US House of Representatives impeaches President Trump

Saturday, December 21, 2019

On Wednesday, the United States House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump over complaints arising from an alleged abuse of power. Trump, the third President to be impeached by the House, is to face trial in the Senate.

The House passed two different articles of impeachment. The first charged Trump with abuse of power, and the second accused him of obstruction of Congress. The abuse of power charge stemmed from allegations Trump tried to pressure the Ukrainian government to launch an investigation of Joe Biden’s son, in order to help Trump’s chances in the 2020 United States presidential election in which Biden is also running. The articles passed by votes of 230-to-197 and 229-to-198 respectively.

The impeachment occurred largely along partisan lines, with Democratic members of the House voting in favor of the impeachment, and Republican members opposing. Two Democratic Representatives, Collin Peterson and Jeff Van Drew, opposed both articles of impeachment, and a third, Jared Golden, voted for the first article but against the second. In the immediate aftermath of the vote, CNN reported Jeff Van Drew was expected to leave the Democratic party.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, reportedly previously committed to proceeding with an impeachment trial, anticipated to begin in January. He publicly stated the trial would not be impartial, saying he anticipated having “a largely partisan outcome” in the Senate. Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, and for a trial to result in removal from office a two-thirds majority is needed. If Trump were removed, the Senate constitutionally could disqualify him from serving as President again.

The House has only impeached two other Presidents. Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998, and Andrew Johnson in 1868. The Senate acquitted both of them.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

On the 20th birthday of Nintendo‘s mascots, Mario and his brother Luigi, Nintendo has released the newest addition to the popular Game Boy line.

The Game Boy Micro is the smallest handheld release by Nintendo to date. Unlike other handhelds in the Game Boy Advance series, the Game Boy Micro can only play Game Boy Advance games and not games designed for the original Game Boy system. The handheld features a new link port, includes multiple removable faceplates, and additional faceplates can be purchased separately. This system has an MSRP of USD$99.99.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Rico Daniels is a British TV presenter living in France who is known for his two television series — The Salvager — whilst he still lived in the UK and then Le Salvager after he moved to France. Rico has been in a variety of jobs but his passion is now his profession – he turns unwanted ‘junk’ into unusual pieces of furniture. Rico’s creations and the methods used to fabricate them are the subject of the Salvager shows.

Rico spoke to Wikinews in January about his inspiration and early life, future plans, other hobbies and more. Read on for the full exclusive interview, published for the first time:

Monday, January 25, 2010

Researchers say that ambidextrous children are at greater risk of difficulties at school, language problems, and disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than those who are left-handed or right-handed. Dr Alina Rodriguez, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College, London, and a team of researchers from various European universities studied nearly 8,000 children from the north of Finland; 87 of these were ambidextrous (mixed-handed). Parents, teachers and the children themselves assessed language skills, academic achievement and behaviour. At ages 7 and 8, the ambidextrous children had double the rate of language problems and were twice as likely to have problems at school. At age 15 and 16, the proportion of those with ADHD symptoms was twice as many in the ambidextrous group, and their ADHD symptoms tended to be worse. Ambidextrous children in the study also had a higher rate of language problems.

The number of people who are ambidextrous is unclear, with estimates ranging from 1% to 5%. Scientists do not know why some people use both hands when the majority of people prefer to use one predominantly. The theory is that there is something different in the brains of ambidextrous people, although Rodriguez says that more work in the area is needed.

A person who prefers using their right hand will have a more dominant left hemisphere of the brain, which is the part of the brain for language skills. Rodriguez and her researchers have suggested that the right hemisphere of the brain of an ambidextrous child is weaker compared to that of a right-handed child, increasing their susceptible to problems with attention. Previous suggestions about the causes of ADHD include the possibility that a person’s right hemisphere has weaker function. Earlier studies have drawn links between dyslexia and being ambidextrous, and other studies are looking at the part that differences between the two sides of the brain play in language skills and psychosis.

Rodriguez emphasised that the research, published in the journal Pediatrics in the United States, did not show that all ambidextrous children would have such problems, pointing out that most of the children in the survey did not develop them. “Our study suggests that handedness is really a marker for atypical foetal brain development — showing that the brain is working in a different way to the norm”, she said, adding that other studies have shown atypical brain development to be associated with extraordinary creativeness. She also suggested that the results may assist schools and health care workers in targeting children at risk of problems.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

The spread of coronavirus in late 2019 and then in 2020 led to a global pandemic, affecting various daily activities. Originating in Wuhan, China, the virus spread globally, and by March, drastic measures were taken by the Indian government. Some branches of the South Western Railway of India had started taking precautions by distributing masks to ticket collectors and guards from as early as March 8. Some colleges were suspended by March 13, their exams postponed as the government introduced lockdown and enforced social distancing.

Announced in the evening, the Indian Prime Minister asked his countrymen to get the essential products and avoid going out as much as possible. Long queues outside the grocery shops, people in masks, some in N-95 masks, and hand sanitisers at the gates of megamarts were a common sight. There were reduced items in the shops, and some stores had a limit of the number of customers allowed in the store at any given time. Food delivery services, and taxi services were on hiatus — workers who depended on the profession for their daily income, while people including software engineers were working from home. Physical classes in schools and colleges were replaced by online lectures to prevent social gatherings.

While many relied on technology for continuing their work and earn their livelihood, Wikinews reached out to sex workers in Mysore in June who, unlike others, can’t maintain social distancing for their work. Two sex workers, Akram Pasha, and Jaya (a pseudonym), who were part of a sex worker’s group called “Ashodaya Samithi” discussed how their lives had been affected by the coronavirus, the lockdown and the restrictions they had faced.

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Sunday, August 17, 2014

85 Nigerian villagers, members of a group Nigerian officials said they believed kidnapped by militant extremist group Boko Haram earlier this month, were reported on Friday to have been freed by Chadian soldiers, as they and their captors tried to cross the border near Lake Chad.File:Logo of Boko Haram.svg

CNN reported over a hundred captives had been abducted during a Boko Haram attack on a village by Lake Chad on the night of Sunday to Monday last week. Captives were forced onto buses, before the convoy was stopped by the Chadian military as it was trying to cross the border, where the large number of people aroused suspicion. Other captives were transported away by speedboat and were not rescued.

Founded as a political movement in 2002, Boko Haram seek to create an Islamic country in Northern Nigeria, where the Nigerian military have been engaged in operations aimed at removing the extremists since 2009. In this time, thousands of people have been killed in the fighting, and hundreds are reported to have been kidnapped in both Nigeria and across the border in Cameroon. Many of those kidnapped are believed by authorities to be either forced to fight for Boko Haram, or used as sex slaves.

The violence in the region has intensified this year, with Amnesty International saying over 4,000 people have been killed since January, compared to the 3,600 estimated casualties in the four years previously. While most of the fighting is in North-Eastern Nigeria, Boko Haram have also launched attacks in Abuja, the Nigerian capital; and in Lagos, the country’s commercial centre in the South-West.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, killed nearly 19,000 Americans in 2005 alone, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That is more people than were killed by AIDS in the United States. More than 94,000 Americans were afflicted with MRSA infections in 2005.

Although the supergerm, or superbug, is primarily found in hospitals, a growing number of cases have been contracted at public gyms and schools. In Moneta, Virginia, a high school senior died from an infection that spread to his kidney, liver, lungs and heart. In Bedford County, where Moneta is located, school officials have reported five cases of the Methicillin-resistant strain of the Staph bacteria. County officials closed the schools to clean them.

“Certainly, MRSA now has to be viewed as a very important target for prevention and control,” said Dr. David A. Talan, an infectious diseases specialist at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.