Politics

The African news website www.abarundi.org has accused Tanzania of being a state sponsor of terrorism, by helping Hutu-extremists in neighbouring Burundi to destabilise the country's newly-elected government. As widely predicted, Burundi's ruling "Frodebu" party, which has close links to Tanzania, was heavily defeated in this week's elections. The former Hutu rebel group CNDD-FDD, now a multi-ethnic party, won a convincing victory with 58% of the vote. Frodebu polled just 22%. It was the first national democratic vote since 1993, when a milit

According to recent polls, Australian Prime Minister John Howard's popularity has hit an all time low in response to his policies in industrial relations. This has combined with a backlash against Treasurer w:Peter Costello, after he said in an interview on Lateline that religious teachings caused children "only a little harm". This comment followed a media stunt at a major church where Mr. Costello was attempting to capture the "Religious Right" vote. The Liberal party has hit back by calling the public reaction "Labor propaganda".

Speaking to a group of lawmakers from provinces of Azerbaijan on Monday, Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called "baseless" and "questionable" the controversial spread of photo comparisons of himself to the image of a hostage-taker. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, said during a interview with Alison Caldwell on The World Today on Sunday that, "Mr. Ahmadinejad's involvement in the US Embassy takeover was a lie, which was even confirmed by the Americans. That was evidently propaganda. We should be aware and not le

The kidnappers of Egypt's ambassador to Iraq, Ihab Al-Sherif, remain anonymous amid pleas for his well treatment. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that Cairo was working with Iraqi authorities to advance the release of Mr. Al-Sherif, who was kidnapped on Saturday. A search of insurgent hideouts conducted by Iraqi and U.S. forces began on Monday in western parts of Baghdad. Abul Gheit pledged that everyone involved "handle the situation wisely". "Our colleague... went to Iraq to serve the interests of the Iraqi people. We h

A reporter's notes subpoenaed by the U.S. District Court in Washington may show United States President George W. Bush's chief political advisor Karl Rove as one of the two sources behind the leaking of the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame, according to one or more anonymous sources cited by MSNBC. However, Rove's lawyer, Donald Luskin, acknowledged that although Rove had communicated with Cooper shortly before Plame's identity was leaked, denied any wrongdoing on the part of his client, saying that "Rove absolutely did not iden

Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, died Sunday in Kensington, Maryland, of cardiovascular failure. Nelson, who was 89, was also a governor and senator from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He created the concept of an annual recognition of environmental causes at a speech in Seattle in September 1969, and the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. In 1995, Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his environmental efforts by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Dragan Paskaš, the president of the Generalštab, the main governing body of the Military of Serbia and Montenegro, announced that mandatory military service may get shorthened to six months. So far, every capable male citizen had to serve for nine months in military, or thirteen months in civil service. "I think that mandatory service should last for six months, which would eliminate barriers caused by its length, and we could start new military programs," Paskaš said. Military of Serbia and Montenegro has been under a lot of pressure lately

Ujjal Dosanjh, Canada's Minister of Health, has set out a plan to stop U.S. cities and states from purchasing drugs in bulk from Canadian suppliers. The plan is being criticized as potentially destroying a number of mail order and internet-based pharmacies operating in Canada that ship prescription drugs to the United States. It is said the result may simply cause orders to shift to suppliers in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, as well as possibly Mexico.

Fiji's Foreign Minister, Kaliopate Tavola, said that the letter being sent to Vanuatu's prime minister would be the final gesture of Fiji's friendship. In March, the island nation Vanuatu banned the importation of Fijian biscuits. This was the second ban on Fijian biscuits by Vanuatu in the last six months. Vanuatu has said that this ban is necessary in order to stimulate Vaunatu's biscuit industry. The company affected by this ban, Flour Mills of Fiji, exports nearly US$900,000 worth of biscuits to Vanuatu yearly. Flour Mills of Fiji has sa

U.S. President George W. Bush suspended all sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro by a decree yesterday. Serbia and Montenegro was under various degrees of economic and other sanctions by the United Nations and individual countries since 1992. Serbia and Montenegro will now enjoy the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences which includes allowing duty-free import of more then 4600 products. Economic relations between two countries were stabilized in 2003 when Serbia and Montenegro gained a status of most favoured nation. "We did a study and came

The German Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler), Gerhard Schröder, deliberately lost a confidence vote in the German lower parliamentary house, the Bundestag. Schröder had aimed to lose the vote of confidence in order to dissolve the Bundestag and to achieve earlier elections. In debate, Schröder argued, that there is no safe majority for his policy in the Bundestag. In his second term as Chancellor, he tried to start a reform agenda (Agenda 2010) which aimed to cut the budget deficit and unemployment in Germany, which has been criticised as neo-

Thousands of protesters are marching through the streets of Kinshasa demanding that the government resign over delayed elections. Kinshasa - a city with nine million residents - is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were met by security forces who shot in the air and threw tear-gas grenades at the protesters. Army helicopters flew overhead as protestors threw stones at soldiers. The UN in Congo have said that four people may have been killed in Kinshasa, but that is not yet confirmed. A journalist in the area saw bruis