Labour sweeps general election in Australia

Promising a major policy change on Iraq and climate issues, the Labour party today swept to power in Australia, beating the coalition led by conservative Prime Minister John Howard, which had ruled the country for 11 years.

“A few minutes ago I telephoned Rudd and congratulated him and the Australian Labour Party on a very emphatic victory,” Howard said in a nationally televised concession speech.

:”I accept full responsibility for the Liberal party campaign, and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition’s defeat in this election campaign the leader said.

Voters turned to Labour party leader Kevin Rudd’s pitch of fresh leadership and new ideas over Howard’s record of economic management and unprecedented years of growth under his government.

The historic victory has put Rudd into the company of Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke as Labour’s only modern leaders to take government from opposition.

Exit polls has consistently put the Labour party ahead since Rudd took the reins from Kim Beazley last December.

US plan to restructure aid to Pak

The Bush administration is in the final stages of a plan to restructure assistance to Pakistan in the face of intense pressure from several quarters to cut aid to the country following imposition of emergency, officials said here.
The plan is also looking at ways in which the assistance to Pakistan is further controlled or made subject to additional oversight, without actually reducing the aid, media reports said. Ever since Musharraf clamped emergency, the administration has been saying that its aid package is under tight scrutiny but at the same time senor officials have been emphasizing on the importance of Islamabad and Musharraf in the US-led war on terror.

N-deal: China is supportive, Wen Jiabao tells Manmohan Singh

As AEC chairman Anil Kakodhar opened talks with IAEA chief Mohammed ElBradel in Vienna for an India-specific safeguards agreement to operationalise the nuclear deal, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his country was “forthcoming and supportive” of international civil nuclear energy cooperation with India.

Imran Khan On Hunger Strike

Imran Khan began a hunger strike on Monday in the prison, where he was sent last week for protesting against emergency rule, said his spokesman. He said Khan, who now heads his own opposition party, wanted a restoration of the Constitution and reinstatement of judges sacked when President Pervez Musharraf imposed the emergency just over two years ago.

Cj’s daughter not allowed to take exam

The daughter of sacked Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, currently under house arrest, was not allowed to step out of the house to take her A-level examinations. Policeman guarding the house of Chaudhary, who was detained shortly after the imposition of emergency by President Musharraf on November 3, did not allow his daughter Ifra Iftikhar to step out of the house to write her A-level tests her yesterday. When her pleas fell flat on the guards ears, she turned to the British Council for help.

Elections in Jan : Mush

President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday announced that the elections would be held in the first week of January, but declined to give date for ending emergency saying he needs it to combat terrorism.

He reiterated to reporters here that he would relinquish army post after the Supreme Court vacates embargo on the notification of the elections. He said a caretaker government would be installed on Nov 15 when the National Assembly’s five year term expires. The provisional assemblies would be dissolved on November 20, he added.

The four things were highlighted by Bush:

1. Emergency required to tackle terrorism.
2. Caretaker government on Nov 15.
3. Provisional assemblies to be dissolved on Nov 20.
4. Defends arrest of political leaders.

Bomb suspects flee Maldives for Pak, say police

Colombo: Ten men whom police suspect of involvement in a bombing that wounded 12 foreign tourists in the Maldives fled to Pakistan before officers could arrest them, police said on Thursday. Officers managed to round up six of 16 local men suspected of involvement in the planning of the attack and assembling of the bomb, but the other 10 escaped to Pakistan, Maldives police said.