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London police found guilty in case of killed suicide bomber suspect Westboro Baptist Church ordered to pay US$11 million to family of fallen US soldier The Westboro Baptist Church has lost a lawsuit and has been ordered by United States District Court: District of Maryland to pay US$11 million to the family of a fallen soldier who was killed while serving in Iraq.

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Wikimedia fundraiser highlights webcomic community's frustration with Wikipedia guidelines Wikinews reporter Brian McNeil approached Howard Tayler, creator of the Schlock Mercenary webcomic, to see about advertising the Wikimedia fundraiser on his website. Tayler's response was not as McNeil expected.

Wikipedia Current Events
The United States Federal Reserve reduces short-term interest rates to 4.5 percent, the second cut in three months. The President of the United States George W. Bush nominates former Governor of North Dakota Ed Schafer for United States Secretary of Agriculture. At least 8 people are killed and 53 are injured when militants bomb a bus in Togliatti, Russia. 21 of the 28 people accused over the 2004 Madrid train bombings have been found guilty; four of them are charged with murder. Buddhist monks return to the streets of Burma for the first time since a crackdown on protests last month. Police in India's Meghalaya state say they have killed five tribal separatists in the capital of Shillong. Los Angeles authorities reveals that a boy playing with matches caused one of the Los Angeles fires. A United States district court blocks new patent rules relating to continuation practice at the USPTO, originally scheduled to take effect on November 1, 2007.

5.6 earthquake strikes California
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) a magnitude 5.6 earthquake, lasting about 90 seconds, struck at 20:04:54 (PDT) on October 30, 2007, with the epicenter being 5 miles north, northeast of Alum Rock California and 9 miles northeast of the center of San Jose. The actual coordinates given by USGS put it along the border of San Jose and Milpitas in the hills near neighborhoods in both cities. The quake was felt as far away as the California communities of Sacramento, Sonoma, and Los Banos. It was the most powerful quake in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley since 1989.

At least ten aftershocks have been reported by 8:35 p.m with magnitudes ranging from 1.3 to 1.8.

Phone service, including cellular phone service, was reported to be down in some areas around the epicenter. Residents and business owners also reported their homes shaking.

According to the USGS, damage could be "moderate to heavy" and Rafael Abreu of the USGS said that the earthquake is considered "moderate," but so far there are "no injuries." The quake was reported at a depth of 9.2 km (5.7 miles).

USGS predicts a 30% chance of strong (magnitude >5) aftershocks in the next 7 days, with a 5-10% probability of aftershocks stronger than the main quake. Additionally, USGS predicts approximately 15-40 small (magnitude 3-5) aftershocks.

The USGS reports that the quake was centered on the Calaveras Fault, and was the most powerful earthquake on that fault since the 1984 Morgan Hill earthquake.

Britain's top traffic cop faces driving ban
United Kingdom's most senior traffic police officer faces charges of speeding at 90mph in a 60mph speed limit zone (the equivalent of speeding at 144km/h in a 96km/h zone). The Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police, Meredydd Hughes was allegedly caught speeding on the A5 road near Chirk in north Wales.

Hughes was caught by a camera that takes photographs of speeding cars. He is known as one of the main advocates for nationwide installation of such cameras.

Hughes is set to appear at Wrexham Magistrates Court on November 21, 2007. He faces a £1000 fine and a driving ban if convicted.

As the head of road policing within the Association of Chief Police Officers, Hughes can be considered the top traffic cop in the UK.

China dissaproves of Dalai Lama's meeting with Canada's PM
The Dalai Lama XIV visited Toronto for the last two day's of his visit to Canada yesterday. He arrived at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in downtown Toronto.

He blessed the Tibetan Canadian Community Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario this morning, he also talked about "The Art of Happiness" to a crowd of 30,000 people at the Rogers Centre this afternoon, as well as making visits to other places.

Tibetan Canadians waited outside of the hotel to meet the Dalai Lama for more than an hour.

"I am just one man. If humanity tomorrow faces great difficulties, one individual cannot escape," he said.

"The situation inside Tibet is not as rosy as the Chinese propaganda would say," said the Dalai Lama in response to China's "dissatisfaction". "My Chinese brothers and sisters are always very sensitive. And the Tibet issue is very sensitive." The Dalai Lama fled from Tibet to India after the Tibetan resistance movement collapsed in 1959.

China expressed dissatisfaction at the meeting, but did not specify what they are dissatisfied with. However, the Dalai Lama's recent visits to countries around the world is one factor and China says he is pushing to separate Tibet, but he said he wants autonomy, not separatism. There is an unofficial report that the Dalai Lama will be meeting with Pope Benedict XVI on December 13, but the Vatican has not yet commented on whether this is true.

"We express strong dissatisfaction [with Monday's meeting]," said ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao. "We hope they can reflect on and correct the erroneous actions."

"It is a blatant interference in China's internal affairs and has severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and will gravely undermine the relationship between China and Canada," said political counsellor, Sun Lushan.

The Dalai Lama told Prime Minister Stephen Harper during their meeting on Monday to "please take a few thousand more" [Tibetan refugees living in exile in Nepal and India], but a spokesman for Immigration Minister Diane Finley said "According to the UNHCR, they're not facing persecution in India. But having said that, we are prepared to review applications on a case-by-case basis if they're referred to us by the UNHCR."

Secretary of state for multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, who is a defender of human rights, particularly freedom of religion, said he hopes "entire world gets the message that attacking a 72-year-old Buddhist monk who advocates nothing more than cultural autonomy for his people is counterproductive." He also said exports to China and Chinese tourism raised after the Dalai Lama was given honorary citizenship in July 2006.

2007/08 DFB Cup: Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
League leaders Bayern Munich advanced to the 3rd round of the DFB Cup after defeating 2nd division leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1.

Luca Toni opening the scoring early in the 2nd half with a pair of goals. Substitute Miroslav Klose sealed the victory in the 82nd minute to make it 3-1.

Bayern Munich next game is against Eintracht Frankfurt who they play on saturday at home while Borussia Mönchengladbach are at home to Carl Zeiss Jena.

Two Lordi fans mugged while manager and bodyguard were shot at in Louisville, US
It has been reported recently by Blabbermouth and DotMusic.com that two fans of Finnish theatrical hard rock band Lordi were robbed at gunpoint on Friday in Louisville, Kentucky, United States and the band's manager as well as a bodyguard were shot at. No-one was injured.

Following a gig in Louisville the band had split up, with three of the members going to a nearby bar for a drink. Lead vocalist Mr. Lordi, his wife, and keyboardist Awa had entered the tour bus, while manager Rikk Scholvinck and a bodyguard were escorting two fans towards the bus.

According to those at the scene, a van pulled up next to the bus and several youths emerged, at least one of which was carrying a gun. Mr Lordi describes what happened next: "One of the men with a gun took a fan, a girl, put the gun to her head and forced her to lie down on the ground. Also one of the boys froze on the spot while the others fled away, including Rikk and the bodyguard while another man started shooting at them. Luckily he missed and no one was hurt. Rikk ran to the bar and called the police who arrived soon. In a moment we were surrounded by like five police cars but the guys managed to escape. They were a group of drug addicts that had stolen the car earlier that night, and police were already looking for them but have still not managed to catch them."

"The girl that was held at gunpoint is obviously very shocked. We did our best to comfort and calm her down, but one can only wonder what could happen when people start running around with guns and even using them! It is a bit amusing that the boy fan was just happy he didn't lose the t-shirt he was wearing with all the autographs on it, even if they both lost everything else."

Both the fans were given lifelong all access passes to Lordi concerts worldwide to compensate.

Lordi has had previous altercations with criminals in the US. Earlier this year the bus the band was using for their tour as part of Ozzfest was hijacked with several of the technical crew on board. During the same tour, two other fans were also robbed. "This was like a deja vú of that, once again we were surrounded by police cars and their flashing lights," Mr Lordi commented.

Crude oil passes US$94.00 a barrel; sets new all-time record high
Another record has been set in crude oil prices. The price of oil soared past US$94.00 a barrel. New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) crude oil for December delivery closed at US$94.23 per barrel, after peaking at US$94.74, the highest price on record. In after hours trading futures have crossed over the US$95.00 per barrel mark.

On the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), December Brent Crude also rose to a record US$90.63 after touching an all-time high of US$90.94 with current futures are trading at over $91.00 a barrel.

Today's rise is said to be mainly caused by the United States Department of Energy's inventory report that showed an unexpected drop in crude oil stockpiles. Last week, U.S. stockpiles were down nearly 4 million barrels of oil.

Tropical Storm Noel is also believed to be a cause of rising prices. Because of the storm, one-fifth of Mexico's oil production was suspended while the storm passed, but production is expected to resume by the end of today.

Thevar centenary celebrations begin amidst tight security arrangements
The centenary celebrations of Indian freedom fighter Pasumpon U.Muthuramalingam Thevar begin in Tamil Nadu amidst tight security arrangements. The Chief Minister, M.Karunanidhi as well as the AIADMK supremo J.Jayalalithaa have organized functions in Thevar's native village Pasumpon in Ramanathapuram district in commemoration of this event. Sporadic instances of violence and group clashes have been reported.

U.Muthuramalinga Thevar, prominently known as Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar after his native village Pasumpon in Ramanathapuram district, was born on October 30, 1908 in the southern part of the then Madras province. He was a trade union leader and a close associate of Subash Chandra Bose in the independence movement.

Canadian government announces major tax reductions
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced a five-year program that could reduce taxes by a total C$60 billion.

The planned tax reduction measures include:

Low-end personal income tax rates would be reduced from 15.5% to 15%, taking retroactive effect to the start of 2007;

The basic personal exemption, the amount at which income is taxable, is raised from C$8,929 to C$9,600, also backdated to January 2007;

Business tax rates are expected regularly drop from the current 20.5% to 15% in 2012;

The Goods and Services Tax that applies to most purchases would be reduced from 6% to 5% as 2008 begins. This rate was previously reduced from 7% July 2006, shortly after Prime Minister Stephen Harper took office.

These measures will be brought before the House of Commons in Ottawa on Wednesday as a confidence motion. In Canada's minority government situation, opposition parties could defeat these measures and likely prompt an election. However, opposition leader Stéphane Dion has expressed an unwillingness to defeat the government on this matter.

Halloween events banned at Moscow schools
Schools in Moscow, Russia have been told by the city's department of education to not allow any Halloween-related events.

Alexander Gavrilov, press secretary of the education department, told Interfax: "The department's stance has remained invariable since 2003, when the leadership of the department sent a letter to Moscow principals, which bans holding Halloween events at their schools."

Gavrilov further said that the ban is because this holiday "includes religious elements, including the cult of death, the mockery of death, personification of death and evil, which contradict the secular nature of state educational institutions."

"This is destructive for the minds and the spiritual and moral health of pupils," he said. "It's not an attempt to block the celebration of this holiday completely, just in schools and colleges."

Judge delivers verdicts in 2004 Madrid train bombing trial
The Audiencia Nacional of Spain (National Court of Spain) has found 21 of 28 defendants guilty in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

The defendants were facing charges including murder, forgery and conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack. 27 of them are men and one is a woman. 19 are mostly Moroccan Arabs and nine Spaniards.

Chief Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez read the verdicts which came after three months of deliberations.

Jamal Zougam, Otman el Ghanoui and Emilio Trashorras were found guilty of murder. The three were given sentences of 42,924 years in prison, although the most one can serve in Spain is 40 years. As far as the other guilty verdicts, no one was given more than 23 years for their part in the crime.

“I'm not a judge or a lawyer but this is shameful, outrageous”

—Isabel Presa, mother of a victim

Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, aka "Mohamed the Egyptian", was acquitted although he is serving a ten-year sentence in Italy on other terrorism charges. Jose Maria de Pablos, spokesman for a victims' association, said: "We're very surprised by the acquittal. If it wasn't them, we have to find out who it was. Somebody gave the order."

"I'm not a judge or a lawyer but this is shameful, outrageous," said Isabel Presa, who lost her youngest son in one of the explosions. She told journalists of her outrage at what she thought were lenient sentences.

The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11-M) consisted of a series of coordinated bombings against the Cercanías (commuter train) system of Madrid, Spain on the morning of March 11, 2004, killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.

North American Daylight Savings Time to end on November 4
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Daylight Savings Time will end on November 4, 2007 at 2:00 AM local time for most of the United States and Canada.

This change is different from previous years due to a U.S. mandated daylight savings time change, which was caused by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The next change to regular Daylight Savings Time will be in 2038.

World champion Boston Red Sox hold "rolling rally"; many more could be on the way
The Boston Red Sox baseball team, back in Boston today, fresh off their sweep of the Colorado Rockies, paraded down from the venerable Fenway Park onto Boylston Street in Boston making their way through the heart of Boston's Back Bay until reaching the Boston Common where they then made their way up Tremont Street to Boston's Government Center where the rally ended at City Hall.

The event was a "rolling rally", a term coined to describe the Red Sox victory parade in 2004, which had seen the Sox win their first World Series in over 86 years. The current players of the their team made their way up the road, with current team owners John W. Henry and Tom Werner and president Larry Lucchino, who were followed by General Manager Theo Epstein and Manager Terry Francona, both of whom had their own boat.

The rally chugged along, as airplanes carrying banners congratulating the Red Sox flew over, with the duck boats filled with the team and it's supporters and even one for the Red Sox players of yesteryear, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky. Kyle Snyder held up the trophy for all on Boylston Street to gaze at the reward the Sox fought so hard for. Catcher and team captain, Jason Varitek waved a sign encouraging team management to re-sign third baseman and World Series MVP, Mike Lowell. The crowd greeted this with enthusiasm leading to cheers of "Re-sign Lowell!"

However, Jonathan Papelbon was not on a duck boat, he was on a flatbed truck playing air guitar with a broom with local Celtic punk stars, the Dropkick Murphys, who first gained notoriety in 2004, with a reworking of the old Boston Red Sox fan song, Tessie, which became the rallying cry for the 2004 season. The band gained either further recognition when their song I'm Shipping Up to Boston, which based on lyrics written by Woody Guthrie, was featured in the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning Best Picture The Departed. Papelbon chose the song as his to play when taking the field and became a huge hit with the crowd after performing a Irish step dance to the song after winning the AL East title in the beginning of the month and performing it again after winning both the ALCS and the World Series. Papelbon was joined by fellow pitchers, Hideki Okijima and Mike Timlin.

This may not be the last rolling rally Boston will see this year, currently the Foxborough, Massachusetts based American football team New England Patriots are currently undefeated in the NFL and appear at this time to be headed to another Super Bowl and possibly to becoming the second NFL team in the league's history to go undefeated an entire season. The other team that went undefeated was the 1972 Miami Dolphins team.

In college football, the Boston College Eagles are also undefeated and are currently ranked number two in the NCAA. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics who seemed to have lost another chance after drawing 5th in the NBA draft lottery are currently doing very well with their two new stars, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett both acquired in trades. Even the lowly Major League Soccer team, the New England Revolution are in the running for the MLS Cup this year. The year also seems to be going good for the Boston Bruins so far. However, the Bruins' center, Patrice Bergeron suffered a serve concussion after being checked and sent into the boards, Bergeron had to miss a dinner in honor of him due to the concussion.

Minnesota Governor opposes state funds to Iran-tied company
"Governor Tim Pawlenty said today that Essar Global has committed to fully comply with all U.S. and international law, including those prohibiting certain investments in Iran, and that he will support continued state assistance for Essar’s proposed steel project on the Iron Range."

October 30, 2007: A few days after Indian company Essar Steel Holdings Limited acquired Minnesota Steel LLC, the governor of Minnesota announced that he "will strongly oppose any effort to provide state financial assistance to companies or entities that engage in prohibited business practices with Iran."

Governor Tim Pawlenty recently returned from a trip to India. He learned that Indian company Essar Global Limited is pursuing a project to build a refinery in southern Iran.

There is no official word yet from Essar Group, but Iran's Petroenergy Information Network says Essar Group is expected to take a 60% stake in the project and that Essar's Ravi Ruia was negotiating for the project in Iran last week.

The northern Minnesota project will be the first facility which includes all steps in steel production from iron mining to a $1.65 billion steel mill. The Iranian refinery will have a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day and cost $8-10 billion.

Singer Robert Goulet dies at age 73

American performer Robert Goulet died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The American-born, Canadian-raised singer and actor gained widespread attention in the 1960s, eventually winning Tony and Grammy awards for his talent.

Goulet was admitted to hospital in Las Vegas late last month where it was learned he contracted idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles earlier this month and died there awaiting a lung transplant. He was 73.

Goalkeeper Srđan Mrkušić dies at age 92

Yugosloav football (soccer) goaltender Srđan Mrkušić of Red Star Belgrade died on Tuesday in Belgrade, Serbia, aged 92. He was part of Yugoslavia's national football team at the 1950 FIFA World Cup.

Columnist Dina Rabinovitch dies at age 44

Today also marked the death of Dina Rabinovitch, a British columnist for The Guardian newspaper. She succumbed to breast cancer at 44. Her final column was published in The Guardian earlier this month.

Today in History
1512 – Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo finished repainting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in fresco.

1520 – Portuguese maritime explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European expedition to navigate the Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America, connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.

1755 – A massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami destroyed Lisbon, and killed at least 60,000 people in Portugal and Morocco.

1928 – As part of the reforms implemented under the leadership of Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the current 29-letter Turkish alphabet, used for the Turkish language, was established, replacing the Ottoman Turkish alphabet.

1963 – The Arecibo Observatory, with the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, officially opened in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

November 01 is National Day in Algeria, Independence Day in Antigua and Barbuda (1981), All Saints' Day in Catholicism, World Vegan Day

Quote of the Day

You cannot choose your battlefield,

God does that for you;

But you can plant a standard

Where a standard never flew.

~ Nathalia Crane ~

Word of the Day

incipient; adj

Beginning, starting, coming into existence.

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