Politics

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Monday, announced CAN$200 million for the cleanup of war-torn Afghanistan. The money will be used for hospitals and broken roads as well as other important projects that will help Afghanistan. The $100 million has been added to the $100 million already used in the country, which will be used over the next 10 years. "Thanks to the Canadian Forces efforts, the fragile peace that reigns over most of the country has been extended to large parts of Kandahar province," Harper said during a news conference in

Last night the New Zealand Parliament passed the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act, which now makes it illegal to send spam from New Zealand that does not include the sender's details, and an unsubscribe facility, which also applies to normal commercial e-mails and porn e-mails. New Zealand previously had no defense from spammers sending spam from New Zealand, which accounts for around 10% of all spam internationally. All members of parliament voted for the bill, except for two ACT MP's with their leader saying that it will place extra cost

Romano Prodi, prime minister of Italy, won a confidence vote in the Italian Senate, after attempting to resign last week. His victory means that the l'Unione coalition of leftist parties will remain in power. The vote was 162-157. Justice minister Clemente Mastella reacted in an interview: "This government is like the Tower of Pisa. It leans, leans, but never falls." The expected vote in the Chamber of Deputies on Friday is expected to be only a formality, since Prodi has a much more comfortable coalition there. Prodi faced competition fro

A suicide attack at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan at 10:30 a.m. Afghan time has left at least 19 dead reports the Associated Press. President Hamid Karzai's office said 23 people were killed and 20 were injured. Agence France-Presse has reported that at least one U.S. soldier was killed in the attack. A South Korean soldier was among those killed said South Korea's defence ministry. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, who claims to be a Taliban spokesman, said that Dick Cheney was the target of the attack. Cheney made a surprise visit to the base. He ate bre

The National Socialist Movement is endorsing John Taylor Bowles (50) as a third party candidate for the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election to be held on November 4th, 2008. Bowles, 49, has been in the National Socialist Movement for 33 years, was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force as a Telecommunications Operations Specialist, and is a retired Department of Agriculture federal officer who currently resides in South Carolina. His platform's policies consists of White supremist and Aryan political ideals, such as declaring non

The President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, has asked Romano Prodi today to stay on as Prime Minister, but Prodi will need to pass a confidence vote as soon as possible. After two days of consultation among Italian party leaders, Napolitano called on Saturday a press conference to explain his decision. Napolitano stated that Prodi's coalition, l'Unione, is ready to support unanimously its Prime Minister, above all after the drafting of the twelve points agreement about the main political issues. The President rejected the propos

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled unanimously 9-0, in favour of a ruling that overturns controversial anti-terror legislation that allowed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to indefinitely detain suspects without revealing the reason for their arrest or detention. The judgement, summarised by Justice Beverley McLachlin in the ruling, gave Parliament a one year grace period to create new legislation that will fall within Canada's constitution and Charter. The CSIS security certificates have caused five Canadians to spend years in

Justin Trudeau, the son of late former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, will seek the federal Liberal party nomination to run for office in the riding of Papineau in Montreal, Quebec. Trudeau, 35, will run in the next federal election, widely expected this spring, if the Liberal party accepts his nomination, a regular practice in Canada to run for office. "I admire his courage and I encourage him," said Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. "It's not going to be easy." "It's an absolute bonus that I'll be able to take back this riding for the Liberals

Peter Dunne's proposition as the leader of the New Zealand political party, United Future, to have Waitangi Day changed back to New Zealand Day failed. The New Zealand Day bill would have created disharmony within the society according to parliamentary select committee, the Justice and Electoral Committee. But they do say that it could be a good idea for a completely new holiday to be created called New Zealand Day. "I welcome the advice from the committee that many of the submitters were in favour of retaining Waitangi Day and having anothe

Liberal MP and former leadership candidate Bill Graham says he will not run for re-election in his riding of Toronto Centre. Graham, 67, made the announcement to the executive of his Toronto riding association Thursday night. Bob Rae, former NDP premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995 and Liberal leadership candidate, will announce his candidancy for the Liberal nomination in the riding in the coming days, according to reports. Toronto lawyer Meredith Cartwright and United Church minister Rob Oliphant are also expected to contest the nomination w

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, apologized today to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the largest political party in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, for the detention of his son. "I am sorry about the arrest.We don't know the circumstances of the arrest and we are investigating ... but he is being released," the U.S. ambassador said. Ammar al-Hakim, the son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is a cleric with an important position in his father's political movement. He and his six bodyguards were detained by U.S. troops near the border,

A Pakistani minister and woman’s activist was shot and killed last Tuesday because she refused to wear the veil. Zilla Huma Usman, the minister for social welfare in Punjab province and an ally of President Pervez Musharraf, was killed as she was about to deliver a speech to dozens of party activists. Her assassin, Muhammad Sarwar, believed that she was dressed inappropriately and that women should not be involved in politics, officials said. “I have no regrets. I killed her out of the conviction that she was leading an un-Islamic life and sp