Politics

Libya has freed six foreign medical personnel who were convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV and sentenced to death. In jail since 1999, the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, today. The president of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov, promptly pardoned them. All six have maintained their innocence throughout. They have also claimed that they suffered torture to extract confessions. International HIV experts testified at the trials that the infections began before the six arrived at the Be

European Union foreign ministers today opened an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) beginning work on on a new treaty for the 27-member bloc. Portugal, the presiding country of the Union during the negotiations, presented its first draft of the 145 page document (with an extra 132 pages of protocols) to foreign ministers in a short ceremony opening the conference. A mandate for the new Reform Treaty was agreed last month after drawn out European Council negotiations in Brussels. Under the German Presidency of the Union, leaders agreed to drop

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey secured a solid mandate in Turkish general election, held yesterday. Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could celebrate getting 46.5% of the vote, more than 12% better than the last poll in 2002, his party will have to settle for slightly fewer seats in Turkey's parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. AKP will now have 340 seats versus 353 formerly. Before a cheering crowd, Erdoğan said yesterday: "We've passed an important test of democracy that is an example to the world.

The Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced Sunday that 135,000 hectares (1350 km², or 333,592 acres) of land near Weipa in the far north of Queensland, Australia will be turned in a wildlife reserve in honour of the late naturalist Steve Irwin. Prime Minister John Howard said the park was an important addition to Australia's national reserve system, and a fitting tribute to a passionate environmentalist and a great Australian. The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve will be a memorial managed by the Irwin family trust for environm

Politicians in the United Kingdom have started calling for action after months of heavy rainfall have left parts of Britain in crisis from flooding and electricity and water shortages. Environment Agency chief executive Baroness Young has called for an increased budget of around £1 billion a year to pay for flood defenses. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has suggested that the conditions were 'unprecedented', and would overwhelm even the best flood defenses, but said that the Environment Agency's capital expenditure would be increased from £6

Japanese officials have requested that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspect the damage that occurred at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant during a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake on July 16. The quake caused a leak in a pipe, which sent radioactive water into the Sea of Japan and the quake tipped over as many as 400 barrels of nuclear waste. At least five government officials have written a letter to the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, requesting that the IAEA inspect the damage because local resi

The 13 member larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan reinstated Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as Chief Justice of Pakistan on Friday through a short order. The verdict was reached 10 to 3 in favor of Justice Chaudhry. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry through a panel of senior lawyers headed by Barrister Aitezaz Ahsan filed a constitutional petition challenging his suspension as Chief Justice of Pakistan by President General Pervez Musharraf on March 9 this year. Musharraf has indicated that he will accept the court's decision.

An eyewitness report coming out of The Socialist Republic of Vietnam claims that police in Ho Chi Minh City have detained about 200 political protesters and are being blamed for the deaths of over 100. Farmers were protesting against the government's seizure of land and for "free expression." The protesters peacefully demonstrated outside of a government office on Wednesday, June 27 for the Vietnamese government to return property it has seized and occupied since late 1975, when the South Vietnamese government capitulated. Vietnamese living i

Pratibha Patil has won the 12th Presidential Elections of the Republic of India, becoming the first woman president of the second most populous country in the world. Patil, 72, previously governor of the state of Rajasthan, had support from the governing coalition. She won approximately two thirds of the vote, almost double the number of votes of her nearest rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who resigned as Vice-President after losing the poll. Patil was a last-minute candidate who appeared when the coalition that leads the congress and the comm

Current senator and Argentine First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced her presidential candidacy yesterday evening in La Plata, a city 50 kilometers (31 miles) away from Buenos Aires. Mrs. Kirchner announced her intention to run for president at the Argentine Theatre, the same location she used to start her 2005 campaign for the Senate as member of the Buenos Aires province delegation. A large security detail was in place at the theatre and eight city blocks were closed to traffic for the event. Outgoing Argentine president Néstor

Following the rise to power of Poland's Roman Catholic right-wing government, including some openly homophobic members, Polish gay rights groups claim that thousands of Polish gays have emigrated to United Kingdom to escape increasing persecution including the Health Ministry's "special committee responsible for 'curing' gays". The Deputy Health Minister, Marek Grafowski, stated the ministry was developing guides "to assist parents and teachers so that they can recognise any warning signs of potential 'gay behaviour'." Guardian unlimited rep

Former Flemish Minister Paul Akkermans died in Antwerp on Thursday at the age of 83. Paul Akkermans became a Senator for the Christian People's Party (Dutch: Christelijke Volkspartij or CVP, now CD&V) in 1965 and joined the government in 1979, first as Secretary of State and from 1981 to 1987 as Minister in the Flemish Executive of Gaston Geens. As a Minister of the Flemish Executive, he was first responsible for Spatial Planning and from 1985 onwards for Housing.