Politics

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced that 150 SAS personnel will be serving in Afghanistan within two months, and a further 200 troops will follow them by early next year. According to Mr Howard the decision is the result of a request from the United States and others. Opposition leader Kim Beazley has said that Labor supported the plan. Mr Beazley has been critical of the government in recent weeks because of its military focus on Iraq rather than Afghanistan, which he says is the source of the terrorist threat. Beazley offe

Hillary Clinton has joined the controversy over a mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas called "Hot Coffee" which disables the game's built-in censorship mode, allowing players to participate in graphic sex mini-games within the game. The ESRB have continued to state that they are not intending to take any action against Take2 Interactive (the game's producers). Patricia Vance, the president of the ESRB, said that the author of the modification "actually had to change the underlying code [of the game]. It's not a cheat, It's not an Easter eg

Following an attack on Israel by Palestinian militants, Palestinian Authority (PA) Interior Minister Nasser Yousef has declared a state of emergency. Yousef claims militants opened fire on PA security forces when the security forces stopped the militants firing rockets into Israel. In the firefight 6 militants were injured. Other firefights have broken out in northern Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) blame Hamas militants for the attacks. A masked militant in Gaza City told reporters "Resistance is legal and as long as the Zionists are vi

Italian police have launched a swoop on suspected Islamic extremists across Italy. About 200 search warrants were issued, with about 175 being detained. It comes a day after the Minister of the Interior Giuseppe Pisanu warned of the potential threat posed by extremists, saying that "terrorism is knocking on Italy's door". After the 7 July London bombings, a statement was made by an Al Qaida affiliated group claiming responsibility for the London attacks. In it, Denmark and Italy were specifically warned of attacks "in the same way if they do

Former Sudanese rebel leader John Garang was sworn in as vice president of Sudan as part of the agreement ending the Second Sudanese Civil War. He is the first vice president the country has had. As well as the vice presidency, Garang will have control over the autonomous southern region of Sudan. "I John Garang Demabior swear by almighty God that as the first vice president of the Republic of the Sudan, I shall be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Republic of the Sudan." He said.

In a televised report on CNN Tuesday morning, U.S. Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton expressed their belief that Karl Rove, a top advisor to President George W. Bush, should be fired. Kerry spoke from the podium and answered reporters' questions, while Clinton nodded in the background. Kerry spoke clearly for the removal of Rove, and reporters who noted Clinton's nods in agreement with Kerry queried her. She replied in support of Kerry's comments, "I agree with that." The White House refused to comment Monday on Karl Rove's involvement

As Hurricane Dennis rolls through the Caribbean the death toll in Cuba has continued to rise. According to Cuba's communist president, Fidel Castro, the death toll of the hurricane has gone from 10 deaths yesterday to 16 deaths today. He explained the situation with a several hours long speech which commenced Monday evening and continued on until Tuesday morning. In the speech Castro estimates in total $1.4 billion US in property damage. He also stated the hurricane damaged 120,000 homes, 15,000 of which were destroyed and stated that the citru

The UK Secretary of State for Defence John Reid has admitted the withdrawal of 5,500 of the 8,500 British troops in Iraq by spring 2006 is a possibility. It comes after a report was leaked to the Mail on Sunday in the aftermath of the 7 July London bombings. The document (Options for Future UK Force Posture in Iraq) was marked "Secret - UK eyes only" and also contained information on possible U.S. troop reductions, bringing the number of Coalition forces in Iraq down to 66,000. About 176,000 Coalition troops are presently in Iraq, 130,000 of

One of the leaders of last year's overthrow of President Aristide in Haiti, Guy Philippe, now says that he will participate in the upcoming elections as a presidential candidate. The leader will run for the party of his guerilla army, the Front for National Reconstruction (FRN). He says that the elections are important for creating a legitimate democratic government in the state of Haiti, and that he believes he is the best leader to move the country forward. Philippe made the announcement via a Port-au-Prince radio station, the dominate for

One hundred people walked in Zagreb Pride parade yesterday in Zagreb, Croatia. Guarded by five hundred policemen, the parade promoting tolerance towards non-heterosexual people went without any major incidents. Helena Štimac Radin, president of the Government's institution for sexual equality, was present at the parade. Organizers of the parade, the feminist organization Epikriza, said that postponing the event caused low turnout this year. It was not clear for about three weeks if the parade would take place at all, as the initial organizatio

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has promised that his government will do whatever it can to assist Schapelle Corby's legal team. He said this as part of a three page letter sent in response to a request from Corby herself. "Let me assure you that the Australian Government will continue to provide every assistance it can under our legal system, consistent with our approach to date," he said. Corby was recently sentenced by an Indonesian court to 20 years in jail for attempting to smuggle four kilograms of marijuana into the island of B

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Srebrenica today to remember the massacre of over 8,000 Muslims, mostly men and boys, which happened on 11th July 1995. This is considered the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II. 610 victims of the massacres were buried today after their bodies were recovered from multiple mass graves. 1,300 bodies have been identified with DNA testing but 4,500 body bags of human remain still need to be identified Serbian president Boris Tadic attended the memorial and paid his tribute to the victi