Politics

Michael Ignatieff has emerged as the early leader in this weekend's delegate selection votes for the Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention. With the results of 169 of 465 Delegate Selection Meetings reported, Ignatieff leads with 563 delegates elected (32.2%) followed by two candidates vying for second place. Former Ontario Premier Bob Rae and Environment minister Stephane Dion are in a neck-in-neck battle for second place with Rae having 341 delegates (19.5%) to Dion's 331 (18.4%). Lagging behind in fourth place is Gerard Kennedy who h

A letter that had been written in 1988 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 Iranian Revolution and is Iran's former Supreme Leader has been made public by Iran's former president Hashemi Rafsanjani and states that Iran needed to acquire nuclear weapons in an attempt to win the war with Iraq. The letter was reportadly sent to "political leaders" while the Iran-Iraq war was taking place. BBC News says the letter states what would be needed if Iran was willing to continue any battle with the country of Iraq. Khomeini says that "more a

Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri has appeared in a new videotape in which he calls President George W. Bush a "liar" and a "failure" in the war against terrorism. The video, which is 18 minutes long and titled "Bush, the Pope, Darfur and the Crusades" was released by IntelCenter and was produced by the media agency al-Sahab. "Can't you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq?" said Zawahiri. "Bush, you deceitful charla

A standoff is forming in Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city, located mainly in the Region Central Jutland, with politicians seeking to make budgetary cuts for 2007 on one side, and parents, paedagogs and elderly-care professionals on the other. The dispute broke out on Friday, September 22, when day-care centres across the city were blockaded by parents, teachers and other city council employees. At one point, the city council asked the police to intervene to break the blockades of the day-centres, although a last-minute change of heart by

The top-brass of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has sent a three-page letter to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, warning him that the IAF is in danger of losing its long-standing air-superiority over Pakistan. In the letter the following statement is given, Additional Director of Air Power Studies, Kapil Kak said, "This aircraft induction will take at least 10 years from today and in those 10 years, the MiG 21's will progress if they get wound down. Their total technical life and design life will end and we will have the Air Force combat force

The field of candidates running to lead the City of Toronto became larger today as former Liberal Party of Canada president Stephen LeDrew threw his hat in the contest for mayor of Canada's largest city. LeDrew is running against incumbent Mayor of Toronto David Miller, who is seeking a second term and city councillor Jane Pitfield, who was considered Miller's main challenger until today. With LeDrew entering the race there are a total of 38 candidates running for the position. The election takes place on November 13, 2006. Miller is a centre-

The Republican National Committee Site Selection Committee will recommend Minneapolis-St. Paul to host the 2008 Republican National Convention (GOP), on September 1-4, 2008. RNC confirmation will be done in January, 2007. Cleveland, New York City, and Tampa-St. Petersburg had also submitted bids. "We are thrilled to accept the bid from Minneapolis-St. Paul to host our 2008 convention . The host committee put together a tremendous bid and we are confident that we will partner for a successful event. Minneapolis-St. Paul has outstanding assets

The upcoming 2006 Mississauga municipal election, to be held November 13, features an array of candidates looking to represent their wards in city council. Wikinews contributor Nicholas Moreau has contacted as many candidates as possible, including Olive Rose Steele, asking them to answer common questions sent in an email. There is no incumbent in the ward; also competing for the position are Matanat Khan, Sean Semper-Whyte, Terry Pierce, Jr., Ron Starr, and former MP Carolyn Parrish. Interview Q: List the three most important issues in your

"There's no doubt we're gaining share across all product lines," said Oracle's CFO, after a quarter where net income grew 29% and revenue grew 30% to $3.6bn. Applications license revenue climbed 78% on a constant currency basis. CEO Larry Ellison noted that, in comparison, SAP saw its application license revenue grow a more modest 8%. Oracle's president claimed 88 head-to-head wins against SAP in the quarter. Some commentators noted that, though impressive, Oracle's results may not persist. Unlike industries with huge fixed costs, competit

The European Commission has accepted Bulgaria and Romania as members of the EU from January 1, 2007 under what analysts call the strictest terms in recent history. The Commission emphasizes that the new members will have to do a better job fighting organized crime but also fight political corruption, which has plagued both since the fall of the Soviet Union. Both governments have been criticized for not being tough enough on corruption, a hot political ticket in the duo. The president of the Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has called for a p

Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur confirmed today that Mohammed Afzal, a militant attached to the Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, would be executed on 20 October for his role in the attempted attack on the Indian Parliament building in 2002. On 13 December 2001, at 11:45 a.m. local time(UTC+5:30), just as the MPs were preparing to leave the House, militants armed with AK-47s and hand-grenades breached the security at Gate No.12 of the Parliament Building and opened indiscriminate fire, killing six policemen and one Parliament e

The New Zealand government today has announced that they will not provide financial assistance to the Overlander train service between Auckland and Wellington, which is set to stop service on September 30, if no assistance is forthcoming. ONTRACK will retain the North Island main trunk line, while looking for tourism operators to start a tourist rail service. Trevor Mallard, acting Finance Minister, said: "In making this decision... Cabinet recognised that there was no prospect of the current Overlander service becoming commercially viable. It