Politics

Rahul Mahajan's condition has improved and has been taken off ventilator support. Rahul's CT scan report is normal and his vital parameters have shown an improvement. He will however, be kept under observation for another 3 days. "The condition of Rahul Mahajan has gradually improved over the last 12 hours. After due assessment of clinical status and investigation, our team of doctors found his vital parameters improving," a medical bulletin released by the Apollo Hospital said. Rahul Mahajan, the son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan has been

NSW Senator Bill Heffernan wants the Federal government to take control of all the nations waterways. He is calling for a referendum on this issue. The move comes after the Federal government pulled out of the sale of the Snowy Hydro scheme because of community opposition Mr Heffernan has accused the states of bad mismanagement of the waterways, and says that a central nationwide organisation should look after them. "Australians today should have great heart and great national pride in the fact that people power has convinced the politicians

Australia would appear to be in the middle of a baby boom, with the largest number of births recorded since 1992. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that 261,400 births were registered in 2005, 6,200 more than 2004. Australian treasurer, Peter Costello believes his speech during the 2004 election may have influenced Australians to have more children. In 2004, Mr Costello said that each family should have three children. After seeing the statistics for 2005, he said "One for mum, one for dad, and one for the country - it

New Zealand Green party has elected a new party co-leader, Russel Norman at the AGM this weekend. Russel Normans election to co-leader follows the death of previous co-leader, Rod Donald. Russel Norman, 39-year-old, was elected on the first ballot at Silverstream, Upper Hutt on the Greens Annual General Meeting. Norman was up against four other candidates, including MP Nandor Tanczos. Tanczos would have been automatically put in as co-leader if a remit had passed stating that a co-leader had to be an MP. Dr Norman will make his first speech

Montenegro is preparing today to declare its independence from Serbia in a special parliamentary session in the capital, Podgorica. The official announcement comes two weeks after a referendum, where just over 55% of voters chose to support the split. The 650,000-strong nation has been tied in this current union with Serbia since 1918, and the two countries are the last to remain joined since the dissolution of Yugoslavia. This evening, the alliance will come to an end to the sounds of the Montenegrin national anthem, which will be played to m

Adnan al-Kazimi, an advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said, "We have from more than one source that the Ishaqi killings were carried out under questionable circumstances. More than one child was killed. This report was not fair for the Iraqi people and the children who were killed". The U.S. military yesterday made a statement about Ishaqi allegations that U.S. troops "executed a family … and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike, are absolutely false". Troops had been fired on and they returned fire and cal

The Australian Labor Party has accused speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, David Hawker (Liberal, Wannon) of failing to be impartial. During question time today, opposition leader, Kim Beazley (Labor, Brand) asked the government to confirm comments made by Cameron Thompson (Liberal, Blair), which asked for Prime Minister John Howard (Liberal, Bennelong) to explain his role in the failed merger of the Nationals and Liberals in Queensland. According to Mr Beazley, Mr Thompson claims that the president of the Liberal party in Quee

The Iraqi government is to launch a formal investigation into claims that United States Marines murdered civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha in November 2005. In an interview with the BBC, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said: "It is not justifiable that a family is killed because someone is fighting terrorists." and speaking to the Reuters news agency, said "We will hold those who did it responsible." Following the announcement, on Tuesday, May 30, the White House spokesman Tony Snow said they would make the details of the US in

High Court proceedings have commenced with every Australian state challenging the legality of the Howard Government's radical new industrial relations workplace reforms. Acting Employment Protection Minister John Kobelke said the new laws reduced the pay, employment conditions and job security of many Western Australian workers and their families. The minister said the proceedings challenged the validity of John Howard’s Work Choices legislation that came into effect on March 27, this year. All the state governments have objected to the legi

A Western Australian teachers’ website has come under fire by the Education and Training minister for publishing racist comments. Education and Training Minister, Ljiljanna Ravlich, today expressed concern about racist, abusive and offensive comments appearing on the anti-outcomes based education website PLATO. Minister Ravlich said she was disgusted by some of the highly offensive comments made by members belonging to the group, People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes. 'Some of the comments are obscene and, quite frankly, I worry that thes

Mark Rutte has been elected leader of the Dutch People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). In a close internal election, the junior minister for Education beat the minister for Immigration and Integration Rita Verdonk and backbencher Jelleke Veenendaal. On 31 May 2006, the party's president Jan van Zanen announced the result, which was broadcast live on Dutch television. He announced that 28,788 people voted in this election, that is 74% of the eligible VVD members. They voted mostly by telephone and via the Internet. Mark Rutte obtained

The highest ranking member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Prime Minister John Howard has said he would not support a joining together of the Queensland Liberal and National parties. The Prime Minister said, pointedly: "There is one thing that I will fight for to my last political breath, is to preserve the nationwide unity of the Liberal Party of Australia. I don’t want any arrangement that in any way disturbs that". Mr Howard's statements come after the Queensland branches of both parties held separate meetings where the proposal to ama