Politics

The Burundian authorities have forcibly shut down one of Burundi's most popular independent radio stations, Radio Publique Africain. The move came despite a compromise deal agreed last week between RPA and the Burundian authorities. Burundi's National Communications Council (CNC) had ordered the indefinite suspension of RPA on July 15th, claiming that its coverage of recent elections had been biased, and that the radio station had insulted them. The station's Director Alexis Sinduhije rejected the allegations, and Burundian media groups accu

As the US Senate is about to take its annual August recess, they have not yet taken action on the controversial United Nations ambassador nomination of John Bolton. With Congress gone and President Bush at his ranch in Texas, White House press secretary Scott McClellan, speaking unofficially, hinted that Bush might exercise his constitutional authority and post him to the U.N. by use of a recess appointment. The appointment would stand until January 2007 before it would once again become subject to Senate confirmation. The Bolton nomination

The death of Brazilian-born Jean Charles de Menezes in London on the 21st of July at the hands of British police, who mistook him for a terrorist, is being called an "assassination" by the mayor of Gonzaga, Brazil. "It's easy for Blair to apologize, but it doesn't mean very much," said Mayor Julio de Souza, referring to Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair's description of the incident as a "tragedy". "What happened to English justice and England, a place where police patrol unarmed?" Brazil's Foreign Minister, Celso Amorin, came to

Around four hundred people demonstrated in Baku, Azerbaijan, yesterday, demanding that parliamentary elections to be held on November 6 be free and fair. The National Democratic Party led the rally, and other opposition parties and groups including Citizen Solidarity, Liberal Democratic Party, Free Azerbaijan, Salvation and Progress participated. The rally was sanctioned by the Baku government. Demonstrators requested from Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, the protection of gatherings, citizens' will and an equal chance for all candidates

Democrats on Saturday turned over their radio broadcast to a former CIA agent and Republican, Larry Johnson, who accused President George W. Bush of flip-flopping on his pledge to fire anybody on his staff involved with the Valerie Plame leak. Johnson, a participant in yesterday's Democratic hearing on Capitol Hill, said "We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people, and living by example to the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists c

The British Parliament approved the first stage of the new Crossrail underground railroad through London as a £15 billion construction project earlier this month. Crossrail is the first major new train line to be built in London in decades. The rail line being implemented as a hybrid bill in Parliament. After a second reading in Parliament, it was voted upon and decided that the government will commit to the project so that the line will be built. The next issue before Parliament of to ensure that the implementation of the bill so it is cons

A small single-engine ultralight aircraft has crashed on a lawn between the Reichstag building, the seat of the German parliament, and the Bundeskanzleramt, the seat of the chancellor, in Berlin. The aircraft crashed at approximately 2000CET. Amateur footage aired by the ARD shows the plane rapidly descending before crashing on the lawn and bursting into flames. Witnesses at the scene were inconclusive about the heading of the plane. Some stated that it was targeting the Reichstag while others said that the pilot tried to steer away from it. He

An angry mob attacked priest, and close political ally of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Gerard Jean-Juste at the funeral of a journalist Jacques Roche who was found shot dead last week. The body was found handcuffed in a slum district of Port-au-Prince. Journalist Jacques Roche had been the victim of an abduction, which have been an ongoing problem in Haiti for most of this year. At the mass Bishop Andre Dumas said "the death of this journalist must awaken our national consciousness against violence, and all the evils our society

German president Horst Köhler announced today that he has dissolved the Bundestag after a motion of confidence by chancellor Gerhard Schröder deliberately failed on July 1st. He set the 18th of September 2005 as the date for early elections to the Bundestag. In a televised address Köhler stated that Germany is in a serious economic situation and that the country needs a stable government. He recalled the previous occasions when the Bundestag was dissolved and agreed with the chancellor that the loss of confidence was genuine and urged the cit

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Source: Wikicommons has expressed her anger after a meeting with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, during which her aides and staff were mistreated by Sudanese security agents. She demanded an official apology, which was given by the foreign minister by phone an hour after the official meeting. James Wilkinson, Ms. Rice's communications director, was shoved against a wall by guards as he tried to enter the meeting. The meeting began with 10 minutes of silence due to the security disallowing th

One of Burundi's only independent radio stations, Radio Publique Africain, has been taken off air for two days. Last week the country's National Communications Council (CNC) ordered the radio station to stop broadcasting indefinitely, claiming that it had insulted them, and that coverage of recent elections had been biased. RPA director Alexis Sinduhije said that the claims were unjust, and that the station had given every political party 20 minutes airtime a week during the elections. But he reluctantly agreed to a two-day ban after mediatio

With a stroke of the pen, Canadian Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin signed into law Canada's controversial C-38 bill, which legalized same-sex marriage in the country. In doing so, Canada became the fourth nation in the world to grant full legal marriage rights to same-sex couples. The signature came one day after Canada's Senate voted to adopt the bill Tuesday. The parliament's lower house voted to pass C-38 earlier this year. The law makes national same sex marriage rights that are already legalized in eight of the country's 10