Howard tells UN not to abandon E. Timor
Howard tells UN not to abandon E. Timor
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations should ensure East Timor is prepared for independence once a UN-mandated interim administration finishes its work, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday.
"We cannot rest on the successes of the past two years, for without continued support, that success cannot be sustained," Howard said in printed remarks prepared for delivery to the General Assembly.
After 24 years of guerrilla warfare following Indonesia's 1975 invasion, East Timor's economy was devastated by pro-Indonesian militia violence in the wake of the 1999 independence referendum.
The country's economy has been largely propped up by aid donors, notably Australia, former colonial power Portugal and the United Nations. --AFP
;AFP;DJA; ANPAu..r.. ATW-Japan-politics-poll Japanese PM's popularity takes a dive after axing of minister JP/9/ATW
Koizumi's popularity takes a dive
JAPAN: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suffered a staggering drop in his record popularity in snap polls on Thursday with more than three quarters of people saying he was wrong to sack his foreign minister.
A Nippon Television Network poll of 3,500 respondents conducted on Wednesday and Thursday showed that 87 percent opposed Koizumi's move, while only 13 percent supported it.
Meanwhile, support for Koizumi's government dropped to 42 percent, with 52 percent opposing it, a dramatic reversal from support rates that had hovered in the 70s and 80s since he took office last April.
Koizumi sacked Tanaka and her ministry's top bureaucrat, administrative vice foreign minister Yoshiji Nogami, late Tuesday. --AFP
;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAi..r.. ATW-USA-Reno-faint Ex-U.S. Attorney General Reno faints during speech JP/ATW
Janet Reno faints during speech
UNITED SATES: Former attorney general Janet Reno, who is running for governor of Florida, suffered a fainting spell and collapsed on stage in Rochester, New York, late on Wednesday during a speech at a university in upstate New York and was rushed to a local hospital.
The 63-year-old Reno, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, was being kept overnight at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for observation but doctors expected her to be released on Thursday morning, hospital spokeswoman Karin Gaffney said.
Just seconds before collapsing, Reno told the audience at the University of Rochester, "If you will excuse me, I'm going to have to sit down." She then fell hard to the floor behind the podium, appearing to hit her head on the way down.
Several people from the audience quickly came to her assistance and she was taken to the hospital. --Reuters
;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAi..r.. ATW-Colombia-protest Colombians protest FARC rebels with pots and pans JP/9/ATW
Colombians protest FARC with pots, pans
COLOMBIA: Beating pots and pans, thousands of Colombians took to the streets in Villavicencio on Wednesday to protest attacks by leftist rebels that have destroyed bridges, cut off electricity and killed 29 troops in the last days.
Chanting "Freedom, Freedom," honking horns and holding lit candles and white flags, the protesters streamed through Villavicencio, capital of central Meta province, one of the hardest-hit regions by an offensive launched by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- known by its Spanish initials as FARC.
"We are tired of what the rebels are doing to us. We want to live in peace and in freedom," said Ayde Ramos, a 33-year-old woman carrying her small daughter on her shoulders.
It was a rare protest in a country of 40 million people who have grown largely indifferent to violence. --Reuters