Wikinews:Briefs/May 6, 2012

May 6, 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 Sunday, May 6, 2012. I am Chad Tew and this is Wikinews.

French journalists claim Gaddafi promised Sarkozy campaign €50 million (0:28)
The French magazine Mediapart published a document in which former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi promised French President Nicolas Sarkozy's twenty seven presidential campaign fifty million euros, which is about forty two million U-S dollars. That was the election that brought Sarkozy to power. But there is no evidence that money ever entered his campaign coffers. Sarkozy's spokesperson claims François Hollande's campaign is behind the news release, for which there is also no evidence. The run-off election between Sarkozy and Hollande is currently being held today.

Bosnia jails first female war crime convict (1:12)
A Bosnian court sentenced the nation's first female war crimes convict to five and a half years in prison. Rasema Handanović admitted taking part in the killing of three civilians and three soldiers in the village of Trusina in nineteen ninety three. At the time, she was a member of a firing squad.

Hundreds feared dead after Indian ferry boat capsizes (1:35)
Nobody can agree now on how many people have died after an Indian ferry boat carrying over two hundred people was overturned Monday. Assam officials say thirty one died. News reports still run as high as one hundred twenty two. Families are compensated at one hundred and fifty thousand rupees, or about three thousand U-S dollars, per person.

Additional sources:

St. Louis storm uproots tent; one dead, several injured (2:02)
In the United States, officials are blaming bad weather for a large tent disaster near Busch Stadium in Saint Louis, Missouri. One person died, another sixteen were hospitalized, and around one hundred others were injured.

Darcy Richardson suspends Democratic Party presidential campaign (2:18)
Darcy Richardson &mdash; the presidential candidate for the Democrats who claimed he was the progressive alternative to President Obama &mdash; has suspended his campaign. He had argued that Obama's reelection would amount to a quote "a fourth term for George W. Bush." Unquote. He will still be on the ballot in Texas at the end of May.

Obama responds to criticism over medical marijuana raids (2:41)
President Obama responded to criticisms that he had shifted his position toward raids on medical marijuana facilities in a recent Rolling Stone magazine interview. Obama said he doesn't have the power as president to change the law and growing marijuana is still a violation of federal law.

This week, a Wikinews reporter conducted an interview with Allen St Pierre, who is the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in the United States. St Pierre characterized the president's position as ....

Play excerpt now ... (3:21)

Poison control centers educate public on hand sanitizer consumption (4:02)
This week, another Wikinews reporter filed an original report on a new trend in poisoning whereby children are extracting alcohol from hand sanitizer. According to experts, hand sanitizers contain sixty two percent ethyl alcohol and, when ingested, produces the same effects of consuming a one hundred twenty-proof alcoholic beverage or fifty percent more alcohol than hard liquor. Consuming the product can lead to severe internal damage, including alcohol poisoning. Poison centers across the United States are documenting these cases. Read more at Wikinews...

Sharapova defeats Azarenka in Porsche Finale (4:52)
In tennis, Maria Sharapova won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix tournament in Stuttgart, Germany. She took the title after beating Victoria Azarenka. This was Sharapova's first Women's Tennis Association title of the year and the twenty fifth of her career.

Australian billionaire announces replica Titanic (5:14)
And Australian billionaire Clive Palmer says he is going to build a fleet of luxury ships that will include a replica of the Titanic. While he didn't repeat history by claiming it was unsinkable, he did claim that modern shipbuilding would prevent the replica from suffering a similar fate. The Titanic sank one hundred years ago.

Outro (5:40)
And those are the headlines for this week.

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