The Delta NewsWire

File Under: Top Story NewsWire

I hope you'll join me in welcoming back The Delta NewsWire to TDI! To be perfectly honest, the recent "barrage" of Fifteen Minutes columns was to, in part, figure out how to change the NewsWire up a bit. For this installment, I'm using the template I used for the previous Fifteen Minutes: One picture and one paragraph for a story. No short little blurbs anymore, and there will be a *bit* less news. I'm going to try to limit myself to about 7 stories for a NewsWire. And while that sounds like not too much, if I had any more, that'd be just too much reading for the average reader. Without further ado, here are some of the top story's for October 15, 2005.

An estimated 10 million Iraqi's voted in today's election, which would decide if Iraq would adopt a constitution drawn up earlier this year. In Fallujah, there was a fairly big turn out amongst the Sunni's, who did not participate at all in the past elections. They are cheifly against this constitution. There were only a few incidents of violence, with no one killed at any polling station. "The constitution is a sign of civilization," said Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. "This constitution has come after heavy sacrifices. It is a new birth."Overall turnout was about 61 percent and surpassed 66 percent in seven of Iraq's 18 provinces, including key Sunni Arab-majority ones, according to initial estimates, election officials said Saturday. Final results are expected in about 4 days.

The death toll from the Kashmir earthquake has now reached 38,000. And officials warn it could go even higher, as Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf said that he was unsure if rescuers had reached all affected areas. More bodies are also expected to be recovered as landslides are cleared. Last week, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck just outside Muzaffarabad, a city of 70,000. This new death toll puts it on the same scale of the Quetta, Pakistan earthquake of 1935, which killed between 30,000-60,000. In 2003, 31,000 died in the deadly Bam Earthquake. About $500 million in international aid has been pledged to help the region recover.

About 95% of some 270,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees were cleared from shelters around the nation by Saturday. 14,468 are still remaining in shelters, with 9,003 of them in Louisiana. The deadly storm displaced an estimated 1.5 million people when it struck August 29. It is slow going, though, to move thousands upon tens of thousands from public shelters into temporary housing. Meanwhile, forecasters are keeping their eyes on Tropical Depression 24, whic could become Hurricane Wilma by Sunday. The only other time in recorded history that there were this many named storms was in 1933. After Wilma, Hurricane names will go into the Greek alphabet.

4 people are dead, and at least 102 are wounded after two bombs planted in trash cans detonated inside a shopping mall in Tehran, Iran. The attacks occured during the evening rush hour. Shops and cars outside were damaged, and many pedistrians walking home from work were hurt as a result of the explosions. The bombs went off five minutes from each other at the Karoun Mall. Television coverage showed burnt out cars, shattered shops, as well as blood on the roadway. The blast occured in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, and is close to the border with Iraq. In recent months, this particular region has seen some unrest, with racial riots and string of car bombings.

Al-Qaeda is down a barber. US forces in Iraq said that they were holding a man, Walid Muhammad Farhan Juwar al-Zubaydi, who is suspected of acting as a barber to senior al-Qaeda militants and helping them change their appearance to evade capture. The US military says that he was arrested in Baghdad on September 24, a day before they killed the "most senior al-Qaeda leader in the capital", Abu Azzam. "The Barber" helped militants dye their hair, alter hairstyles, and change facial hair, to help evade capture. Judging by this picture of Usama bin Laden's beard, the most wanted man on the face of the earth doesn't go for a trim regularly.

Violence broke out in Tolbedo, Ohio today, as neo-Nazi's and anti-Nazi groups clashed. It started when a crowd who had gathered to protest a neo-Nazi march threw baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and stores, and set fire to a bar. The nazi march was "demonstration against black gangs" that they said were "harassing white residents". About 1-quarter mile into the planned march route, violence broke out. The nazi's had police protection with them, fearing violent protest. Toledo's mayor is calling for an 8 pm curfew for Saturday night, to try to calm the city down. The mayor also blames most of the violence on gangs, who took advantage of the situation.

Lab tests have detected the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in samples of Romanian ducks, confirming that the virus has arrived for the first time in mainland Europe. The H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people and killed millions of birds in Asia since 2003. The European Union said that it is pinpointing areas most at risk and keeping poultry seperate from wild birds. The main fear with the H5N1 virus is that it could mutate into a virus that spreads easily among humans. So far, Romania does not have any cases of bird flu in humans. Carcasses of birds are being burned, and several flocks are being kept seperate, in hopes of containing the deadly virus.

Finally, on a lighter note, nearly 400 people came to Jefferson, Texas for the Texas Bigfoot Conference. T-shirts proclaiming "Bigfoot: Often Imitated, Never Invalidated" were sold, along with casts of large footprints, and books on the legendary Sasquatch. One Bigfoot believer says that "It's a flesh-and-blood animal that just has not been discovered yet. And I think we're getting closer and closer and closer." In 1958, the term "Bigfoot" was coined after a construction company owner donned 16-inch wooden feet to create tracks in the mud.

It's never dull, and there's always something interesting here at the Institute. Thanks for clicking by, and check back soon for more news, entertainment, and original features!