Kevin Rudd Meets “Wicked” Doppelganger While Campaigning in Morningside

Jul 29, 2010 – Kevin Rudd, Queensland MP and former Australian prime minister took home his doppelganger, a Kevin Rudd softie by Wicked Child Designs, while campaigning at the Morningside Festival in his local electorate of Griffith last Saturday. The tongue in cheek felt toys known as softies are handmade by local textile artist and owner of Wicked Child Designs, Teneale Muir. “It’s great to see...

Asylum proposal lacked ‘crucial groundwork’

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come under sustained attack this week over her handling of the asylum seeker issue and her plans for a regional processing centre. Ms Gillard’s consultations with East Timor have been fiercely criticised with the Opposition claiming amateurs are running the Australian Government. While Kevin Rudd was expert in international diplomacy, Ms Gillard’s foray into foreign...

Police step up Sarkozy illegal funding probe

Police on Saturday searched the home and office of a financial adviser to France’s richest woman as part of a probe into alleged illegal donations to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign, officials said. The search of Patrice de Maistre’s residence and firm came a day after police questioned the ex-accountant to Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the L’Oreal cosmetics empire, about her...

India, Iran sign 6 deals, MoUs to boost ties

In a bid to further intensify economic cooperation, India and Iran signed six agreements and MoUs on Friday, the concluding day of the two-day 16th Joint Commission session. These include an agreement on air services and another on transfer of prisoners. Significantly, for India, agreements aside, Iran has also agreed to hold technical-level meeting over the issue of Chabahar port, which is strategically...

Lost to security: Aggrieved mom writes to Sonia

A distraught woman, whose young son bled to death after he allegedly could not be taken to hospital in time due to security curbs during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the city on July 3, has asked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to ensure that a similar fate does not visit anyone else in the future. “No mother should go through the same tragedy,” a disconsolate Usha Sharma told TOI on...

Jagan camp gets a boost as 17 MLAs to join yatra

In what is perceived as a fresh challenge to the Congress high command, Jaganmohan Reddy has succeeded in drawing his loyalist MLAs to the Odarpu yatra. While two MLAs are already accompanying him, 17 others are set to join him on Saturday in Srikakulam and later when the yatra enters East Godavari district. Some of the MLAs met at government advisor K V P Ramachandra Rao’s house in the morning and decided...

Pawar’s NCP set to part ways with Congress?

It may well be a pressure tactic, but the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is sending out a strong message to its ally at the Centre, the Congress, by announcing that it plans to team up with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala for assembly polls. Party members allege that the Congress has not given it space in the political landscape, hence the decision. “We would like to be with the Congress but...

To tilt J&K balance, PDP to be engaged

With recent upheavals in Kashmir worrying the Centre, government is hoping a sustained engagement with political parties, including Opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), would help in tilting the balance away from separatists and supporters of militant outfits. The need to keep PDP in the loop despite its “cynical” role in running with the separatists is seen necessary given that it...

Mining mafia has mauled Karnataka: BS Yeddyurappa

Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa himself admitted that in the last two years, 1.05 crore tonnes of iron ore had been exported to foreign countries illegally. In a reply extending for two hours on illegal mining in the state, the chief minister explained the issue thread by thread and submitted a lot of details to prove his point. He said illegal export of iron ore was not a new thing. It had been happening from...

Bhopal Gas Tragedy is a Corporate Crime – SUCI

( Exactly as published in Proletarian Era – a newspaper by Socialist Unity Center of India ) Bhopal verdict: Unravels cruel despotic corrupt face of moribund capitalism The recent Bhopal verdict that virtually let off the guilty and reduced the worst ‘industrial disaster’ ever, to the equivalent of a mere street accident – a deadly gas leak that killed over 20,000 people and afflicted more than half a...