Politics

With an increase in the number of insurgent attacks targeting teachers, many schools in Thailand's southern province of Yala have closed. The country's interior minister, Kongsak Wanthana, has given assurances that security measures will be strengthened and teachers will be able to return to work. School closures were initially sparked with the shooting of four teachers at Ban Lue Mu school in Yala late last week. These had been teachers awaiting a military escort home, a fifth teacher was shot on his way home. Approximately 250 primary scho

In Lebanon Sunday, protesters set fire to the building housing the Danish mission. About 200 people were detained by police, 30 were injured and at least one person died according to officials. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said 76 Syrians, 35 Palestinians and 38 Lebanese were arrested. Ghazi Aridi,Lebanese Information Minister, said that the Lebanese government had unanimously "rejected and condemned the ... riots," which "harmed Lebanon's reputation and its civilized image and the noble aim of the demonstration." "The Cabinet apologizes to D

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only member of the U.S. September 11, 2001 attacks to be brought to trial, was removed four times from a Monday court session in Alexandria, Virginia where jury selection is underway for the penalty phase of the trial over his guilty pleas to conspiracy. Moussaoui disrupted the proceeding with verbal outbursts directed at the judge. Appearing before the U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema at the Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse, the citizen of France Moussaoui began calmly by saying with a heavy French accent

An order given by the U.S. Treasury Department to the Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City to expel 17 Cuban officials visiting the capital has sparked political outrage and has been strongly condemned by the Mexican government. Mexico's Foreign Relations Department has started a probe and warned that it could fine or even close the hotel if it can prove the hotel violated Mexican laws. The Cuban officials visited Mexico last week to attend a meeting with U.S. energy executives. They moved to another Mexico City hotel on Saturday after the Sheraton

Catholic priest Andrea Santore, 61, who was based at the Trabzon Santa Maria Catholic Church was shot dead during prayer in the northern Turkish province of Trabzon on Sunday. The murderer, a 17-18 year old man is being sought by the police. The killer entered the church at 3:45 pm and shot the Italian priest from behind. Andrea Santore was praying at the time. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the assassination of a Catholic priest. Many people in Turkey associate this incident with the current crisis over the publication

At 11:18 a.m., February 6 2006, Stephen Harper was sworn in as prime minister of Canada at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. That same day at approximately 11:22 a.m. with the Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada present, Stephen Harper signed in his new cabinet. Swearing in of each cabinet minister is currently happening (February 6th 2006, 11:25 a.m.) and being broadcast live on television stations such as Global Television and Rogers Telecommunication CPAC Channel. At 12:27 p.m. the swearing i

The spouse selection aid program created by former minister and doctor of psychology John Van Epp has been adopted by US Army chaplains. Since the onset of the US campaign in Afghanistan, 56,000 of the active duty, National Guard, and Army Reserve personnel have been divorced. The program titled "No Jerks" was adopted with the intent of providing Army personnel subject to periods of long deployment with effective advice for consideration in the selection of spouses who are able to adapt to the circumstances that military service causes in rega

The Bush Administration said Thursday that it will request a Defense Department budget of US$439.3 billion for 2007. This is an increase of over 4%. This does not include a planned supplemental bill to fund ongoing actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The proposal's details are still not final, but the budget that President Bush will submit next week will be for planning purposes. $2.3 billion of the budget will go to preparing for a bird flu epidemic. Many weapons programs were tweaked but no major weapon system was cut. Funding for unmanned

An aging ferry deemed unsafe sank in the Red Sea on Friday with about 1400 people on board, mostly Egyptians who travel back and forth to Saudi Arabia to work as guest workers. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's spokesman, Suleiman Awad, said there were not enough lifeboats, and questions were raised about the safety of the old ship that had 220 cars on it as well as the passengers. "The speed with which the ship sank and the lack of sufficient lifeboats indicate there was some deficiency," Awad said. "It's a roll-on, roll-off ferry, and the

An Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) report has revealed that British billionaire Michael Ashcroft made a record AU$1 million donation to the Liberal Party of Australia. The AEC is legally required to make public the identities of major donors to political parties. The controversial donation by Lord Ashcroft (deputy chairman of the British Conservative Party), to the Liberals in 2004, is believed to be the biggest single donation from an individual in Australian politics. His donation pushed the Liberal Party's total for 2004-05 to $66.5

Indonesia's ambassador to Australia has warned that relations between the two neighbors could be "strained" if the Howard Government grants political asylum to a group of refugees from the troubled Indonesian province of West Papua. The 43 West Papuans, pro-independence activists and their families, arrived on Cape York, Australia on January 18 after a five-day voyage in an outrigger canoe. They were later taken to an immigration detention facility on Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. A spokesman for the gro

British television station Channel 4 News and newspaper The Guardian have reported that they have obtained a secret transcript of a meeting between United States President George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair on January 31, 2003, two months before the beginning of the Iraq war. The memo has been viewed by Phillipe Sands, a professor of international law at University College London, and by Channel 4 news. Last year, Professor Sands reported on doubts about the legality of the invasion in Iraq voiced by government lawyers, which