Politics

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a 25-year-old U.S. citizen, was sentenced by a U.S. district court judge to 30 years in prison on Tuesday for plotting to assassinate United States President George W. Bush. Ali, a self-proclaimed member of Al Qaeda, was arrested by Saudi officials in 2003 at the Islamic University of Medina. Prosecutors had originally asked for a life sentence, but the judge said that the 30-year sentence was adequate, comparing the case to the "American Taliban" John Lindh. In addition, the judge pointed out that Ali's actions "did not r

Jane Faust, former Republican committeewoman once convicted of forging signatures, was a plaintiff yesterday in Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court (state court). Her lawyer, Larry Otter, argued that Patrick Murphy should be thrown off the ballot for the Democratic primary election in the eighth congressional district of Pennsylvania. The eighth district is primarily located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Otter argued that during the period of election petition signature collection, Murphy had signed his name as the circulator on two petition sh

Yesterday in Nigeria, former Liberian president Charles Taylor was arrested after being caught trying to flee the country. Nigeria had announced that it would allow Taylor's transfer to Liberia at the request of the new Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The government of Nigeria reported Taylor to be missing on Monday; they had made known earlier that day that they would not take responsibility for Taylor's arrest or transfer. After his flight however, he was arrested on the border of Cameroon by Nigerian authorities who transferred

Fighting words were exchanged in the Australian House of Representatives over the matter of the division of Medicare safety net payments per electorate. The Minister for Health and Ageing Tony Abbott (Liberal, Warringah) had introduced a policy that the Government would pay Medicare users up to a fixed amount — the safety net — to help in addressing "gaps" in certain payments which Medicare would not cover, such as certain hospital payments. The Opposition was opposed to the idea on efficacy counts. Abbott was asked a Dorothy Dixer in Question

With the actual poll only days away, Thailand's Administrative Court has ruled against a new requirement introduced by the country's Election Commission. Voters will not be forced to complete ballots with a rubber stamp and may instead use a pen. Ruling that the change to require the use of a rubber stamp is in contravention of election law, Judge Anuwat Tharasawaeng highlighted that election law does not mandate how a mark must be made on the ballot.

Researchers at the Brookings Institution, a non-profit think tank located in Washington D.C., have recently accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making improper use of almost 16 pages and six figures from a 1982 translation of a 1978 textbook in his economics dissertation. Strategic Planning and Policy, written by University of Pittsburgh professors William R. King and David I. Cleland, was published in 1979. Brookings Institution researchers Clifford Gaddy and Igor Danchenko claim that Putin's dissertation, which earned him a candidat

Criticism was targeted to Government efforts in the affair of the Jian Seng in the Australian Senate March 28 and 29 over the handling of the ghost ship, the tanker Jian Seng, which was found abandoned and unlit in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Senator Joe Ludwig (Labor, Queensland) asked of the Minister for Justice and Customs Senator Chris Ellison in Question Time whether he stood by his claim that he made yesterday that the discovery of the Jian Seng demonstrated that the Australian Government had in place "aerial and maritime surveillance to in

According to the governor of Darfur, Swedish Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Carin Jämtin is not welcome in the region due to Sweden's involvement in the Mohammed Cartoons controversy. Her planned visit has now been cancelled for security reasons. Jämtin's press secretary, John Zanchi, believes that the true motivation is that Darfur's governor wants as little foreign involvement as possible in the local conflict. Sweden has been actively working to send UN peacekeepers to the region. Jämtin had earlier stated a desire to visit Darfur afte

The New Zealand Government's energy efficiency strategy has been considered ineffective and will hence be replaced in 2007. Energy Minister Trevor Mallard and the Government's spokeswoman on energy efficiency Jeanette Fitzsimons announced that the four-year-old National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy would be revamped. Originally, this strategy was meant to achieve a 20 per cent improvement of the energy efficiency rate and increase renewable energy supply by 30 petajoules until 2012.

President Bush has announced that Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff, has resigned, and will be replaced by current budget director Joshua Bolten. In recent weeks Republican insiders have been urging the President to reshape his advisors to deal with his declining popularity ratings. Bolten has had wide experience both on Wall Street and in Washington. In Washington he has been the Deputy Chief of Staff and also the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Card will remain as chief of staff until April 14. It is unknown at this

An attempt to have the Thai police bring charges against current caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has resulted in the police forwarding the allegations brought by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to the National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC). The accusations centre around the attempted privatisation of EGAT, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand. The privatisation process was derailed last week with the ruling issued by the country's Supreme Administrative court. They struck down two royal decrees that h

Early exit polls for the Israeli parliamentary elections suggest that the newly formed Kadima party of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Acting PM Ehud Olmert managed to capture between 28 and 32 seats in the 17th Knesset with Labor coming in second with 20 to 22 seats ahead of Yisrael Beiteinu with 12 to 14 seats. Likud got 11 or 12 seats, the National Religious Party took 8 or 9 seats and Shas 10 or 11 seats. The Pensioners party performed better than expected, capturing 6 to 8 seats, United Torah Judaism got 5 to 6 seats and Meretz around 5 se