We learnt this week that an American president, no matter how rogue, cannot keep himself in power against the will of the people
Joe Biden doesn’t have the mojo needed to restore the US – so he needs a full house to appoint those who do, writes Richard Calland.
Duterte has pitched constitutional reform to turn the country into a decentralised federal republic where regions would have the power to fix problems
President Trump backed down late on Wednesday in a spat with Democrats over his State of the Union address
After convening for just a few minutes following the Christmas break, the Senate adjourned, deciding to renew budget deliberations only next Wednesday
The largely symbolic vote dealt a fresh warning to President Trump, who has staunchly backed the Saudi regime
Proclaiming himself "Trumpier than Trump", Don Blankenship has mounted a highly controversial campaign
In his first congressional appearance, the Facebook founder answered questions for nearly five hours as he sought to quell the storm over privacy.
Gina Haspel has been named by President Trump as new director of the CIA, becoming the first woman to hold the post if confirmed by the Senate
The US government has shut down for the second time this year after Congress failed to reach a deal on the budget
Democrat Doug Jones scored a stunning upset victory Tuesday in an intense US Senate race in conservative Alabama, dealing a humiliating blow to Trump
Democrat Doug Jones’s senate victory came at the end of a vitriolic campaign centred on his rival who had been accused of preying on teenage girls.
Donald Trump officially endorsed the candidacy of embattled Republican Senate hopeful Roy Moore, who allegedly assaulted multiple teenage women.
A gay Australian lawmaker popped the question to his partner in parliament shortly after a bill paving the way for same-sex marriage was introduced
An analysis of Zimbabwe’s former parliament shows that participation in both former houses was poor with 25% of MPs not uttering a word at all.
US senate leaders are racing against the clock to reach an agreement before the country’s borrowing authority runs out next week.
The conservatives who now dominate the party of the American right may come to rue losing their moderate wing.
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/ 26 January 2009
Barack Obama enters his first full week in office on Monday battling to win over Republicans hostile to his plan to haul the US out of recession.
Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, the brother of assassinated president John F Kennedy and the elder statesman of American liberal politics, has a malignant brain tumour, his doctors said on Tuesday. Kennedy (76) who has been hospitalised in Boston since he had a seizure on Saturday, will likely need chemotherapy and radiation therapy to treat the glioma.
A Democratic win in the solidly conservative Mississippi capped a week in which Senator Barack Obama finally turned his eyes to the coming November election and his opponent, John McCain. Now many Democrats believe the signs are good that the tide of American public opinion is firmly swinging their way.
United States President George Bush used a visit to Israel on Thursday to denounce Democratic party offers to negotiate with America’s enemies in the Middle East as comparable to appeasement of Hitler. Although Bush did not name any Democratic politician, the party’s presidential contender Barack Obama has offered to open negotiations with the Iranian leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Lawmakers on Tuesday debated legislation to remove former South African president Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) from an apartheid-era United States terrorist blacklist. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, recalled that ANC members could travel to United Nations headquarters in New York but not to Washington DC or other parts of the United States.
Australia’s Catholic church has taken a swipe at foul-mouthed British chef Gordon Ramsay and demanded his reality television shows be either taken off air or shown at a later time. One episode broadcast recently featured Ramsay using a four-letter expletive more than 80 times, while he also shouts at a chef saying: ”You French pig.”
Senate lawmakers in Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the state. Republican Senator Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban.
Nigeria’s Senate has passed a motion condemning a string of attacks on Nigerians in South Africa and ordered its foreign affairs committee to look into the matter urgently. Senator Grace Bent, who sponsored the motion, noted ”with serious concern the protracted and unabated intimidation, brutalisation and cases of robbery and sundry attacks”.
The top United States government communications official said on Tuesday his agency has all the authority it needs to prevent internet service providers from discriminating against web surfers and that new legislation is unnecessary — this at a time when the issue of ”network neutrality” has heated up.
Media bodies in Zimbabwe on Wednesday deplored a government crackdown on journalists and warned the safety of reporters was under threat in the aftermath of disputed elections. ”The security and safety of journalists is under serious threat in this country,” said Takura Zhangazha, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa.
Silvio Berlusconi has won his third Italian election with a bigger-than-expected swing to the centre right, but the media magnate said it would not be easy to solve deep economic problems. Votes were still being counted on Tuesday, but with Berlusconi’s victory clear on Monday evening, centre-left leader Walter Veltroni called to concede defeat.
Self-made billionaire Silvio Berslusconi looked set to secure a third term as Italian prime minister on Monday, with exit polls predicting a narrow win for his conservative coalition in general elections. The exit polls, which came moments after voting ended, predicted the 71-year-old media magnate’s centre-right coalition would win.
Developing countries, including China and India, are unwilling to sign up to a new global climate-change pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 because the rich world has failed to set a clear example on cutting carbon emissions, according to the United Nations’s top climate official.
Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday appealed to Italian voters to give him a huge majority at the general election on Sunday and Monday. He said that ”to really govern” he needed a margin of at least 20 seats in the Senate, the Upper House of the Italian Parliament. That would allow him ”to take, if necessary, difficult and unpopular decisions”.
Hillary Clinton hit out at Democratic White House rival Barack Obama over Iraq on Wednesday, as a report by war commander General David Petraeus ignited new campaign brush fires. The New York senator questioned whether Obama could live up to his pledge to bring United States troops home and lashed out at Republican nominee John McCain.