British Foreign Secretary William Hague travelled to Washington, D.C. on Friday to meet his opposite number, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the first time since the election ten days ago and the formation of a coalition government six days later.
Hague, who was leader of the UK's Conservative party between 1997 and 2001, travelled to the United States in his first overseas visit in his capacity as foreign secretary almost as soon as his appointment to the post was confirmed and was keen to point out that US President Barack Obama ha
Newly-appointed UK Prime Minister David Cameron today travelled north to Scotland to meet with the country's First Minister, Alex Salmond, for the first time since the general election. According to The Scotsman, around 200 noisy protesters greeted the new PM, forcing security staff to take him into the devolved parliament via a back door.
Cameron's Conservative Party have traditionally been unpopular in Scotland. They won just one out of 59 Scottish seats in the election, gaining around seventeen per cent of the vote. Prior to the meeting, Sa
Russian president Dmitriy Medvedev met with the Khaled Meshaal, leader of the Hamas group, earlier this week in Syria, prompting criticism from Israel.
Medvedev, during the meeting, had encouraged Hamas to reconciliate with rival Fatah; a spokeswoman quoted him as saying that "no one" should be left out of the peace process.
He also requested that an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006, Gilad Shalit, be released, although this was refused by Hamas, who says that Shalit wouldn't be released unless there was an "honourable" prisoner excha
The interim government of Kyrgyzstan has regained control of several government offices after a day of violent clashes with supporters of former Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Backers of the ousted president took over regional government offices in Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Batken in the southern part of the country yesterday. Afterward, they released a statement calling for the reinstatement of Bakiyev's administration. The provisional government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, said later that it had managed to retake the offices in Batken after
Indonesian authorities said earlier today that they have uncovered a plot by rebels to assassinate several senior government officials, among them president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri commented on the matter earlier today, saying that several rebels intended to conduct the attack and declare an Islamic state during the August 17 independence day ceremony. "They were confident that all state officials and dignitaries would be there. Killing all the state officials would have accelerated the transitio
An Iraqi electoral commission has said that no fraud was found during a partial recount of votes from the country's parliamentary elections two months ago.
The recount was requested by Nouri al-Maliki, the current prime minister, after his party came second. Since the recount was done manually, it took 11 days to go through the 2.5 million votes cast in the Baghdad area.
"We finished the recount of 11,298 ballot boxes and no violations or fraud have been found," commented electoral commission spokesman Qassim al-Abboudi earlier today, noting
Andry Rajoelina, the leader of Madagascar, announced that he will not run in elections due to be held later this year. He stated his reason as an attempt to end the country’s political crisis. Rajoelina has been pressured to find a solution to the crisis.
At the same time as his announcement not to run as a candidate, he announced the planned dates for both the parliamentary and presidential elections. The parliamentary elections were announced for September, with the presidential election following in November.
Rajoelina announced his d
Nigeria has announced that an airport has been named after late president Umaru Yar’Adua. The announcement to re-name Katsina Airport was made by President Goodluck Jonathan. Yar’Adua died earlier this month after being ill for several months. He was not seen in public since November 2009.
President Jonathan released a statement saying that the decision was taken "in recognition of his [Yar'Adua's] contribution to national development." The airport is located in Katsine, Yar’Adua’s home state. A road in Abuja is also to be renamed after the l
Viswanathan Anand, a chess grandmaster from India, has retained the world championship title after a match with Bulgarian challenger Veselin Topalov.
The match, consisting of a dozen games, was played in the Bulgarian capital Sofia over the last twenty days. Anand received the first-place prize of 1.2 million euro, whilst Topalov took 800,000 euro. The awards ceremony was attended yesterday by the Bulgarian prime minister, Boyko Borisov, and the international chess federation FIDE's president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
Going into the last game, both
Tuesday saw Colonel Donald Ethell assume the post of provincial Lieutenant Governor in Edmonton, capital of Alberta, Canada. The swearing-in ceremony took place at Edmonton's Legislative Building, with the retired colonel inspecting the guard afterwards. As is traditional, the taking of the oath of office was accompanied by a fifteen-gun salute.
The 72-year-old decorated war veteran assumes the post from Norman Kwong, who served from January 20 in 1995. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the appointment last Thursday.
Ethell has served C
David Cameron was today appointed the new British Prime Minister. This follows five days of negotiation after the May 6 general election resulted in a hung parliament. While the Conservative Party won the largest number of seats, they lacked enough for a majority government, and will consequently form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, who took the third-largest number. The agreement induces Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader, becoming Deputy Prime Minister, five Cabinet seats for Liberal Democrat members and a compromise between policies
Russia yesterday celebrated Victory Day, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender.
In a first for the annual celebrations, soldiers from other countries joined in the parade, including those from former Soviet allies in the war: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Poland.
Leaders from other countries were present at the event, including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, the Polish acting president Bronislaw Komorowski, Israel's Shimon Peres, and China's president, Hu Jintao.
Media reports describe th
