Wikinews:Briefs/October 21, 2007

The time is 6:15 UTC and this an Audio Wikinews Brief for the weekend of Sunday, October 21, 2007.

Thousands flee renewed violence in Congo
Thousands of civilians fled their homes on Saturday amid fierce fighting between local militias and Tutsi-dominated rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the U.N. peacekeeping mission there.

Congolese Army Colonel Delphin Kahimbi said that "very violent attacks" had been reported, and that the fighting was between local militia known as Mai-Mai and rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda. Major P.K. Tiwari, a military spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission, said the fighting "started early this morning and ended late this afternoon." Tiwari said it was not clear who had attacked first.

Blast kills 8, injures 126 at a mall in Manila, The Philippines
Friday's explosion which rocked an upscale mall in the main financial district of the Philippine Capital Manila is under investigation. The explosion damaged the Glorietta Mall in the financial district of Makati and killed at least 8 people and injured at least 126 people.

Authorities ruled out the possibility of a liquid petroleum gas leak and said that a bomb could be the cause of the explosion because the ground investigators say the blast site smelled of gunpowder. Some police intelligence sources say they found traces of C4 explosives at the blast site.

Mass suspensions and relief of duties after US B-52 flew with armed nuclear missiles
According to Pentagon officials, nearly 70 United States Air Force personnel and high ranking officials have been relieved from command and or duty after an incident on August 30 when a U.S. B-52H bomber plane flew from Minot Air Force Base located in North Dakota to Louisiana with six armed AGM-129 ACM nuclear missiles attached to its wings.

The missiles were to be taken to Barksdale Air Force Base to be taken out of commission, but were not supposed to be transported on the plane. Instead, the missiles were placed on the planes wings, along with six "dummy missiles," before it took off from Minot AFB. The air force says that this was a "serious error" on the part of the military, and is launching a formal and ongoing investigation.

So far, the investigation states that the missiles loaded onto the plane were supposed to be inspected by looking through a portal on each missile, where a code would determine whether or not the missile was armed or a dummy. The inspector who loaded the missiles onto the plane only looked under the wing where the armed missiles were located and the plane's navigator also failed to perform a proper inspection.

U.S. air force officials state that there was no threat of a nuclear explosion had the plane crashed, but that a radiation leak was possible.

Half of life could go extinct by century's end, warn eminent biologists
In a "fireside chat" at Yale University on Wednesday, prominent naturalists Edward O. Wilson and Peter H. Raven predicted dire consequences for the planet's biodiversity and habitability unless current trends in consumption and environmental degradation are reversed. The two scientists were awarded the Addison Emery Verrill Medal by the Peabody Museum of Natural History for their contributions to natural science before a capacity crowd at Yale's Sprague Hall. Both are known for their environmental activism as well as extensive research and popular writing.

US stock markets tumble on 'Black Monday' anniversary
Some say history tends to repeat itself. Saturday marked a day in history, when 20 years ago, the United States Dow Jones Industrial Average market crashed, on what is known as 'Black Monday'. The crash sent the market tumbling down 508 points, losing nearly 24%. On Friday, the Dow Jones nearly broke that record when the market closed at -366.94 points, down almost three percent.

Several factors could be to blame for the loss, one being Turkey's government approving a measure on October 18 to send Turkish troops into Iraq and the fears over the U.S. housing market which has caused Caterpillar Inc, a leading construction equipment company to issue a warning that the standstill would cause profits to drop, resulting in the American economy to be severely hurt. On Friday their stocks lost nearly six percent to close at $73.57.

South African reggae star Lucky Dube shot dead in attempted carjacking
An attempted carjacking Thursday evening in Johannesburg has left famous South African reggae star Lucky Dube dead. He was dropping his children off in the suburb of Rosettenville when he was attacked.

Police said that three gunshots were fired through the car window, injuring Dube. His children were out of the car at the time. An injured Dube then attempted to drive his car away from the area, but hit a tree soon after. He died at the scene. The police suspect that three people were responsible for the attack.

There has been an outrage in South Africa and around the world over the killing. Many radio stations were flooded with calls from tearful fans condemning the attack. Lucky Dube was one of the most prominent and influential reggae artists of his time - often remembered alongside Bob Marley for his songs on social issues.

Man throws red paint in Roman Trevi fountain to protest film festival
To protest the 15 million euro budget of the RomeFilmFest, a man on Friday threw a bucket of red paint into the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome, before fleeing the scene. The water in the fountain turned complete red for a while, before technicians were able to cut off the water supply, let the dye wash out, and then replace it with fresh water.

Pamphlets by a previously unknown group called ATM Azionefuturista 2007 were found near the fountain, protesting the budget the festival was awarded which the group protested as inadequate to merely a red carpet event.

South Africa defeats England 15 - 6 to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup
And finally in sports, South Africa has beaten England 15-6 in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final at the Stade de France or Stadium of France in Saint-Denis, France.

This has been an Audio Wikinews brief and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license at http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/