Wikinews:Briefs/March 31, 2012

April 1, 2012

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Today on Wikinews: We briefly recap some of the stories appearing on Wikinews this week and from around the world.

Today is Saturday, March 31, 2012. I am Chad Tew and this is Wikinews.

Wikinews Shorts: March 26, 2012 (0:28)
Hong Kong elected a new chief executive this week. Leung Chun-ying (Pronounced:L-er-ng Choon Ying) was choosen as the new leader in a controversial election. Pro-democracy demonstrators rallied before the meeting of the election committee and also attempted to storm the voting center. An organizer of the demonstrations criticized Hong Kong as not being a "true democracy." And pepper spray was used on the demonstrators when the results were announced.

Pope Benedict visits Cuba urging openness, religious freedom (1:00)
Pope Benedict the Sixteenth visited Cuba this week and urged religious freedom and political change. In response, a leader from the council of ministers said no political reform was necessary. The Pope celebrated Mass in Havana, visited several Cuban cities, and met with former President Fidel Castro.

Wikinews Shorts: March 26, 2012 (1:25)
Two earthquakes shook Chile within a twenty-four hour period. A magnitude seven point one earthquake struck Maule (Pronounced Mah-oo-lay), Chile last Sunday. It followed an earlier quake on Saturday.

Web startup Sqoot loses sponsorship after failed advert deemed sexist by social media (1:40)
Web startup Sqoot became embroiled in a P-R crisis. In its advertisement for a Boston hackathon, Sqoot promised women as one of its perks and focused on women who would be serving the attendees beer. Thousands of tweets complaining of sexism were directed at Sqoot on Twitter. The company lost four sponsors within a twenty-four hour period, and it later apologized for what it intended as an invitation for a QUOTE good party UNQUOTE. An article in Techli said the mishap was "the worst startup P-R crisis in recent history."

Sandra Fluke named candidate for Time's 100 most influential people / Sandra Fluke, Chelsea Clinton, Christine Quinn on women in politics (2:26)
Sandra Fluke made Time magazine's list of candidates for the one hundred most influential people in the world. The public can vote for candidates until April sixth. Fluke also appeared with Chelsea Clinton this week in New York at a forum about women in politics. There Clinton told the audience the United States was tied with Turkmenistan for seventy eighth place in the percentage of women participating in national politics. The panelists urged women to run for political office.

UK student jailed for 'racist' Twitter posts about footballer Fabrice Muamba (3:02)
U-K student Liam Stacey was sent to prison for making racist comments about Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba on Twitter. Stacey's tweets came after Muamba had collapsed on the pitch. The twenty-one year old first claimed his Twitter account had been hacked, then later admitted inciting racial hatred. Stacey wept as he was handcuffed and led away.

Softball Australia, federal government reaffirm support for indigenous softball / Australian field archers vie for spot at World Championships (3:30)
Australian Labor MP Andrew Leigh reaffirmed support for indigenous softball. He made the speech before two games between the Aussie Spirit and the Japanese women's national team. Softball is the most popular sport among indigenous women and aboriginal partipication occurs at all levels of the game.

We have more on Austrialian sports at Wikinews, including more about this week's qualifications by Australian archers for the World Archery Field Championships in August.

Wikinews Shorts: March 26, 2012 (4:07)
Tiger Woods won his first P-G-A Tour in thirty months. It was his seventh victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Some are calling this a comeback for the pro golfer.

Former world darts champion Jocky Wilson dies at age 62 (4:20)
Former world darts champion Jocky Wilson died two days after his sixty-second birthday from a lung ailment. The Scottish darts player won his title in nineteen eighty-two and again seven years later. At the U-K Open Qualifier, around two hundred current competitors held their applause for him for a minute's time.

US lottery jackpot tops $500 million, sets world record (4:48)
And the United States lottery Mega Millions set a world record when the jackpot surpassed a half a billion dollars after no winner was announced earlier in the week. To win, all five numbers, as well as the Mega Ball number, must match. There had been eighteen drawings without a winner since the last jackpot in January. Winners were selected Friday but none of them have been identified at this time.

Outro (5:30)
And those are the headlines for this week.

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