Politics

Opposition and government negotiators in Kenya resumed talks on Friday, focusing on long-term aspects of the country's crisis. The talks received a boost after the leaders of the government and opposition reached a power sharing agreement. After breaking the deadlock over power sharing, negotiators for the Kenyan government and opposition began to focus on resolving what are seen as long-term solutions to Kenya's crisis, namely constitutional reform, land distribution and poverty. The talks took on a new vitality after President Mwai Kibaki

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, has returned to his country after being deposed 17 months ago in a military coup d'état. Within minutes of landing in Bangkok, he was arrested on corruption charges by immigration police, though Thaksin proclaims his innocence, stating that the charges against him are politically motivated. He has been granted bail for 8 million baht (£132,000/$261,000/€173,000) and was ordered not to leave the country. Thousands of his supporters gathered at the airport to welcome him back to Thailand

The pilot of the Boeing 737 which crashed on March 7 upon landing at Yogyakarta Airport after a domestic Indonesian flight, has been forced by his airline to resign. The crash of Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 killed twenty-one people, most being Indonesian nationals and five being Australians, following a visit by then Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. Garuda sent the pilot, Marwoto Komar, an ultimatum requesting his resignation with which he complied. Had he failed to do so, his employment would have been terminated. The news coinci

The heads of the government and opposition in Kenya have signed a power sharing agreement aimed at ending the crisis over December's disputed elections. The agreement was reached after a day of talks mediated by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Chairman of the African Union Jakaya Kikwete. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga signed the agreement before international diplomats and representatives of the Kenyan government and opposition. Chief mediator Kofi Annan said that the two leaders ha

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a vault containing millions of seeds from all over the world, saw its first deposits on Tuesday. Located 800 kilometers from the North Pole on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, the vault has been referred to by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso as a "frozen Garden of Eden". It is intended to preserve crop supplies and secure biological diversity in the event of a worldwide disaster. "The opening of the seed vault marks a historic turning point in safeguarding the world’s crop diversity," said

The Iraqi government has demanded the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops, saying the five-day incursion is threatening their otherwise friendly relations. Iraq's council of ministers says the Turkish military is violating Iraqi sovereignty by conducting the incursion into Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesman for the Iraqi government, says the government rejects the unilateral Turkish incursion because it is a threat to their good neighborly relations. The Turkish military crossed into Iraq to chase out Kurdish re

Campaigners opposed to the expansion of London Heathrow Airport have today scaled the roof of the U.K. Houses of Parliament and hung protest banners reading 'BAA HQ' and 'No 3rd Runway' from the building, before and during Prime Minister's Questions inside the building. The three men and two women were from climate action group, Plane Stupid. The non-violent direct action comes on the day a government consultation into the Heathrow expansion of a third runway ends. The protesters made paper aeroplanes out of confidential Whitehall documents

George W. Bush has met today with the United States’ National Governors Association. Speaking in the White House after the meeting on Saturday, President Bush said, “I like to tell people I'm going to finish strong, and I want to work with you [governors] as I do so.” He continued, “We share a responsibility to protect our country. I get briefed every morning about threats we face, and they're real.” There has been debate recently about the Protect America Act, which was discussed in the meeting. Referring to the Act in a recent radio address

In New South Wales today, thousands of people joined a protest including 15 Labor Members of Parliament about the State Government's plans to privatise the electricity industry. The MPs included Paul Gibson, Upper House president Peter Primrose, and former MPs Kerry Hickey and Grant McBride. Mr Gibson was reported as saying, "I'm a member of the Australian Labor Party and I'm sticking to the Labor platform and policy." The Government seems to have ignored the positions of the protesters, with Premier Morris Iemma expressing to the first sitt

A result is expected today on the possibility of an election re-run in Nigeria. Opposition parties claim that current President Umaru Yar'Adua's People's Democratic Party (PDP) fixed the results of the 2007 election in his favour and are calling to have the result annulled. So far, the tribunal has rejected one out of the two petitions calling for the annulment. International suspicions were also raised at the time, with some voicing concern over the election. A Nigerian judge is currently delivering the ruling on the case of granting the

A judge has ruled today that Nigeria's 2007 election results, which saw Umaru Yar'Adua's become president, will not be annulled. Opposition parties claimed that the People's Democratic Party (PDP), of which the President is leader, fixed the results of the 2007 election in his favour and called for a re-run. The tribunal ruled unanimously against the claims, with Judge Abdulkadir Abubakar Jega stating that there was no evidence that Mr. Yar'Adua had rigged the polls. Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, leaders of the two opposition parties wh

Frank Walker, the chief minister of Jersey, a United Kingdom Crown dependency off the coast of Normandy, France, denies that there was a cover up after a child's remains were found. The allegations of a cover-up stem from statements by Stuart Syvret. Syvret, the former Minister for Health and Social Services for Jersey, said that "It's a continuum that we see. It's a culture of cover-up and concealment and tragically the recent evidence is just the latest manifestation of that." It has come to light that Edward Paisnel, a notorious pedophile,