Full Coverage: Politics

30.03.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Mar 29 (IPS) - After a 12-month investigation, a three-member independent committee has cleared U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of any wrongdoing in the multi-million-dollar, now defunct oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

30.03.2005 At the risk of his life, Pius Ncube, Archbishop of Zimbabwe's second largest city, is calling on his countrymen to organize a popular non-violent uprising, like Ukraine's "Orange Revolution," to topple President Robert Mugabe. Similar statements from a political leader would certainly result in imprisonment, but Mugabe is hesitant to take on the church, reports veteran Zimbabwe correspondent Trevor Grundy.

29.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 29 (OneWorld) - The State Department has hailed U.S. efforts to promote human rights and democracy overseas amid criticism of the Bush administration's track record and claims that U.S. involvement in rights violations in key countries has been deeper than previously thought.

29.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 28 (OneWorld) - The Bush administration and opponents of its plans to overhaul Social Security are intensifying efforts to drum up public and legislative support for their positions following the latest annual financial checkups of the pension system and Medicare, the healthcare program for the elderly and disabled.

29.03.2005 A ten-day period to update voter rolls began Monday, as elections to replace the country's late president are scheduled for April 24, but only young people between the ages of 18 and 20 are being allowed to register, according to reports. Free and fair elections cannot be arranged in such a short period of time, opposition supporters said at a weekend rally.

29.03.2005 President Robert Mugabe has pulled out all the stops before elections in Zimbabwe Thursday, spending US$100 million of the state's money on Hewlett Packard laptops that he passes out at schools as he campaigns across the country. Meanwhile, many of the schools receiving the high-tech computers have been without textbooks, electricity, furniture or even roofs for many years.

28.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 28 (OneWorld) - The Bush administration and opponents of its plans to overhaul Social Security are intensifying efforts to drum up public and legislative support for their positions following the latest annual financial checkups of the pension system and Medicare, the healthcare program for the elderly and disabled.

28.03.2005 The instant analysis by many political analysts--as well as the Bush administration--is to classify Kyrgyzstan as part of the global domino effect of democracy, but the lack of control and agreement among those who have taken power is worrisome, says the editor of an online journal specializing in Central Asia, and the country could wander down a dangerous path in coming weeks, even emerging as a new safe haven for international terrorist operations.

28.03.2005 An enthusiastic crowd cheered on Democratic senators earlier this month vowing to fight a Senate plan called the "nuclear option." A core of Republicans would do away with the age-old practice of ensuring a 60-vote "supermajority" is needed to approve key legislative proposals--like lifetime judicial nominations.

25.03.2005 Democratic elections are supposed to be an opportunity for a nation to reflect and choose, but Zimbabwe's votes have been little more than an exercise in muscle flexing by Robert Mugabe's ruling party, says human rights activist Mary Ndlovu, exploring various possible scenarios for next Thursday's crucial poll. Whatever occurs in Zimbabwe in the next few weeks, there is a long road ahead for the building of democracy in Southern Africa, she says.

24.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 24 (OneWorld) - A novel coalition of conservatives and liberals normally at each other's throats over the nature of government and free speech have made common cause to oppose key parts of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law.

24.03.2005 Protestors overwhelmed riot police guarding the government compound in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, this morning, and freed opposition leader Felix Kulov fom prison. President Akayev's whereabouts were not known, but some reports held that he had fled to Russia and may have resigned.

24.03.2005 In picking scientist and long-time Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee Steve Johnson to lead the EPA, analysts hoped President Bush was signaling that the government agency would consider science above politics in environmental decisions. Clean Air Watch president Frank O'Donnell writes, however, that the White House continues to place industry interests first.

23.03.2005 A popular uprising stemming from disputes over last week's parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan have raised comparisons with recent political transitions in Ukraine and Georgia. The coming days could be decisive; the president has called for an investigation into election irregularities, but it may be too little too late to appease protestors who have already formed a 'People's Power Authority' in the south of the country.

18.03.2005 The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday passed the "Real ID Act," which a broad coalition of civil and human rights groups say "would undermine the rule of law, have a profound negative impact on immigrants and asylum seekers, and do little to protect American lives." They believe the bill is a severe anti-immigration proposal couched in the language of homeland security.

18.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 18 (OneWorld) - Environmental and public interest groups are girding for renewed battle over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after the Senate endorsed the idea, handing a key victory to President George W. Bush and proponents of exploration.

18.03.2005 Civil society groups and citizens from Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia participated in a unique demonstration of regional solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe on 12 March 2005.

18.03.2005 A slew of environmental groups have voiced their dismay with the U.S. Senate's attempt to open the long-protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, which they say is so unpopular with Americans that even many oil companies are no longer interested in it.

18.03.2005 President Robert Mugabe has secretly approached UN officials for help formulating a major appeal for food assistance to be launched as soon as the results of the March 31 election are declared. The president has, in the past, rebuffed international offers of assistance despite warnings that nearly half the population urgently require food aid or they could starve.

17.03.2005 The U.S. agency charged with protecting the environment passed a new mercury pollution rule on Tuesday that does little to decrease levels of the toxin in the atmosphere and would even cause sharp rises in some states, say environmentalists, expecting lawsuits to challenge the rule.