Politics

The incumbent president of Togo and his main opponent have both claimed victory in the presidential elections held in the country. Both incumbent Faure Gnassingbe and candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre said yesterday that they had won a large majority of ballots. According to the Associated Press, about one third of all votes have been counted so far. Official results are to be announced later today. "All the results we have confirm that President Faure has resoundingly, I mean resoundingly, won this election," commented a spokesman for the governme

At least 24 people died today in Baghdad as dozens of mortars were fired throughout the city, destroying at least two buildings. The incidents occurred just as Iraq's parliamentary election commenced. The election is the second since Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003. 6,200 candidates are competing for 325 parliament seats in the election. Insurgents have promised to disrupt the elections by means of violence to show their opposition to America and the Shiite-led Iraqi government. A group linked to al-Qaeda distributed leaflets in the capi

On Friday, the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown defended the decisions he made leading up to and following the British invasion of Iraq in 2003. Brown made his statements while testifying before the Chilcot Inquiry. At the time of the invasion, Brown was the Chancellor of spending for the British Armed Forces. Brown comments were mainly directed at critics who had alleged that he had limited the spending budget for the war. Brown said that he had told then Prime Minister Tony Blair that he "would not try to rule out

Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, claimed Britain believed Africa is "barbaric", hours before a state visit to Queen Elizabeth II. These claims were made after the Daily Mail described him as a "sex-obsessed bigot and vile buffoon." Zuma accused Britons of considering themselves to be culturally superior owing to their past colonial activities. "When the British came to our country they said everything we did was barbaric, was wrong, inferior in whatever way. Bear in mind that I'm a freedom fighter and I fought to free myself, also for m

China's military spending will increase by 7.5% for 2010, the first single-digit increase since 1989, a spokesman for the Chinese parliament, Li Zhaoxing, said. Mr. Li said that China would spend 532.1 billion yuan ($77.9 billion) on the country's military over the course of 2010, an increase of about 36.9 billion yuan ($5.4 billion) over 2009's spending. Regardless of the increase, China still spends significantly less on its military as a proportion of its gross domestic product (GDP) than other countries around the world. China spends abo

During the first day of voting in Iraq elections, two suicide bombers have attacked polling stations in Baghdad, killing at least 14. The attacks occurred during early voting in for the elections, which allow government employees, the sick and prisoners to vote ahead of the elections on Sunday. Two attacks occurred, about an hour apart, in different districts of Baghdad. According to the official count, at least 14 people died in the attacks, not counting attacks the day before that killed 31 people. Unofficially, reports from the scene of th

A United States Congressional panel has passed a resolution describing Turkey's killing of Armenians in World War I as genocide, over objections from the White House. The panel, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, passed the resolution, which calls on President Barack Obama to "characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide," by a vote of 23 to 22. The passage came even after the White House warned the panel that the vote would harm talks between Turkey and Armenia, and US Secretary of State Hill

Former Bosnian president Dr. Ejup Ganić was arrested by the Metropolitan Police at Heathrow Airport, London on Monday. He was attempting to leave the United Kingdom when authorities apprehended him. Ganić was arrested on an extradition warrant issued by the Serbian government for alleged warcrimes he committed during the 1990s Balkans conflict. He is accused of involvement in a 1992 attack on a Yugoslav army convoy in Sarajevo where more than 40 people were killed. Scotland Yard said Ganić "was arrested on behalf of the Serbian authorities u

New York Representative Eric Massa announced Wednesday that he would be stepping down as Congressman from New York's 29th congressional district. He cited health reasons for the sudden announcement. Massa is the latest in a string of United States Congresspeople to resign or not to seek reelection in 2010. He said that he had his third non-specific cancer recurrence in December 2009. He implied that his cancer is terminal, saying “I will now enter the final phase of my life at a more controlled pace.” He denied claims that his resignation is

The UK government has said that it will ban the Islamist al-Shabaab group in the country, and designate it as being a terrorist organisation. The move was announced by UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson. The ban needs to be approved by parliament before it can be implemented; however, the Associated Press reports that parliamentary approval is regarded as a formality, and the proposal will likely pass. The move would make membership in al-Shabaab illegal, and prohibit British residents from raising money for the group. Anyone found to be a member

Al-Shabaab, the Somali opposition group, has said it will stop food operations by the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) in the country, accusing the agency of being politically motivated and disadvantaging local farmers. Al-Shabaab said that the agency was ruining local farming, as the quantity of the food aid didn't allow farmers to sell their goods at reasonable prices. A statement from the group read that "[g]iven the problems caused by the food WFP distributed, the movement of Shabab Al-Mujahideen banned the operations of the age

Late on Thursday, at approximately 21:20 local time, the home of Cristián Larroulet, the nominated Ministry General Secretariat of the Presidency under President-elect Sebastián Piñera of Chile, was burglarized while his wife and son were home alone. Two suspects physically assaulted them, before making off with valuables. Future Ministry Larroulet lives in the Santiago commune of Las Condes. Two subjects, presumed to be teenage delinquents, were surprised to find Larroulet's wife, María Isabel Philippi, and son, Matías (aged twenty), on the p