Sunday, November 20, 2005

The carcasses of two deer, a coyote, and a possum were dumped in the Delta Gamma Iota fraternity house on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana on November 10. The dead animals were apparently placed in the house while members slept. A repairman discovered the prank while working in the house’s kitchen.

Members left the house for at least a day while the animals were removed and the house was disinfected by the Delaware County Health Department.

The fraternity house is located off-campus and is recognized by Ball State — the DGI house is unaffiliated with the intra-fraternity council, however.

The animals were apparently “roadkill” (struck and killed by automobiles on the road). The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is investigating the incident due to the use of deceased animals in vandalism.

Monday, December 3, 2018

On Friday, German police investigators continued their previous day’s search of the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, for evidence of money laundering and other wrongdoing in connection to the group of leaked financial documents called the Panama Papers. A police spokesperson explained the roughly 170 searchers, including officers, prosecutors and tax experts, encountered such a volume of material the matter could not be concluded in one day.

The allegations are that, from 2013 onward, two employees of Deutche Bank helped clients to avoid taxes and other regulations by creating offshore companies. Bank officials announced Thursday they were cooperating with authorities but made no further comment.

The stock value of Deutsche Bank dropped roughly by half over the course of 2018. Last year, the governments of the United States and United Kingdom fined Deutsche Bank US$630 million for laundering money from Russia through its offices in Moscow and London. This fall, BaFIN, a German regulator, sent a special representative to order Detusche Bank to improve its anti-money-laundering practices and see that it did.

“Panama Papers” is an umbrella term for roughly ten million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, leaked to the press in spring 2016. The documents showed fourteen banks helped wealthy clients hide billions of US dollars of wealth to avoid taxes and other regulations. British newspaper The Guardian suggested Deutsche Bank controlled roughly a third of the 1200 shell companies used to accomplish this. There were protests worldwide, several criminal prosecutions, and the leaders of the governments of Iceland and Pakistan both resigned.

Ava Lee of anti-corruption organization Global Witness said, “Almost three years on, and law enforcement are still relying on the Panama Papers for their work. It shows how investigative journalism has been at the forefront of opening the door on a morass of morally dubious — and sometimes illegal — activity by banks[.]”

Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist who played a prominent role in investigation based on the Panama Papers, was killed in a car bombing last year.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced Tuesday that they had seized approximately 160 kilograms of cocaine discovered in buckets of frozen mango puree imported from Mexico.

Investigations led the police to a shipping container destined for the Port of Montréal, in the Canadian province of Québec. A CBSA officer at the Container Examination Centre in Montréal identified the suspect container. The drug was found in brick-shaped plastic wrapping of about 4 kilograms in weight each. There were 1,200 buckets of frozen mango puree in the shipment, not all with cocaine inside.

RCMP Sgt. André Potvin told reporters that the value of the shipment was significant and was the largest maritime port drug haul in the force’s history. At CA$20 per half-gram, “that’s in the vicinity of $38 million,” said Potvin.

The investigation by the RCMP Drug Section, CBSA Intelligence officers, the Marine Security Enforcement Team and the Port of Montréal Security Group, determined that an import company, named Quality Mexport, was allegedly a front for the drug-smuggling operation.

Five Mexicans, holding visitor status in Canada, were arrested in the matter. They are:

• Juan Manuel Huerta Canela, 31;
• Jose Gerardo Bernal Vasquez, 52;
• Jose Luis Navarro Ochoa, 33;
• Jesus Manuel Villa Quiroz, 32; and
• Alfonso Strag Estrada, age 50.

The suspects have been charged with importing and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. The charges are allegations at this point in time.

The time is 20:00 (UTC) on June 30th, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

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Monday, May 14, 2018

On Friday, German beer company Eichbaum issued a public apology and said they have halted their marketing campaign of printing caps of beer bottles with flags of 32 countries participating in next month’s FIFA World Cup in Russia. Saudi Arabia’s flag printed on a beer bottle was condemned by many on social networking platforms.

Alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia. It is considered haraam in Islam, meaning Muslims are prohibited from consuming alcohol. Saudi Arabia’s flag bears the Islamic shahada, or the creed “Kalimat al-Tawheed”, that is “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammed is the messenger of Allah” ^{((ar))Arabic language: ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ????????? ??????? ????}. Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Germany published a statement on Twitter saying printing the flag with shahada on beer beverage “constitutes a violation to the holiness of the word, an insult to the flag and a provocation against the feelings of Muslims”.

The Mannheim-based company, in their statement, said, “We have no interest in religious or political manifestations — certainly not about our products. If we have offended you unintentionally, we apologise.” Company’s marketing director Holger Vatter-Schönthal said, “We did not know that the characters were a creed. We have only checked whether the flags of the participants are correct.”

The marketing strategy was condemned by Saudi Arabia’s embassy in German capital Berlin. Eichbaum said they are trying to remove all the beer bottles bearing the Saudi Arabian flag.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Viktor Schreckengost, the father of industrial design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an iconic piece of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery died yesterday. He was 101.

Schreckengost was born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio, United States.

Schreckengost’s peers included the far more famous designers Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes.

In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost’s work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Experts state that the lengthy drought conditions seen all over Texas this summer will effect the state’s economy and ecosystems for years. Climatologist John Nielson-Gammon told reporters that July was the hottest month ever on record in the state and that the 12-month period ending July 31st represented the worst drought year in Texas in at least 116 years. He was also quoted as saying that Texas has entered a “vicious cycle” where drought and heat aggravate each other.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 94 percent of Texas is suffering either extreme or exceptional drought. Travis Miller, professor of soil and crop sciences at Texas A&M University, has estimated that this year farmers and ranchers in the state will lose $8 billion, “the largest agriculture loss we have ever experienced.” Miller also suggested that the worse outcomes may not even be here yet. “Climatic models show there is another La Nina system, which is blamed for this drought, coming our way this fall,” Miller said. “That is not a good thing.”

Tom McAlley, a rancher in Tatum, stated, “It’s a big problem. People don’t understand—this drought effects domestic and wild animals, the economy, everything.” Texas ranchers complain of feeding their cattle this summer, which is extremely rare as cattle normally consume natural grasses and vegetation during summer months. Tim Jenkins, a rancher near Athens, stated during an interview, “I have three ponds on my [ranch] — they’re all dry now. They should be teeming with frogs, insects. Small animals would normally go there to drink. I’ve got hundreds of dead fish in those ponds. I’ve paid huge sums of money just to feed my cattle this summer. If my parents were alive, they wouldn’t believe what we’re going through right now. I may see the effects of this for the remainder of my life.”

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The following is the third edition of a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2016 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: two individuals previously interviewed by Wikinews announce their candidacies for the Reform Party presidential nomination; a former Republican Congressman comments on the Republican National Convention; and Wikinews interviews an historic Democratic National Convention speaker.