Politics

The President of the United States, George W. Bush, has approved the death sentence of an Army Private convicted of multiple rapes and murders. Pvt. Ronald A. Gray, stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina at the time, was found guilty in courts-martial for the rape and murder of Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery-Clay, a fellow soldier at Fort Bragg, and civilian taxi driver Kimberly Ann Ruggles. He was also convicted of rape and attempted murder in the case of a another Army Pvt. Mary Ann Lang Nameth. Gray's conviction and death sentence were upheld

Ehud Olmert, the current Prime Minister of Israel, has said that he will resign from his position as leader after his party's leadership contest in September. This announcement comes after it was revealed that Olmert is facing involvement in a corruption investigation in Israel. "I was forced to defend myself against relentless attacks from self-appointed fighters for justice who sought to depose me from my position, when the ends sanctified all the means,"said Olmert, during the speech in which he announced his resignation. Despite the fact

George Tupou V, the current king of Tonga, has announced that he will give up his position as an absolute monarch by relinquishing most of his powers. A spokesperson for the king explained the decision. He said that the people "favour a more representative, elected parliament, the king agrees with them." The spokesperson said that Tupou would be guided by the Prime Minister, Feleti Sevele, "in all matters of governance." The transition to democracy is due to occur in 2010. In 2006, eight people were killed in Tonga during a pro-democracy ral

United States Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted by federal grand jury on seven criminal counts for making false statements in his Senate financial disclosure forms. The longest-serving Republican in the Senate, Stevens is the highest-profile politician ensnared in the corruption scandal surrounding VECO Corporation and its executives' attempts to influence politics. VECO, a subsidiary of CH2M Hill as of September 2007, is an oil pipeline and services company. It is alleged to have funded renovations to the Stevens home in Girdwoo

United States Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, spoke to over 200,000 last Thursday in Berlin, Germany at Tiergarten Park. His speech was focused on building a stronger connection with Germany and Europe. Obama also called for German troops to be deployed to Afghanistan, and for greater German participation in international crises. The speech was received very well in Germany and back in the United States. The German newspaper Bild stated that "unlike George W. Bush, [Obama] wants to do this in cooperation with others, especially Europe." T

Five of the six defendants accused of manslaughter over the 2006 fire on board Egyptian ferry al-Salam Boccaccio 98 have been cleared of all charges. The February 3 fire and subsequent sinking killed 1,034 of around 1,400 passengers. Mamdouh Ismail, owner of the al-Salam company, his son and three company executives were all cleared of manslaughter. Ismail is a member of parliament directly appointed by the president, and both he, his son and another of the executives were tried in absentia as they have left the country. They had all been char

The European Union has maintained its ban on all 51 of Indonesia's airlines on the grounds of safety concerns. The Indonesian foreign ministry, which had earlier believed its plan to "fast-track" safety improvements for three airlines would see them back in the EU by July's end, suggested that the ban may have political overtones. Indonesia had implemented a program to bring state-owned flag carrier Garuda Indonesia up to EU standards, as well as private rivals Mandala Airlines and Airfast. This received a boost in May when Garuda passed a saf

Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate John Mason has won a surprise victory in the Glasgow East by-election in Scotland. Labour won a majority of 13,507 in the last election, and the constituency has been in Labour Party control in some shape or form since 1922, and the result has been called a "political earthquake". In his maiden speech, John Mason said: The SNP has a history of upset wins in by-elections in and around Glasgow, including Winnie Ewing in Hamilton in 1967, Margo MacDonald in Govan in 1974, and another in Govan in 1988 by

When United States Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray on Thursday, July 24, he left a prayer on a sheet of paper in the cracks as is traditional. A orthodox seminary student took the note and gave it to Israeli newspaper, Maariv. Obama is on an international tour to strengthen his foreign affairs credentials ahead of the November election. Jewish clergy and others have expressed dismay at this personal violation of privacy. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who is the supervisor of the Western W

After several days in Europe, Barack Obama has found his lead in the polls have increased by 2 percent over John McCain. This comes from a polling average that is produced on a daily basis from the polls conducted in the past week. On the 21st of July the polling average had Obama with a 1.5% lead over McCain, 45.8% to 44.3%. As of July 25, Obama is coming at 46.4% and John McCain at 42.9%. Obama has increased by 0.6% of voters, and John McCain has lost 1.4% of voters. The margin of error for the polling average is 0.87%, which means even if

The Israel security forces have recently arrested six Israeli Arabs, four of them residents of east Jerusalem, on suspicion of planning to operate an al-Qaeda cell in Israel. The six, which include Hebrew University students, were indicted of trying to build terror infrastructure in Jerusalem and planned to carry out terrorist attacks in Israel, including an attack on a helicopter carrying a senior official during US President Bush's visit to Israel. Some of the suspects will be tried for aiding the enemy at a time of war and for soliciting a

Paramedics employed by the Ambulance Service of New South Wales in Australia marched on the New South Wales parliament today. They called for the Government to sack Ambulance Service of New South Wales CEO Greg Rochford, hire 300 additional ambulance officers and 60 patient transport officers. Paramedics gave the Government 48 hours to agree to the proposed staffing levels or face industrial action. "We are currently at the same levels of staffing that we had in 2002 and these not withstanding, also there's been an increase in workload of 5 p