By Phil Mercer Sydney 24 November 2007 Australia's centre-left Labor Party has swept to power in national elections, handing long-serving Prime Minister John Howard a surprising defeat. Labor leader Kevin Rudd has promised major changes to policies o...
By Edward Yeranian Beirut 24 November 2007 Lebanon's outgoing president, Emile Lahoud, has asked the army to take charge of security in the country, after members of parliament again failed to elect a successor, shortly before he left office at midni...
By Priscilla Huff Washington, D.C. 23 November 2007 It is calledA Common Word Between Us and You. It is a letter, signed last month by 138 Muslim scholars from around the world and addressed to Pope Benedict and other Christian leaders. It stresses t...
By Ravi Khanna Washington, D.C. 23 November 2007 Three weeks after President Pervez Musharaff declared emergency rule, Pakistan's political unrest continues to make headlines around the world. Although President Bush says the Pakistani general has do...
By Jim Fry Washington, D.C. 23 November 2007 On Tuesday, world leaders will gather in Annapolis, Maryland to discuss peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. President Bush announced the peace conference earlier this year. He will host a d...
By Robert Berger Jerusalem 23 November 2007 Polls show that Israelis and Palestinians support next week's international peace conference sponsored by the United States. But as Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, they don't believe it w...
By Margaret Besheer Washington 23 November 2007 It's the day after the annual Thanksgiving holiday in the United States when Americans hit the shopping malls in search of special bargains that mark the start of the holiday shopping season. This day i...
By Tendai Maphosa London 23 November 2007 A former United Nations Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis warns that revised UNAIDS HIV statistics should not be seen as a signal that the fight against the pandemic can be relaxed. He says that...
By Malcolm Webb Kampala 23 November 2007 The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opened Friday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The meeting, known as CHOGM, was launched with a ceremony attended by the Queen of England, President Museveni of Uga...
By Peter Heinlein Addis Ababa 23 November 2007 World marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie is hosting Ethiopia's biggest road race this Sunday. The 7th annual Great Ethiopian Run is expected to draw 35,000 entrants. VOA's correspondent in Addis A...
By Scott Bobb Johannesburg 23 November 2007 The political landscape in Namibia has been unsettled by the defection of several senior leaders of the ruling SWAPO party to form an opposition party. The split comes as longtime SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma pr...
By Naomi Schwarz Dakar 23 November 2007 Senegalese street vendors can once again sell their wares on sidewalks after two days of riots in the capital, Dakar. The rioting vendors were protesting a government ban on their business. For VOA, Naomi Schwa...
By Derek Kilner Nairobi 23 November 2007 The Food and Agriculture Organization has cautioned that an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in Sudan could spread rapidly in coming weeks due to the widespread movement of livestock in preparation for the Muslim...
By Challiss McDonough Cairo 23 November 2007 After two days of urgent talks in the Egyptian capital, Arab states have agreed to send their foreign ministers to the Middle East peace conference in the U.S. state of Maryland next week. Saudi Arabia say...
By Lisa Bryant Paris 23 November 2007 After nine days of crippling national transportation strikes France appeared to be returning to normal Friday amid negotiations between labor unions and government officials. From Paris, Lisa Bryant reports that...
