Politics

U.S. President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito of New Jersey as Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court in a formal announcement at 8 a.m EST (13:00 UTC) this morning. Bush called Alito one "of the most accomplished and respected judges in America" and stressed that he has "more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years." Alito is currently a judge at the 3rd Circuit Appeals Court in Philadelphia. He is viewed as a staunch conservative and has been compared to current Supreme Court justi

Joe Volpe, Immigration Minister of Canada, has set a goal of 255,000 immigrants in 2006 and a longer term goal of 300,000 by 2010. In 2004, there were 236,000 new immigrants and in 2005 that number is expected to increase to 245,000. The Cabinet must approve the immigration target plan. There are reportedly 700,000 applications currently in the queue and it can take up to four years for an application to be processed to its conclusion. Canada announced the new immigration plan to clear the backlog on April 18, 2005. Volpe argues that Canada

This Tuesday the fifteen-member United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for Syria to cooperate fully with the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC). The Security Council demanded that Syria detain suspects indentified by the UNIIC until such time as they could be questioned. The resolution warns of "further action" if Syria fails to cooperate with the investigation. Ministers from the United States, Britain, and France, were circulating a draft of the resolution with stronger wording

Russian peacekeepers will stay in the Transnistrian region until adoption of a political decision on change of their mandate, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has told Russian journalists. Also, Ivanov claims that Russia does not insist on an exclusive right to peacekeeping mission in the region, although Chisinau's appeals to change the make-up of the operation have not received support and have not been introduced in the agenda of the negotiations from October 27-28. In a discussion with Russian journalists Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev

Japanese riot police were deployed on streets surrounding the Korean and Chinese consulates in the city of Fukuoka, the largest city on the south-western island of Kyushu. Sound trucks belonging to right-wing nationalist groups were circling the area and the police presence appeared to be an effort to control these groups. Police officers on the scene declined to comment. Relations between Japan and its neighbors have been tense due to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, where the remains of Japa

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., chief of staff to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, resigned Friday following indictment on five federal felony charges. Mr. Libby is charged with obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury to a Grand Jury, and two counts of making false statements to the FBI in the Justice Department's investigation into the Plame leak. Mr. Libby's resignation was accepted by Vice President Cheney. President Bush also accepted Mr. Libby's resignation as Assistant to the President. The indictment centers on Mr. Libby's grand

The body of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, who died on Monday, will lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, a tribute usually reserved for deceased presidents and war heroes. The Senate passed a resolution on Thursday for Parks to lay in the Rotunda on Sunday and Monday so that "the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American". The House of Representatives approved the resolution today. Parks will be the first woman to be honored in this way. Senate Majority leader Bill Frist said allowing Parks to li

Jon Stanhope, the Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister, is the first Australian state or territory chief to reject the Howard Government's proposed anti-terror legislation in its current state. He said he would not vote into law the ACT's part of the legislation, including extending preventive detention of terror suspects to 14 days, unless there were changes. The Federal Government requires the support of a least four states to give the final legislation the go-ahead. If the Commonwealth proceeds with its laws without the ACT's co-ope

Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shiniwatra, told journalists attending his weekly press conference that the government would be more aggressive in measures taken to counter insurgency in the country's provinces on the southern border with Malaysia. His statement followed coordinated attacks by suspected militants in the provinces of Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani. At a time chosen for the likelihood of the predominantly Muslim population to be at evening prayers in local mosques, armouries belonging to local village defense forces were raided.

President George W. Bush's nominee for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Harriet Miers, has withdrawn herself from the nomination. In a letter dated October 27, to President Bush, she wrote that "members of the Senate have indicated their intention to seek documents about my service in the White House," and that she "would be expected to testify about my service in the White House." Faced with mounting criticism of his nominee from numerous disparate organizations, within and outside the President's Republican Party, Bush acknow

Iranians plan a nation-wide demonstration on Friday in support of their president's comments that called for the elimination of Israel. The demonstrations would coincide with the annual event called al-Quds Day, where the Israeli control of Jerusalem is protested. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a speech to 3,000 students in Tehran said Wednesday there was, "no doubt the new wave [of attacks] in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot from the face of the Islamic world." At a conference called "The World without Zionism", the recently elect

Japanese media reported that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested yesterday that the government would submit a draft to the Diet to rewrite the Imperial Household Act within the next year. This is in response to a board of experts who have been investigating the succession issue. The experts' Board on the Imperial Household Act, personally appointed by the Prime Minister, reached an agreement on the issue that an Empress should be accepted. Implementation of their recommendations would mean that succession to the highest position in Jap