Politics

A televised debate between Australia's candidates for Prime Minister in the upcoming election has been rescheduled and shortened — to avoid a clash with popular cookery show MasterChef. The pre-election debate traditionally lasts 90 minutes and occurs at 1930 on the first Sunday of the campaign. With the grand finale of the cooking competition already scheduled for that time, and expected to attract around four million viewers, the decision has been made to move the debate forward to 1830 and shorten it to 60 minutes. When asked about Master

Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott has pledged private school relief if the Liberal/National coalition wins the upcoming federal election. The pledge came in response to the Australian Labor Party leader, and current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard proposing a uniform and school equipment tax break expansion. Abbott's proposal includes an offer of tax rebates for sending a child to a private school. For students in primary school, prep to grade 6, the rebate will rise to $500 Australian a year per student and families will be then able to

About 2,000 protestors marched against Internet censorship last Saturday in Istanbul in Turkey, Xinhua reported. Protesters gathered at central Istanbul’s Taksim Square and marched down to Istiklal Avenue, chanting slogans against Transport and Communications Minister Binali Yıldırım, Internet censorship, and especially against "Law No 5651". Many Internet groups, nongovernmental organizations, and Internet platforms participated in the protest, Hürriyet Daily News reported. Ekşi Sözlük, zaytung.com, bobiler.org, the Young Civilians, Penguen

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced that the nation's voters will go to the polls on August 21. "Today I seek a mandate from the Australian people to move Australia forward," Ms Gillard said. She took the office of prime minister on June 24 after the Australian Labor Party caucus elected to remove Kevin Rudd from the role. Directly after the June 24 caucus meeting, Senator Michael Forshaw told media , "the new leader elected unopposed is Julia Gillard and the deputy will be Wayne Swan." The "leadership spill", as this scenar

Tension is rising over the arrangements of how many debates the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard of the Australian Labor Party, and the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party, should have prior to the upcoming federal election. Gillard told the National Press Club yesterday that she planned to conduct only one debate with her opposition, saying that "I've debated (Opposition Leader) Tony Abbott a lot, as people in this room know". However, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party had committed in 2007 to havi

An Air India Boeing 777 from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was the first international flight to land at Delhi's new Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport. However, this was only one of nine "terminal process proving flights" that landed or departed from the brand-new steel and glass T3 on either Wednesday or Thursday. Seven of the proving flights departed or arrived on Wednesday and two on Thursday. The new terminal was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 3. Terminal 3 is designed to hand

Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay announced a C$9 billion dollar plan to buy 65 F-35 fighters on Friday morning. It would be the largest military purchase in the history of Canada. "I'm convinced the F-35 is good for Canada, good for Canadians, good for the Forces and good for Canadian industry," said MacKay during a press conference. F-35 aircraft would replace the current fleet of CF-18s. The Liberal Party officially opposed the deal , saying that it required further review. The Party stated that they would place the deal on hold if ele

Joe Manchin, governor of West Virginia, named attorney Carte Goodwin to replace the late Robert C. Byrd, who died at age 92 on June 28, in the U.S. Senate until a special election is held. Goodwin will be sworn in next Tuesday. The special election has not been scheduled; however, it could occur as early as November 2. Senator Jay Rockefeller, member of the Democratic Party in West Virginia, says that the appointment of the Senate's 59th Democrat is crucial to passing an unemployment benefits bill that has been blocked by members of the Republ

In the wake of a special caucus vote that removed former Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd and instated Julia Gillard as the new Prime Minister, claims have arisen regarding a deal made between the two in the Prime Minister's official residency, Kirribilli House, that allegedly occurred the night before the special caucus vote and Gillard's apparent breaking of the agreement. During the question portion of Gillard's recent address to The National Press Club, veteran journalist Laurie Oakes asked if a deal had been made between Rudd and Gi

In the early hours of Thursday July 15, Argentina's senate approved legislation that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, making it the first country in Latin America and the tenth country in the world to do so. The law, which also allows same-sex couples to adopt, was voted on at 0400 local time (0800 UTC), after 14 hours of debate, and passed with 33 votes in favor to 27 opposed with three abstentions. Since the lower house of Argentina's government has already approved the bill and President Cristina Fernandez is in favor of the bill, i

On Thursday, the United States Senate approved the financial overhaul package in a 60-39 vote. The bill is now awaiting President Barack Obama's signature. Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law next week, and the focus now switches to how the new regulations will be implemented in the coming weeks and months. The legislation will give financial regulators significant discretion in shaping the rules. The legislation also puts faith in regulators to spot developing problems in the financial system, and gives them the authority to

In her first election promise, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard specifically offered parents tax breaks of up to A$800 to cover the school uniforms of their children. Gillard aims to pledge $220 million over four years to expand the current tax breaks to cover refunds each worth $390 for primary school uniforms and $779 for high school uniforms, as well as refunds for other school equipment like texts books and computers. "We all know that uniforms can be an expensive part of sending kids to school, but this change, along with the exist