Politics

Reports indicate Yasuo Fukuda (71), the former Chief Cabinet Secretary has been elected to be the new president of the Liberal Democratic Party - the ruling party of Japan. This will put him in place as the successor of Prime Minister and LDP President Shinzo Abe, who announced his coming resignation 11 days ago. Reuters states Fukuda won the party presidential election which was held Sunday afternoon in Tokyo; he got 330 votes from eligible voters, lawmakers of the party and representatives of 47 prefecture level branches, thus defeating his

The Israeli Government has agreed to release ninety Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of 'good faith', in an attempt to Palestinian support of President Mahmoud Abbas over the rival Hamas party. Israel had originally said it would release a hundred Palestinian prisoners, but announced that ten of the prisoners could not be released as planned - a judgment typically reserved for those who have committed violent crimes against Israelis. The list of names is expected to be announced in the coming days. Abbas praised the measure, but still call

British architect Norman Foster and FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta presented today in Barcelona the redevelopment project for the team's stadium, Camp Nou, built in 1957. The Catalan club expects that this redesign will turn the stadium into a city landmark and that "the external image of the stadium will become a recognized brand for FCB." Works will begin in 2008. The new stadium will be wrapped in a colourful mosaic made up of the team’s colours (blue and red) and those of the Catalan flag (red and yellow) and reminiscent of Gaudi's s

Russia has admitted to and apologised for a violation of Finland's airspace with a strategic airlifter last week. A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 cargo jet spent around three minutes in Finnish airspace near Porvoo, penetrating about 4.5 kilometers into restricted airspace on September 14. Prime Minister of Finland Matti Vanhanen responded to the incident by saying that such violations must not happen, and demanding an explanation from Russia. According to discussions on Thursday between Alexander Rumyantsev, Russian ambassador to Finland, and Fin

Brooklyn Borough Hall featured a Who's Who in New York's literary community during the second annual Brooklyn Book Festival. According to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the borough's zip code 11215 boasts more authors than anywhere else in the country. It appeared to be the case on Sunday. More than 100 authors were featured at the day-long event, including The Basketball Diaries writer Jim Carroll, former M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell, author and illustrator Mo Willems, Jack Kerouac's sometime lover and National Book Critics Circle

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather has filed a US$70 million lawsuit against CBS, three former co-workers and the "corporate parent" of CBS. Rather resigned after a scandal in 2004 involving faked government documents about United States President George W. Bush's service to the U.S. National Guard. CEO of CBS Leslie Moonves and Viacom are also listed as defendants in the lawsuit. According to reports, Rather is suing CBS because after they made him resign his position, they did not grant him sufficient time on-air while he hosted 60

Maoists from the Communist Party of Nepal resigned en masse from their positions in the interim government on Tuesday, September 18, two months ahead of a looming election. The bloc presented their resignations to Prime Minister Girija Koirala, who is still engaged in discussions to ensure their return. The Hindustan Times suggests that discussions are faltering, while Reuters seems more optimistic on reconciliation. The Maoists joined the current government last year, ending the decade-long Nepalese Civil War that sought to abolish the mona

Germany's minister of defence, Franz-Josef Jung (CDU), has proposed to shoot down planes hijacked by terrorists. Although the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany decided in February 2006 that shooting down a hijacked plane would only be lawful if there were no innocent passengers on the plane, Jung announced in public that he would give the order to attack if the basic principles of the constitution were in danger or if the plane posed a tremendous threat to the people. Representatives of the grand coalition differed in their views regard

The PASOK party in Greece faces an internal conflict after the result of Sunday's elections in which the party lost from the conservative New Democracy. The 38,5% of the votes is the lowest percentage of PASOK since 1981 and many top party members accused the President of the party, George Papandreou. After the elections' result, former Minister of Culture and MP for the region of Thessaloniki, Evangelos Venizelos expressed his will to be candidate for the presidency of PASOK, however, it is not final whether Papandreou and Venizelos will be th

Peter Ormond is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Hamilton Centre riding. Wikinews' Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign. Ormond did not answer three questions: "Which of your competitors do you expect to pose the biggest challenge to your candidacy? Why? What makes you the most desirable of all candidates running in the riding?", "Are the property taxes in your riding at a fair level for the amount of services received in the municipality?", and "Of

A 21-year old American student has been tasered by campus police at a political forum held at the University of Florida. Andrew Meyer was taking part in a forum with former Presidential Candidate John Kerry and was asking Mr. Kerry why he did not contest the previous election results. Mr. Meyer was removed from the crowd, after becoming disruptive when he exceeded his allotted questioning time, and attempted to arrest the man for breach of the peace. After attempting to resist arrest, he was wrestled to the ground by six officers. He was th

United States President George W. Bush has today nominated Michael B. Mukasey as Attorney General. If confirmed by the Senate, Mukasey, a former Chief Judge for the Southern District of New York, will replace Alberto Gonzales. "He knows what it takes to fight this war effectively and he knows how to do it in a manner consistent with our laws and our Constitution," Bush said, while announcing Mukasey's nomination in the Rose Garden. "I look forward to meeting with members of Congress in the days ahead and, if confirmed, to working with Congres