Politics

Doctor Don Brash has today given his valedictory speech in parliament on his departure from New Zealand politics. Dr Brash had only been in politics for four and a half years and in that time he had risen to the ranks of leader of the National party and only participating in one election as leader, narrowly becoming the opposition. Dr Brash described being a member of parliament (MP) as: "...A great privilege." And he said that "...I've had a fantastic opportunity..." "...I've had a lot of fantastic opportunities..." He admits that he took a

The newly appointed leader of the Australian Labor Party, the main opposition party in Australia, Kevin Rudd has urged his supporters to "take a cold shower" after the release of a Newspoll showing a jump in support for the ALP. The poll showed that the ALP's two-party preferred vote has risen to 55 percent compared to the incumbent government's 45 percent. Mr Rudd is also gaining support as potential Prime Minister with his figures in a "preferred prime minister" poll published by The Australian being only 3 points behind John Howard at 36 pe

Soon, Eritrea will be one of the world's first nations to protect its entire coastline. In an ambitious plan to protect it's extensive (over 1,300 km) mainland coast and over 300 islands. The Minister of Fisheries, Ahmed Hajj Ali, revealed that a National Policy regarding the coastline of Eritrea, and its sustainable development had been formulated with the input of partners and experts. "Eritrea will be the first country in the world to declare its entire coastline a protected area," said Dr Michael Pearson, a specialist in environmental man

The former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, died yesterday in a military hospital in Santiago de Chile. Pinochet died at 2:15 p.m. (1715 GMT), surrounded by his family. A brief announcement by the hospital said Pinochet's condition had worsened suddenly following a heart attack on December 3. Earlier in the week he was reported to be recovering from the heart failure. In 1973 Augusto Pinochet took power in a US-assisted coup against Chile's democratically elected president, Salvador Allende Gossens, who died in the first hours of

UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan delivered his farewell address today at the Truman Presidential Museum & Library, Independence, Missouri. He reminded his audience of the far sighted leadership provided by President Harry S Truman in championing the United Nations in its early years. Annan went on to offer five lessons, every one of which led him to conclude that "such leadership is no less sorely needed now than it was sixty years ago". The lessons he had learned while in office were that the security of everyone is linked to that of everyon

American politician of the Democratic party Dennis Kucinich plans to run for president in 2008 the five-term congressman's spokesman, Andy Juniewicz, said Monday. Kucinich ran in 2004 and was last in nearly every primary and caucus of that year. Kucinich began his political career as a Cleveland city councilman and later as the youngest person ever elected mayor of the Midwestern city. The congressman made his decision to run, according to a written statement, because he felt his own party's leadership was not aggressive enough in opposing

Russia Today TV, Moscow's English-language satellite television channel, reported that Russian government officials are considering filing libel suits against international journalists over their reporting on the poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko was a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and shortly before he died in London from radiation poisoning in late November, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering his assassination. Putin and other Russian officials strongly denied any prior knowledge of a

Harry Doynhoven, minister for transport safety, has called for a ban on using mobile phones (cellphones) while driving in New Zealand. The ban comes just days after a teenager was killed after allegedly driving while texting on their mobile phone. Mr Duynhoven said that it is time to ban hand-held mobile phones in cars. "I would love to ban it. If I were a benign dictator, it would be gone by lunchtime." Mr Duynhoven believes that a campaign to educate the public is needed to combat the number of people who die while using their mobile phones

Cuban leader Fidel Castro congratulated Hugo Chávez, on December 4, for the great electoral success in the elections held in Venezuela. Castro underlined Venezuela's great experience of building socialism in Latin America and the support of poorest people of the continent to this politics.

Egyptian Muslim theologians seek to change the Islamic position on female circumcision at a conference at Cairo's Al-Azhar University. The theologians decided that female circumcision is forbidden by Sura 95, Verse 4 of the Koran: "We have created man in the most perfect image." It represents a major shift in the position of the Muslim religious community because many of the attending theologians are extremely powerful and respected, including Mahmoud Hamdi Saksuk, the Egyptian minister for religious charities, and Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi, th

The International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) has stripped the rights from Fiji to host the World Netball Championships in 2007 because of the military coup that took place on December 5. The Netball Championships were to take place between 10 July and 21 July, 2007 at Fiji's capital, Suva. IFNA president, Molly Rhone, said: "It is deeply regretted that we have had to take this decision, recognising the hard work that has been done by the Organising Committee in preparing to host their first senior World Championships." "We kno

When introducing the Iraq Study Group Report to a Senate Committee, former Secretary of State James Baker emphasized that all the 79 recommendations in the report complemented each other and had to be taken together. This was not a “fruit salad" from which one could pick and choose. Despite this, President Bush is giving indications that he is going to do just that. While agreeing that the Report had some good points to make, he said that he had also asked the Pentagon, the State Department and other government agencies to reflect on the Iraq s