step down as army chief by December 1. Major General Waheed Arshad announces the Pakistan Army has killed at least 33 Taliban militants in the Swat valley. Pakistani authorities drop all charges against Rashid Rauf, who was arrested in August 2006 in connection with the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.

Video of man tasered at Vancouver airport released
A video showing a man being tasered to death at Vancouver International Airport, which was named the best North American airport, has been released to the media.

Robert Dziekanski, 40, was immigrating from Pieszyce, Poland to live with his mother, Zofia Cisowski, in Kamloops, British Columbia. He did not clear customs at the airport for over eight hours and his mother was unable to locate him when she went to meet him at the airport. Since Dziekanski did not speak English airport security guards were unable to properly communicate with him. He started yelling at the airport staff because of this. He used chairs to prop open a door between a customs clearing area and a public lounge, he then threw a computer and threw a small table at a luggage section window.

He had calmed down and was standing with his hands at his side in the customs room until four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers arrived and tasered the man, at least twice. Dziekanski began to convulse and was tasered a second time after falling to the ground, where the four officers pinned him down and handcuffed him. He screamed before he stopped moving. Paramedics arrived at the scene, but were unable to revive him and pronounced him dead, from excited delirium.

Dziekanski's mother told him to wait in the luggage area, which is in the main part of the airport, and she would meet him there, but new immigrants need to pass through the customs area first, which would mean he never passed through the customs area to get to the luggage area.

Paul Pritchard, who had just arrived from China back to Victoria, shot a video of the incident and gave it to police. The police promised they would return the video within 48 hours. They gave him back his camera without the video.

Pritchard immediately hired a lawyer, held his own news conference, and threatened that he would take them to court to get it back.

CBC, CTV and Global television payed Pritchard several thousand dollars for the video, and he says he will use the money to take care of his father.

"It was against his [Pritchard's father] wishes completely and my lawyer's wishes as well. Profit is such an ugly word, and I hope people realize that it's not a personal profit," said Pritchard.

"I extend my heartfelt condolences to Mr. Dziekanski's family, knowing that I could not hope to speak to the loss that they have suffered. I would also like to express my concerns for those people who were in any way touched by this extraordinary and tragic occurrence - our employees working that night, the various agencies involved, the emergency responders and the passengers who may have come across the scene," Larry Berg, President and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority said on November 1.

According to a RCMP spokesman in Vancouver, the four officers involved in the case will testify in court under the coroners request, but it is expected to happen sometime next year.

Polish ambassador to Canada, Piotr Ogrodzinski, said "Mr. Dziekanski (was) a person who was agitated, frustrated, I think terrified, but not aggressive. He was not making a gesture that he intended to fight anybody" and "he didn't know what to do. In fact, he was in search (of) help. That is why it is a really very sad and deeply moving film to watch."

The incident is being investigated by the RCMP, the British Columbia Coroner's Service, the Vancouver International Airport Authority, and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

Pakistan gets caretaker government to oversee January elections
Pakistan's parliament dissolved itself at midnight Thursday to make way for a new caretaker government to oversee January elections. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad that while President Pervez Musharraf tries to make the elections appear credible despite emergency rule, his opponents are busy uniting against him.

Senate chairman and member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q), Mohammadmian Soomro, was appointed by Musharraf as interim Prime Minister. The rest of the cabinet will be announced later, though local television said that Musharraf loyalists had been chosen. Opposition leaders said that the January elections will not be free and fair.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz addressed a final cabinet meeting late Thursday before the new caretaker government takes office Friday. State television broadcast footage of Aziz praising officials for their accomplishments.

"We have promoted press freedom and freedom of expression. No government has been more tolerant that ours in hearing criticism," Aziz said.

The claims of progress by the close ally of General Musharraf stood in stark contrast to political opposition leaders, who say security forces continue to pursue the president's critics.

Ahsan Iqbal is a spokesman for the political party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He spoke to VOA by telephone.

"After elections were announced, they should have put an end to all these arrests of opposition leaders," said Iqbal. "But they are still hounding us; they are still searching for us. I am in a hideout. The entire leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) is either in jail or in detention or they are in hiding. So how can there be fair and free elections in the country."

"We totally reject it. This appointment, in fact, is part of General Musharraf's scheme to perpetuate his rule," said Mushahidullah Khan, also of PML-N.

While the government crackdown is succeeding in preventing mass protests, its success is unifying political opposition leaders.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has confirmed that she has spoken with Mr. Sharif about forming a broad coalition to challenge General Musharraf.

"I think that we the leaders of political parties need to exchange ideas of what could be a possible agenda for all of us to rally around," she said.

Ms. Bhutto made the comments in a phone interview with Dawn News, an independent television news broadcaster that returned to local airwaves Thursday for the first time since emergency rule was imposed November 3.

United States diplomat, Brian Hunt visited with Bhutto in Lahore. Afterwards he told reporters, "I conveyed to the former prime minister the continuing U.S. government concerns about the state of emergency." He called for detainees to be freed, even as authorities arrested more Bhutto supports at protests in various cities.

Musharraf has recently said that he intends to step down as the Chief of Army Staff and be sworn in as a civilian president, as soon as the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismisses challenges to his re-election.

Dawn and a few other stations have agreed to abide by a new code of conduct that bars news coverage that directly criticizes the president, the army or the judiciary. Criticism of the president's policies is allowed.

News anchors and hosts can face heavy financial penalties and up to three years in prison if any part of their shows is considered in violation of the law. Most political reporters for the networks have not returned to work.

Baseball star Barry Bonds indicted on perjury charges
Baseball home-run leader Barry Bonds was indicted today in the United States District Court in San Francisco, California. The charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stem from Bonds's testimony that he did not knowingly take steroids to a grand jury during the BALCO scandal. Evidence was allegedly obtained during the investigation that included a positive test for performance-enhancing substances. Bonds, currently a free agent, still denies using steroids.

The indictment said: "During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds and other professional athletes."

Bonds could face up to five years in prison, if convicted.

Cyclone Sidr smashes Bangladesh's coastline, millions evacuated
Millions of people were evacuated over the previous 48 hours as Category 5, Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Sidr prepared to smash into Bangladesh's shoreline with top winds reaching 240 k/h (149 miles per hour). A senior official for the Bengali government, Ali Imam Majumder, said that they expected to evacuate around 3.2 million people in all, adding, "We have taken all precautions."

Shahjahan Alam, an official with Bangladesh's Meteorological Department, said the cyclone's eye is expected to hit 85 miles southwest of capital city Dhaka later on Thursday.

Evacuation

There is a great concern that many of the badly needed cyclone shelters are not in adequate condition to stand the cyclones heavy winds.

In spite of those concerns, however, the casualty rate is expected to be minimal because of the efforts, nothing like the tragic 1991 cyclone which caused an estimated 138,000 deaths and displacing another 10 million.

Ruling coalition keeps majority after parliamentary election in Denmark
The votes for the 2007 election in Denmark have been counted. Of the 179 Folketing seats, 2 represent Greenland and 2 represent Faroe Islands as part of the Danish commonwealth.

The results are as follow:Party	Votes (national), Seats, Percent

Socialdemokraterne

881,530	45 (-2)	25.5 %

Socialistisk Folkeparti

451,065	23 (+12)	13.0 %

Det Radikale Venstre

177,148	9 (-8)	5.1 %

Enhedslisten

74,781	4 (-2)	2.2 %

Kristendemokraterne

30,004	0 (+0)	0.9 %

Venstre

908,831	46 (-6)	26.3 %

Dansk Folkeparti

479,281	25 (+1)	13.8 %

Det Konservative Folkeparti	359,394	18 (+0)	10.4 %

Ny Alliance

97,064	5 (new)	2.8 %

The minority incumbent coaltion of Venstre and Konservative secured just enough votes to score a majority with the support of Dansk Folkeparti and stay on as the government.

Speculation about the results centered on whether the government would have had to curry the favor of new-comer, Ny Alliance who won 5 seats, to stay in power.

Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes Antofagasta, Chile
Authorities in Chile say at least two people have been killed and more than 100 injured after a powerful earthquake struck in the north, sending terrified residents into the streets and cutting power to some of the country's copper mines. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the quake struck on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 15:40:53 UTC.

Officials said two women were killed Wednesday when their houses in the town of Tocopilla collapsed during the 7.7 magnitude earthquake. They also said another person may have died in a tunnel collapse there, which has trapped some 50 workers.

Government spokesperson Ricardo Lagos said "They will be evacuated by the Navy via the ocean. As far as we know there are no injured or dead [among the workers]."

The USGS said the quake was centered west of the town of Calama. It was felt as far away as the Chilean capital, Santiago, and neighboring Peru and Bolivia.

Television images showed cars crushed under the concrete awning of a hotel in Antofagasta, 170 kilometers south of the epicenter.

The police chief of Arequipa, Hernan Tamayo said, "People ran out into the streets because of how prolonged the quake was. There was a lot of alarm but no material or human damage."

The quake was followed by six aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 5.7. Additionally, the quake triggered a tsunami warning which was later lifted.

In Tocopilla, 115 people were injured. Mayor Luis Moyano said about 1,200 houses had been flattened. "Today, the people of Tocopilla are going to have to sleep in the streets," he said in a radio address.

In total, 3,000 homes have been destroyed in Chile, according to the Housing Minister. The government has airlifted hundreds of portable homes to provide shelter.

In August, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck Peru, killing about 540 people and injuring more than 1,000 others. The southern port city of Pisco was one of the areas devastated by the powerful quake, which lasted two minutes.

2007 Baseball World Cup: Quarter Finalists appeared last 2 days with some disputes
Netherlands ended Cuba's winning-streak legend

Formerly, Netherlands wasn't afraid of Cuba's strength because they ever won Cuba with 4-2 at 2000 Sydney Olympics, and competed with Cuba to a 11-innings' extra match, though they finally lost with Cuba's winning hit.

Before the 8th inning of this match, a pitching competition tied this game with 1-1. But in the bottom of 8th inning, Sharnol Adriana hit a key hit with 1 RBI when Cuba's relief pitcher Jonder Martinez was in a unsteady condition. With this key RBI, Netherlands finally ended Cuba's legend by winning this game with 2-1.

A simple game faded with some political bullies' entrances in Taichung

The host team (Chinese Taipei) battled USA in Taichung with a fantastic batting game, but in the side of this game, some councilors from Taichung City and supporters from councilors bully entered the stadium with illegal privileges. After this scandal spread out to Taichung City Government, Jason Hu, the Mayor of Taichung, angered on this scandal and ordered polices and organizations from 2007 BWC investigating this scandal with justice.

Mexico replaced Panama's qualification due to problems of Panama's insurance premium

According to IBAF and MLB, if one or more MLB players participate international games like BWC or Intercontinental Cup, affiliated teams with those (MLB) players should pay the insurance premium to complete the registration before the start of every game. But Panama Team was confiscated the winning to Spain because they (Panama) didn't pay the premium at a match to Spain. IBAF finally judged Spain won Panama with 9A-0 by this violation. Comparison to the fixtures and statistics, Panama was eliminated and Mexico Team replaced Panama's qualification at Group A.

Internally distributed DHS memo: al-Qaeda and Hezbollah may attack U.S. within three years
In an exclusive report, Wikinews has obtained documents via Wikileaks that state al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and or single interest groups is planning to attack the United States homeland within three years, this according to a 27-page internally distributed memo circulated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the threat of al-Qaeda. The document also details al-Qaeda's threat in other parts of the world including Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Pakistan. Wikileaks claims that the report was published on October 22, 2007.

"Al-Qaeda is intent in striking the U.S. homeland and the U.S. will face a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years. Al-Qaeda homeland plotting is likely to continue to focus on prominent political, economic, and infrastructure targets. Lebanese Hezbollah may (also) attempt to attack the Homeland and non-muslim, 'single-issue' groups will probably conduct attacks," stated the report which also said that likely targets include the "mass transit sector and the aviation sectors."

The alleged attacks include "mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks and fear amongst the U.S. population" using "improvised explosives, carried or vehicle borne. Existence of radical, self-generating cells suggest that the U.S. is not immune to what we judge as an expanding radical and violent segment in the west," added the report.

Retailers across the U.S. have also reported to law enforcement agencies that customers purchasing cellular phones "visited multiple locations and purchased hundreds or thousands of phones, attempted to conceal their identity, were described as Middle Eastern and used gift cards or cash."

"DHS and FBI assessed that most individuals engaged in such purchases were taking advantage of discounted prices in the U.S.and reselling the phones for profit overseas. DHS and the FBI also determined some buyers were associated to terrorist networks. The suspected motive was fundraising." Some of these activities were recorded as far back as 2006.

In regards to Iraq, al-Qaeda "is committed to removing U.S. and Coalition troops and returning Iraq to an Islamic state governed with Shari’a law. In Africa they "sought mergers with groups in to further its agenda and has made frequent statements on the importance of Sudan and Somalia as fronts in the global jihad. And in Afghanistan is their "former safehaven and a key component of their strategy in promoting a global jihad."

The report also states that the DHS has investigated a "serious" claim that the Fort Peck Dam will "be attacked by an improvised explosive device (IED) in January 2008." It also investigated a claim that "10,000 lbs. of ammonium nitrate was reportedly stolen from a truck driver," but the DHS states that both claims "were found to be not terrorism related."

The report also adds that the DHS "lacks credible information to indicate planning for an attack against the Food and Agriculture sector," but also states that they will continue to investigate the possibility of a threat.

To conclude the report, the DHS states that there is no current information to suggest an imminent attack on the U.S..

"[There has been an] interesting convergence of incidents; but no definite terrorism nexus" and there is no "discernable patterns or trends emerged to date to suggest preoperational activity."

Today in History
1384 – Though she was only a ten-year old girl, Jadwiga was crowned "King of Poland".

1532 – Sapa Inca Atahualpa was captured by Conquistador Francisco Pizarro at the Battle of Cajamarca in Cajamarca, Peru.

1885 – After a five-day trial following the North-West Rebellion, Louis Riel, Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and "Father of Manitoba", was executed by hanging for high treason.

1979 – The first line of Bucharest Metro, the M1 Line, opened from Timpuri Noi to Semănătoarea in Bucharest, Romania.

2002 – The first case of the respiratory disease Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was recorded in Guangdong, China.

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