Politics

Former US Representative Dan Rostenkowski died of lung cancer Wednesday at his vacation home in Genoa City, Wisconsin. Rostenkowski, whose political career ended in the early 1990s after he was convicted on fraud charges, was 82. Rostenkowski's death was confirmed by his spokesperson, Jim Jaffe, who said that the former congressman had been receiving treatment for lung cancer for a while. Rostenkowski had previously been treated for prostate cancer in the 1990s. Rostenkowski was born on January 2, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He was an athlete

Manmohan Singh, the 14th and current Prime Minister of India, reached 2,273 days in office on Wednesday. He has emerged to become the third longest serving Prime Minister of India, replacing his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee. "There are no special celebrations for the day. The prime minister is following his routine schedule," said an official in the Prime Minister's office (PMO). "The main functions he celebrates related to his office are the anniversaries of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. They are all well publicised fu

The United States of America warned Pakistan to remove restrictions on press which were implemented by the former president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. "We certainly think it would be a mistake for the Pakistani civilian government to follow the press intimidation that was present during its predecessor," said P. J. Crowley, State department spokesman. "We ourselves, who have been to Pakistan, have witnessed and interacted with — among the most vibrant media that exist anywhere in the world. The Pakistani press is very aggressive," he add

A new study suggests that plants can adapt to changing climatic conditions more efficiently than previously thought, making the onset of climate change less of a concern for plant species around the world. Jodrell Laboratory in the London Botanical Gardens has discovered that plants can alter specific components of their genetic make-up to suit rising temperatures and varying levels of rainfall that would otherwise take hundred of years to develop through natural selection, via a process known as epigenetics. This newly discovered ability sugg

A gold mine collapse in Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile has trapped 33 miners since last Thursday. Another collapse occurred on Saturday, that provoked temporary suspension of the rescue works. Rescue efforts were first focused on a ventilation shaft, but attempts to reach the miners failed. Rescuers have been drilling into the mine since Sunday. "The situation is very complex, the mine continues to have collapses because there is a geological fault-line," said Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile, who "pledged to do everything possible to get

Polish politician Bronisław Komorowski has been sworn in as president of Poland after winning the presidency in the presidential runoff election of July 4. Komorowski belongs to the Civic Platform Party and won the presidential runoff by a margin of 53% to 47% against Jarosław Kaczyński, who is from the Law and Justice party. Kaczyński was the twin brother of former President Lech Kaczyński, who died in an airplane accident in Russia. The new president had held the post as acting speaker of parliament (the Sejm) since April 10 of this year. He

Amina Mariam Bokhary was sentenced to one year of probation and a fine of 8000 Hong Kong dollars with her driving licence suspended for assaulting a police officer and drink-driving. According to the judge, Anthony Yuen, the light sentence is due to the defendant's mental illness. Both the police and the public have criticized the light sentence. Bokhary is the niece of Hong Kong judge Kemal Bokhary. The police urged the Secretary for Justice to review the sentence. Kevin Zervos said that Yuen should reconsider the sentence. Politician Ronny T

Police in Papua New Guinea have arrested the Culture and Tourism Minister, Guma Wau, and charged him with attempted murder. The host of Radio Australia's Pacific Beat programme, Firmin Nanol, reported that the minister was charged and detained for an hour before being released on bail in connection with the shooting of a 50 year old man on June 13. Minister Wau has said that he was driving through Kerowagi district when the road was blocked by local tribesmen who refused to let him pass, and as a result of this, he fired his pistol to break t

A new poll by Zogby International and the University of Maryland has found that Arabs in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are discouraged by US policies, have little confidence in US president Barack Obama and for the first time, a majority of poll respondents support a nuclear-armed Iran. The poll results are a "stark contrast" from last year's results, according to USA Today. Last year 51% of respondents were "optimistic" about US policy in the Middle East; this year only 16% are optimistic and 64%

The president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, was met with a 250-strong protest today, during his visit to Birmingham, England. The protest was held outside the International Convention Centre (ICC) venue in the British city, where the president addressed supporters of his Pakistan Peoples Party and leading figures of the Pakistani community. Al Jazeera reported that two shoes were thrown at Zardari as he delivered his address, by a man who reportedly managed to break through police barriers to make a personal protest against the President. Pak

Silvio Berlusconi has survived a key no-confidence vote against a minister in his cabinet accused of corruption. The vote was the first test of the strength of the Prime Minister's coalition since the dramatic split with his 16-year ally Gianfranco Fini, which led to the coalition losing the majority. Yesterday the lower house voted 299 to 229 to reject the no-confidence motion brought against Giacomo Caliendo. Caliendo is a junior minister for justice accused of involvement in a secret cabal that reportedly tried to influence judical and gove

Unesco's World Heritage Committee inscribed 21 new sites into the World Heritage list on Wednesday, during the 34th session of the committee's meeting in Brasilia, Brazil under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Culture of Brazil, João Luiz da Silva Ferreira. Three countries had sites added to the list for the first time: Tajikistan, Kiribati, and Marshall Islands. The Committee added four sites to the World Heritage in Danger list, including the Gelati Monastery and Bagrati Cathedral, both in Georgia. The Galapagos (Ecuador) were removed f