Politics

Prime Minister Stephen Harper reportedly failed to explain why Canada is fighting in Afghanistan, while the Harper government won parliamentary approval for a two-year extension of Canada's mission. Polls show that while Canadians may oppose about their soldiers engaging in direct combat, most are immensely proud of the mission. "This is tough slogging. Canada has one of the most difficult parts of Afghanistan. They (the troops) are engaged in a very determined effort to take the Taliban on," Foreign Affiars Minister Peter MacKay told CBC. "

A defence and security agreement was signed in Berlin today by India and Germany, heralding a new era of cooperation between the two nations. India's Defence Minister Prnab Mukherjee and his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung signed the deal after a meeting at Defence Ministry. The two countries agreed to training and exchanging senior personnel, as well as to the formation of a joint committee to hold annual meetings in either nation. The two ministers also exchanged views on combatting international terrorism, described by Mukherjee as "the

British Prime Minister Tony Blair bowed to pressure from within his own Labour Party today by publicly confirming he will resign within a year. "I would have preferred to do this in my own way," said Blair who added "the next party conference in the next couple of weeks will be my last party conference as party leader." However, he refused to name the specific date of his resignation, "The precise timetable has to be left to me and has to be done in the proper way," Blair insisted. "I'm not going to set a precise date now. I don't think that's

Following a two-year investigation into far right political activists, the lead suspect of which was a member of the Belgian military, police have made a series of arrests at barracks, soldiers' homes and civilians' homes across Belgium. Those arrested are suspected of plotting terrorist attacks to disrupt the country. During the raids, police found home-made bombs, large quantities of ammunition, firearms, detonators and other equipment, along with Nazi symbols and extremist literature. Belgium's federal prosecutors' office has said that thos

Mary Harney, Ireland's first female Tanaiste (deputy prime minister), resigned as leader of the Progressive Democrats on September 7, 2006. The resignation was unexpected. It was believe she would lead the party for another year.Mary Harney said, "It is my wish to allow a successor the opportunity to lead our party into the general election next year.In my judgement, this is now the right time, as we prepare for a new Dáil session and after a period of reflection over summer." Members of her Parliamentary Party were very taken aback by her de

After more than two months of wrangling following the July 2 election, Felipe Calderón of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) has been declared president-elect of Mexico by the country's electoral court. His six year term will begin December 1st. The court's 7 judges unanimously affirmed that Calderón defeated left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by a margin of less than 0.6% of the vote rejecting Lopez Obrador's claims of electoral fraud and undue influence by outgoing president Vicente Fox and dismissing the option of annu

The Turkish parliament approved the government's proposal for sending troops to Lebanon to take part in the UN-led peacekeeping operation. 533 MPs attended the voting session where 340 of them approved the proposal and 192 rejected. The troops are expected to departure by the end of this month or early October. The Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey commented that "The required has been done. May it be good for the nation.". Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said "The framework of the proposal is planned to minimize the possible risks Turkish

The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf is in Kabul for a two-day visit during which he is scheduled to hold talks with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai. The talks are expected to focus on the continuing militant activity on both sides of the border, with Taliban forces allegedly infiltrating into Afghanistan from across the border in Pakistan. Economic cooperation and reconstruction in Afghanistan are also on the agenda. President Musharraf is scheduled to meet cabinet ministers and address parliamentarians tomorrow. His delegation i

Demands that the British Prime Minister Tony Blair set a date for his departure as leader of the British Labour Party reached a new level today as seven government members resigned to protest his continued leadership. Junior Minister Tom Watson and six Parliamentary Private Secretaries had previously been considered loyal Blair supporters. Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami and David Wright, the resigning PPSs, signed a letter stating their concern that the ongoing leadership crisis would hurt Labour at next year's elections to the Scottish Pa

Israel's air and sea blockade of Lebanon is to end Thursday evening according to a statement issued by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The blockade has been in place since the beginning of the Israel-Hezbollah war on July 12 and will end tomorrow at 1800 local time (1500 UTC). It continued despite the declaration of a ceasefire three weeks ago with Israel declaring the blockade necessary to prevent arms shipments to Hezbollah. International forces are to take up command positions at Lebanese seaports and airports in order to b

Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, a report to the U.S. Congress by the Pentagon, dated August 2006, explicitly mentions "conditions that could lead to civil war" in Iraq. American think-tank Council on Foreign Relations commented that "'Civil War' Becomes the Question" In the recent days, American politicians have been taking positions as to what should be done if a civil war breaks out in Iraq ; "Are we going to put our troops in the middle of a civil war? Who are they going to fight? This will be slaughter of immense proportions. The

The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a meeting today, advised the heads of Iranian universities to restrain from political involvement. On the occasion of the National Youth Day, the president met with university students. He declared that "Today, students have the right to strongly criticize their president for the continued presence of liberal and secular professors in the country's universities." He complained of how difficult the reforming process at the universities, affected by secularism, progressed, but added: "Such a change