Politics

F. Jay Taylor, the former president of Louisiana Tech University, died Sunday aged 87. Taylor held the post from 1962 until his retirement in 1987. During his tenure, Taylor made major changes to the university, securing funds to improve campus infrastructure. He started his career as a historian and was also a Naval aviator who served during World War II. Dan Reneau, the current president of the university and vice president under Taylor, released a statement shortly after Taylor's death. He paid tribute to the former president, saying, "Dr.

British MP David Cairns has died at the age of 44. Cairns died at the University College London Hospital where he was admitted to intensive care in March suffering from acute pancreatitis. He had represented the constituency of Greenock and Inverclyde in Scotland since 2001 as a member of the Labour party. Labour issued a statement saying "It is with great regret that we have to announce that David Cairns, member of parliament for Inverclyde, passed away at 2300 last night at the Royal Free, London. David had been suffering from acute pancreat

Ugandan Parliament may take action on the Anti-Homosexuality Act this week. It has reappeared for parliamentary debate for the first time since its proposal in 2009. The original bill called for making homosexuality punishable by imprisonment, or death in aggravated circumstances. Not reporting gay individuals to the government would also become a criminal act. Despite a great deal of international condemnation, the bill is largely supported in Uganda. One of the bills backers, Martin Ssempa told the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committ

U.S. President Barack Obama decided on Wednesday not to release graphic images of Osama bin Laden’s corpse after a debate with his war council. Obama feared the photographs could spur on retaliatory attacks and reprisals against the United States and its allies. In an interview to be aired on CBS News, Obama will say: "The risks of release outweigh the benefits." Skeptics have demanded the U.S. release the photographs of the corpse, and officials in the White House have been debating whether to do so for the past several days. But Obama is to

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is undergoing the final stages of an AU$292 million bilateral agreement with Malaysian counterpart Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak to relocate 800 asylum seekers who arrive illegally by boat away from the Australian mainland for detention and processing. In exchange Gillard will expand Australia’s humanitarian efforts by assisting in the resettling of 4,000 persons of genuine refugee status, currently living in Malaysia, over a period of 4 years. This move by the Gillard Government stems from a meeting held by

The United Kingdom electorate took to the polls yesterday to vote in both local elections and a UK-wide referendum regarding the system used to elect its members of parliament to the House of Commons. The polls opened at 07:00 BST (0600 UTC) yesterday morning and closed at 22:00 BST (2100 UTC) last night. Alongside the normal local elections for seats on 279 councils, and elections for seats in the devolved Scottish Parliament and the Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies, the country saw the first nation-wide referendum since 1975, regarding po

The Pakistani Taliban has threatened a revenge attack on the U.S. and senior Pakistani politicians after the killing of Osama bin Laden as Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, warns al-Qaeda will "almost certainly" attempt an attack on the U.S. to avenge their leader. U.S. officials warned Americans to ensure they were careful in traveling to unspecified countries where there could be violent retaliatory attacks. "Though bin Laden is dead, al-Qaeda is not," Panetta said. "The terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him, and we mus

Leaders and officals around the world have issued varied reactions to the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been killed during a U.S. military operation in Pakistan. NATO has insisted it will continue fighting against militants in Afghanistan, and the United Nations said the death of bin Laden marked a "watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism." Announcing that the al-Qaeda leader had been killed by U.S. special forces during a forty-minute raid on a compound in Abbottabad, near the capital Islamabad, U.S. President Ba

Egyptian politician Mohamed ElBaradei said that ousted President Hosni Mubarak must stand trial. His statement follows the recent ratification by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil El Araby of a statute that ensures Egypt will join the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). If ElBaradei assumes power in the coming October/November 2011 elections, Mubarak and other former high-ranking corrupt Egyptian officials could potentially be tried in The Hague. In an interview with the Islam Times, ElBaradei cited reasons as to why the tria

The White House today released a detailed Hawaii birth certificate in an attempt to put to rest the issue of President Barack Obama's legitimacy to hold the office of president. Shortly after the unexpected release, the president spoke live on national television, explaining, "We do not have time for this kind of silliness." President Obama noted that the issue of his birthplace began during his campaign. "I have watched with bemusement, I've been puzzled at the degree at which this thing just kept on going," he said, and blamed media cultur

Śrī Satya Sai Baba, one of India's most prominent spiritual leaders and revered by millions of followers worldwide, died Sunday in a Puttaparthi hospital, following a cardiac arrest. He was 84 and had been in hospital since last month, suffering from kidney failure and respiratory problems. Followers and devotees of Śrī Baba considered him to be the manifestation of a "living God" on Earth and believed he had powers of magic, such as being able to pull things from out of thin air. Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of Ś

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actively pushed for a military strike on Iran, according to a report published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Thursday. A document revealed by Wikileaks, dated July 20, 2007, shows that Mr. Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, urged an attack on Iran in exchange for joining the government at the time, led by Ehud Olmert. Mr. Netanyahu's request was made as part of discussions to form a government of national unity between Likud and Mr. Olmert's Kadima party, according to the leaked cable, classi