International News Update

Stories from around the globe:

• Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki announced a new “power-sharing coalition” and named Raila Odinga, opposition leader, prime minister. The deal was reached in secret talks to end the long-running political crisis that erupted after elections last December and displaced 600,000 and claimed 1,500 lives.
• Haitian senators voted to dismiss Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis after widespread riots against skyrocketing food prices.
• Italians take to the polls for two days to select a new prime minister three-years ahead of schedule after the collapse of the government under Romano Prodi. Silvio Berlusconi, who lost the office to Prodi two years ago, faces Walter Veltroni, former mayor of Rome.
• Talks in Vienna between Iran and the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), were postponed inexplicably. IAEA has yet to comment officially.
• Israel withdrew tanks from Gaza after entering the territory last Friday. The incursion, which was sparked by the killing of two Israelis at a fuel terminal, left eight Palestinians dead.
• Nepal’s Maoist Party won 71 seats out of 128 that were declared so far and continue to build their margin and stands a “good chance of winning an absolute majority.” Nepali Congress, the next largest party, trailed distantly with just 21 seats. The landmark elections left Charles Haviland of the BBC to ask, “What next for Nepal’s monarchy?“

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October 6, 2008