Top Stories
Reports: Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah killed in Afghanistan The Afghan government has reported that Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban military commander, has been killed in southern Afghanistan. FBI 'Ten Most Wanted' fugitive arrested in Montreal, Canada Officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Montreal Police Service arrested one of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives in Montréal. Richard Steve Goldberg was living under the assumed name Terry Wayne Kearns.

Featured story
Smoke from massive warehouse fire in Buffalo, New York USA can be seen 40 miles away Currently, a massive warehouse complex of at least 5 buildings is on fire in Buffalo, New York on 111 Tonawanda Street, sending a plume of thick, jet black colored smoke into the air that could be seen as far away as 40 miles.

Wikipedia Current Events
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty will resign. President George W. Bush orders United States government agencies to take regulatory steps to reducing automobile emissions. The U.S. military is to block troops from using YouTube and MySpace and 11 other popular websites for sharing photos, video clips and messages. 2007 Pakistan unrest: A strike in Karachi closes shops and clears transport from the roads after two days of violence left 41 people dead. The House of Councillors passes rules for revising the pacifist Constitution of Japan, a central goal of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ten people die in an explosion and fire in a cafe in Orsk, Russia. The President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian names Chang Chun-hsiung of the Democratic Progressive Party as the new Premier of the Republic of China. Nominations open for the leadership of the United Kingdom Labour Party with Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown as the favourite. Legislative and local elections are being held currently in the Philippines. A new species of hummingbird is discovered in Colombia. DaimlerChrysler announces it has sold 80.1% of its stake in the Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm for $7.4 Billion. The Alaskan cruise ship Empress of the North strikes an underwater rock on day two of a seven-day tour, and evacuates all 281 passengers on board.

Smoke from massive warehouse fire in Buffalo, New York USA can be seen 40 miles away

Currently, a massive warehouse complex of at least 5 buildings is on fire in Buffalo, New York on 111 Tonawanda Street, sending a plume of thick, jet black colored smoke into the air that could be seen as far away as 40 miles.

As of 6:40 a.m., the fire was under control, and firefighters were attempting to stop it from spreading, but cannot get to center of the fire because of severe amounts of debris. Later in the morning, the fire was extinguished.

"The fire is mostly under debris at this point. It's under control, but it's under some debris. We really can't get to it. We're just going to have to keep on pouring water on it so it doesn't spread," said Thomas Ashe, the fire chief for the North Buffalo based fire division who also added that at one point, at least 125 firefighters were on the scene battling the blaze. One suffered minor injures and was able to take himself to the hospital to seek medical attention.

Shortly after 8:00 p.m. as many as 3 explosions rocked the warehouse sending large mushroom clouds of thick black smoke into the air. After the third explosion, heat could be felt more than 100 feet away. The fire started in the front, one story building then quickly spread to three others, but fire fighters managed to stop the flames from spreading onto the 3 story building all the way at the back.

According to a Buffalo Police officer, who wished not to be named, the fire began at about 7:00 p.m. [Eastern time], starting as a one alarm fire. By 8:00 p.m., three fire companies were on the scene battling the blaze. Police also say that a smaller fire was reported in the same building on Saturday night, which caused little damage.

Karachi, Pakistan shut down by strike
After two days of violence in Karachi, Pakistan that left 41 killed and at least 150 injured, a general strike has been called in the city. The violence erupted as suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry reached the city to address a rally of supporters on Saturday.

Shops are closed and traffic is very limited after opposition leaders called for a nationwide strike. Officials said the strike is being observed across southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. The capitals of Pakistan's other three provinces, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta are also seeing strikes.

"There is a complete strike in Karachi," said Azhar Farooqi, the city police chief. "The city is totally paralysed. Shops are closed and very little public transport is on the roads. People are scared," he told Reuters.

FBI 'Ten Most Wanted' fugitive arrested in Montreal, Canada
In Montreal, Québec on Saturday, officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Montreal Police Service arrested one of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives.

Richard Steve Goldberg, living under the assumed name Terry Wayne Kearns, was picked up without incident in a Montreal apartment by police acting on a tip from the FBI's Los Angeles field office. An unidentified person living in Canada had recognized Goldberg as one of the FBI's most wanted, verified the information on the FBI's website, and then called in the tip to the FBI in Los Angeles. The FBI had offered a reward of up to US$100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Goldberg.

It was not clear how long Goldberg had been living in Canada, though he has been fugitive since 2001. Goldberg is wanted by police in Long Beach, California, on allegations that he engaged in sexual activities with several female children under ten years of age and produced images of the sex acts, which were subsequently found on his computer.

According to the FBI web site, the specific U.S. charges against Goldberg stemming from incidents that allegedly took place in 2001, are: sexual exploitation of children (production of child pornography), unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, lewd acts upon a child (six counts), and possession of child pornography (two counts).

Australian cricket tour of Zimbabwe cancelled
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government has decided to not let the national cricket team go to Zimbabwe.

"We don't do this lightly, but we are convinced that for the tour to go ahead there would be an enormous propaganda boost for the Mugabe regime," Howard told ABC television. "The [Robert] Mugabe regime at present is behaving like the Gestapo towards its political opponents, the living standards of the country are probably the lowest of any in the world and you have an unbelievable rate of inflation."

Reactions from Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe came quickly.

"The Australians are mixing politics with sport and the decision shows how desperate the Howard government is to isolate Zimbabwe," junior information minister Bright Matonga told Agence France-Presse.

"Australia is one of the worst human rights violators in this whole world. Look what they have done to the aborigines and yet they have the audacity to stand up and claim to have the moral authority to condemn us. This is also a racist ploy to kill our local cricket since our cricket team is now dominated by black players as we slowly transform cricket from being an elite sport."

Alaskan cruise ship evacuated
The Alaskan cruise ship "Empress of the North" was given the order to evacuate at 2 AM Alaska Time this morning after striking an underwater rock and taking on water. All 281 passengers and 29 crew are unharmed and the passengers have been evacuated, though the ship is listing roughly 8 degrees. The US Coast Guard has stated the ship is in no danger of sinking, but tell news reporters that the captain of the ship gave the order to evacuate to be safe. The ship's current location is 24 km (15 miles) southeast of Juneau, Alaska in an area of the Eastern peninsula known as the Icy Strait. Though it is unknown exactly what penetrated the ship's hull at this time, it is suspected by the captain and US Coast Guard that it was an underwater rock. This all occured during the night hours on the second day of a seven day long cruise through the Alexander Archipelago and Inside Passage in southeastern Alaska.

Dan Miller, representative for "Majestic America" has said the ship "is stable and is under its own power and as soon as all the guests and crew are transferred off, she will make her way under her own power over to Juneau where we will assess the damage."

Several civilian pleasure-craft arrived at the scene and have taken some passengers off of the ship. The ships involved in this rescue operation were a commercial tugboat, a barge, 6 pleasurecraft, an Alaska Marine Highway ferry, and another cruise ship.

Mullah Omar says his jihad to continue
The head of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, has declared that "his same type of jihad" will not cease. Furthermore, the demise of Mullah Dadullah "won't create problems for the Taliban's jihad."

Mullah Omar took on the title Commander of the Faithful in 1996 and was the head of state of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

The leadership council of the Taliban has appointed Mullah Bakht Mohammad to replace Mullah Dadallah. Mullah Bakht Mohammad is the younger brother of the deceased Mullah Dadallah.

Yousuf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban, stated that the Taliban offered condolences to Mullah Dadallah's family and "his mujahedin (holy warriors), the Muslims of Afghanistan and the Muslims of the world.” Dadallah has been hailed as a martyr by the Taliban and their followers.

User-generated content, other high-bandwidth websites blocked for U.S. Soldiers
The U.S. Department of Defense have announced that acccess to popular user generated content sites like MySpace and YouTube will be blocked on military computers. The block takes effect on Monday and will apply worldwide for all military personnel using Department of Defense computers.

The block is targetted at sites that contain user generated content. Including MySpace and YouTube, a total of 12 sites will be off limits according to Robert Weller of the Associated Press: Metacafe, iFilm, StupidVideos, FileCabi, BlackPlanet, Hi5, Pandora, MTV, 1.fm, live365 and Photobucket.

According to U.S. Strategic Command officials the block is due to "bandwidth/network issues" resulting in possible "clogging [of] the network".

The move is an apparent reversal of a earlier position held by the defense department. Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told Carmen L. Gleason of the American Forces Press Service in mid-March: "We want the American public, from an unfiltered vantage point, to be able to see what coalition forces and Iraqi security forces are doing here in Iraq."

German frigate fires at itself
The Lübeck, a Bremen class frigate of the German navy, has accidentally fired at itself during a training mission off the British coast, near Plymouth.

According to Korvettenkapitän Jan Strömer, the accident happened on May 2nd, while the Lübeck was taking part in a exercise where planes or unmanned drones are towing banners that serve as targets for the ships. During the practice the ship's artillery gun experienced problems, possibly due to jamming. When the crew turned the gun in order to investigate it discharged. No one was hurt and the ship was not critically damaged.

The Lübeck has since returned to its home port Wilhelmshaven for repairs.

The Lübeck is a war ship with anti submarine warfare as its main aim, however, it is also capable of anti surface and anti aircraft warfare. Her crew is roughly 203 sailors. She is 130 meters long and displaces 3800 tonnes.

Today in History

May 15: Independence Day in Paraguay (1811), Teachers' Day in Mexico and South Korea, Nakba Day in Palestinian communities.

1525 - Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist leader Thomas Muentzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.

1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold became the first European to discover Cape Cod.

1928 - Cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their movie debut in Plane Crazy.

1934 - Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis dissolved the Saeima and established an authoritarian rule in Latvia.

1990 - Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet (pictured) was sold for US$82.5 million, at the time the world's most-expensive painting.

Quote of the Day

Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist — the only thing he's good for — is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning. Even if it's only his view of a meaning. That's what he's for — to give his view of life.

~ Katherine Anne Porter ~

Word of the Day

risible; adj

1. Provoking laughter; ludicrous; funny.

2. (of a person) Easily laughing; prone to laughter

About Wikinews
We are a group of volunteer journalists whose mission is to create a diverse community where citizens from around the globe (including you) can collaborate to report the news on a wide variety of current events. By making our content perpetually available for free redistribution and use, we hope to contribute to a global digital commons. Got news and no computer? Call the Wikinews Hotline +1-866-653-4265 (toll-free in the U.S.) +1-202-742-5918 (outside the U.S.)
License
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Articles published in this Print edition were created by Wikinewsies. To view a copy of this license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor San Francisco, California, 94105, USA
Audio Wikinews
Audio Wikinews is a free non point-of-view news radio program recorded daily. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Audio
About Wikinews Print Edition
For more information about Wikinews Print Edition visit: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Print

Tuesday, May 15, 2007	Wikinews	Page 4

If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit www.wikinews.org

May 15, 2007	The free-content news source that you can write!	Page 4

If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit en.wikinews.org

Wikinews Back Page

Zachary Hauri

2007-05-14T16:37:57