Politics

Canadian Minister of Defence Peter MacKay just narrowly escaped a rocket attack by the Taliban in Afghanistan yesterday morning. He was visiting Forward Operating Base Wilson 20 kilometres west of Kandahar. MacKay escaped into a Jeep as the first explosion went off at 11:00 a.m., local time (UTC+4:30). The second rocket, which struck 15 minutes after, hit four Canadian soldiers. The soldiers are now in good condition. MacKay was picked up by a helicopter an hour later. Some military experts and reporters on the scene suggested that the attac

After a series warm-up matches at Hualien, Kaohsiung, and Taichung, the special "Charity and Kids Running" event came back to Taipei yesterday at Taipei Municipal Datung Senior High School. Before the event, John Wylie (President & CEO of ING Antai) encouraged citizens in Taiwan to add their signatures to the "Charity Ambassador of ING Taipei Marathon" on the official website of the 2007 ING Taipei Marathon and hoped this competition will renew the scale of participation again next month. Taipei City Government, the main organizer of 2007 ING

After federal elections on June 10, 2007, coalition talks in Belgium have still failed to result in compromises on the main electoral issue. The previous record from 1988 was broken today after 149 days without a new government. Christian Democrat Yves Leterme won the elections in Flanders together with his nationalistic coalition partner, and they promised more powers for the Dutch-speaking majority. Wallonian parties however remain reluctant to give in to unilateral demands and are asking for symbolic gestures and compromises in symbolic deb

On Monday, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official state visit to the United States. During his visit, he met with President George W. Bush in the White House for talks that centered on the Turkey-PKK conflict and the Iraq War. Turkey is concerned about attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that originate from within the borders of Iraq. There have been cross-border clashes between Turkey and the PKK. Turkey has threatened a major incursion, something the US seeks to avoid, as it could upset the relative calm

In late October, supporters of United States Republican candidate-for-President Ron Paul set up a website soliciting a "money bomb" of campaign donations to coincide with November 5th, the anniversary of Guy Fawkes Day, at ThisNovember5th.com. The fund-raising campaign fell short of its original goal of 100,000 donors each donating US$100 to generate $10 million for Paul's campaign. However, the final amount raised by over 35,000 Ron Paul donors was over $4 million. This is the largest fundraising day in primary history since John Kerry's 20

Two prominent South Carolina supporters of Barack Obama pressured the state Democratic council to keep Stephen Colbert off the primary ballot. The Council voted 13-3 last week against Colbert's placement on the ballot. According to an anonymous member of the council who felt pressured, one of those people was State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, who admitted she had made the calls. "I think lobbying was too strong a word," she said in an interview with CNN. "I called them to see what they were thinking, and if they had made up t

The nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey as the next Attorney General of the United States, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee today and will move to a vote before the entire United States Senate. Two Democrats joined the nine Republicans to yield an 11-8 vote. Observers believe that Mukasey will easily succeed in the Senate vote. The nomination of Mukasey by George W. Bush had originally drawn broad support. Nonetheless, Mukasey triggered a political row, during pre-confirmation questioning, when he refused to state that waterboarding amoun

The torch line of the 11-day "Taiwan Run For UN" relay returned to Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei City yesterday. Taiwan’s president, Chen Shui-bian, launched the event as publicity and support for Taiwan's application to join the United Nations as a new member under the name of "Taiwan", alongside China. In a statement prior to the relay, Chen declared that "Taiwan and China are different countries across the Taiwan Strait." The relay covered more than 1,200 km through 25 cities and counties since its start on October 24. The organizer of the

A leading Queensland union says that the Melbourne Cup due to be run tomorrow at 3:00pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time could be used as a valuable educational tool in the classroom. The Queensland Teachers Union president Steve Ryan said that he supported staff making their own decisions on whether to watch the race but statistics principles could be taught in conjunction with showing the race. Mr Ryan said that incorporating the Cup into the curriculum would make statistics 'real' to work with, rather than using textbook material. "

John Howard visited a shopping centre on New South Wales' Central Coast today an hour before Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd canvassed the same spot. Kevin Rudd certainly fell into the 'me-too' trap today after he visited the Gosford shopping centre Erina Fair this morning one hour after the Prime Minister visited the same place. When Mr Howard entered the shopping centre he was confronted by a worker who asked him who he would 'turn gay' for. The same question was asked by Network Ten show host Rove McManus the previous night. When Howard left

Every year around November 5th, people in Great Britain and some parts of the Commonwealth celebrate Guy Fawkes night to commemorate the dissident from York and his Roman Catholic conspirators who failed to blow up the houses of Parliament on November 5, 1605. This so-called Gunpowder Plot is celebrated with firework displays and sparklers, bonfires and Guy Fawkes effigies. Fire experts, always busy around this time of year, have called for the use of safe and legal firework displays and have urged citizens to attend organised public displays.

Earlier today, the government of Chad set free three French journalists and four Spanish flight attendants, who had been held since October 25. Chadian authorities had been investigating the role of the seven and 14 other suspects with regard to an attempt to fly 103 African children to Europe for placement with host families. The release of the seven came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Chad to hold talks on the case with Chadian officials. The lawyer for the seven, Jean-Bernard Padare, told Reuters that the seven were free to