Fair Proxy Web

Profile: Kevin Rudd

(CNN) — Australians are voting in a federal election on November 24, in what many analysts predict will be a tight race.

The following is a look at Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd:

— Rudd has been the Federal Member for Griffith since 1998. In 2001 he joined Federal Labor’s Shadow Cabinet and on December 4, 2006, Rudd defeated Kim Beazley to become leader of the Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition.

— Rudd was born on September 21, 1957 near Brisbane, Queensland. As a student, he studied Chinese language and history at the Australian National University, before working at the Australian Embassies in both Stockholm and Beijing.

— In 1988 he left the Department of Foreign Affairs to work as Chief of Staff to the then Queensland State Opposition Leader, Wayne Goss. He also worked as a China Consultant with KPMG before becoming Member for Griffith.

— Rudd is a committed Christian who has talked extensively about his hard childhood, including the early death of his farming father in a car accident. He says his childhood experiences helped shape his political outlook.

— He is said to be highly intelligent, though somewhat mechanical in personality. BBC News Sydney correspondent Nick Bryant described him as austere, cerebral and self-disciplined, who is easy to respect but harder to like.

— On policy matters, he has pledged to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq and sign the Kyoto pact. He has also promised health and education reform, as well as tackling Howard’s contentious laws on industrial relations.

— Rudd is married to Therese, who manages her own employment solutions business. They live with their three children — Jessica, Nicholas and Marcus. E-mail to a friend

Sources: The official Web site of the Australian Labor Party; BBC; The Australian newspaper

found here.

Sources: Imran Khan released

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan police Wednesday released jailed Pakistani opposition party leader Imran Khan, who had been on a hunger strike, police sources said.

Khan, a former Pakistani cricket star, had previously said he would continue his hunger strike until the Supreme Court justices fired by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf are reinstated.

Khan was seized by police last Wednesday after surfacing at a student rally at the University of Punjab in Lahore, police said.

He was facing anti-terrorism charges.

Khan had been on the run after escaping from house arrest days after the November 3 emergency order was imposed. Watch a report on Khan’s arrest

He was released Wednesday from the Dera Ghazi Khan city jail in Punjab province, police sources said.

Khan heads the Movement for Justice party, which campaigns for an independent judiciary in Pakistan. He has been an outspoken critic of Musharraf’s removal of nearly all of the Supreme Court justices shortly after declaring a state of emergency on November 3.

Musharraf replaced the court with his allies, and the new court is expected to clear the final hurdle for his reelection victory on Thursday. That will pave the way for Musharraf to take the oath of office for a third five-year term as president.

He has said he will step down as Pakistan’s military chief before taking that oath.
found here.

Lebanon’s inability to pick a president could bring chaos

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — Less than 24 hours before the Lebanese president’s term will expire, no one has been chosen to replace him.

Emile Lahoud’s presidential term is set to end Friday at midnight (5 p.m. ET).

Parliament was scheduled to meet Friday to try for a fifth time to elect a president, but there were indications that the session would be canceled.

Pro- and anti-Syrian lawmakers had come to no agreement over a compromise candidate to replace the pro-Syrian Lahoud.

The Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition has suggested it might form a rival government.

Failure to settle on a candidate could lead to a power vacuum — or worse. The army and other security forces were on full alert as the nation braced itself for possible violence.

The country’s recent history includes near-constant factional fighting, political maneuvering and friction with Syria.

The election has been overshadowed by assassinations and attempted assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians.

In February 2005, the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut sparked widespread protests that led to the ouster of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

U.N. investigators concluded last year that Hariri’s death may be linked to high-ranking Syrian officials. Syria has denied any involvement in the killings and said the U.N. tribunal investigating Hariri’s death is a violation of its sovereignty.

In the past two years, four members of the Lebanese parliament have been assassinated.

Meanwhile, members of the Western-backed parliamentary majority were holed up Thursday inside a Beirut hotel meeting in emergency session.

A general who is a powerful Christian leader, backed by Syria and allied with Hezbollah, appeared Thursday on television offering himself as a compromise candidate.

But his offer was rejected by the Western-backed majority led by Saad Hariri, son of the assassinated prime minister.

For the past few weeks, top-level mediators from France, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries have been trying unsuccessfully to break the deadlock.

Some analysts suggested the president could name an interim military governor and House Speaker Nabih Berri hinted that he might postpone elections.

The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain issued a statement saying they have tried everything, and it is now up to the Lebanese to craft a solution.

Lebanese presidents are elected by the National Assembly for a six-year term and may not serve consecutive terms, according to the CIA Factbook. Lahoud was elected in 1998, the reference book says, and in 2004 the National Assembly voted to extend his six-year term by three years.
found here.

Commonwealth suspends Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan has been suspended from the Commonweath — a 53-nation organization made up of the UK and its former colonies.

A meeting in Uganda decided on the move — pending the restoration of democracy and rule of law in the country, a Commonwealth statement said.

Pakistan imposed emergency rule on November 3. The Commonwealth statement said: The situation in Pakistan continued to represent a serious violation of the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values.

The suspension means no further Commonwealth programs will be carried out in Pakistan, and Pakistan cannot participate in any of the organization’s business, said Michael Frendo, the foreign minister of Malta who chaired Thursday’s meeting.

Earlier, Pakistan’s Supreme Court cleared the way for another five-year presidential term for General Pervez Musharraf.

The court, newly filled with Musharraf allies, sided with him on the final legal challenge to his candidacy.

Musharraf has said he will step down as Pakistan’s military chief before taking the oath this weekend as president.

He removed nearly all of the Supreme Court justices shortly after declaring the state of emergency.

On Wednesday Pakistan police released Pakistani opposition party leader Imran Khan from the Dera Ghazi Khan city jail in Punjab province, police sources said.

The former cricket star and leader of the Movement for Justice party staged a hunger strike and had said he would do so until the Supreme Court justices fired by Musharraf were reinstated. Khan’s party has campaigned for an independent judiciary.

Police seized Khan last week after he appeared at a student rally at the University of Punjab in Lahore, police said.

He had been on the run after escaping from house arrest days after the November 3 emergency order was imposed.

He faces anti-terrorism charges.
found here.

Roommate of victim says she can’t recall night of slaying

PERUGIA, Italy (CNN) — Amanda Knox has told police she’s not sure what happened the night her roommate was killed in the Italian villa they shared — but that she did not kill Meredith Kercher.

Knox, who is still in custody, wrote a four-page statement for police the day she was questioned about Kercher’s death, saying she was confused about the events of that night, but wanted to tell the truth as best I can.

Authorities said Knox, 20, who is from Seattle, Washington, has given investigators at least three different stories about what happened on November 1, when police say 21-year-old Kercher, an exchange student from Britain, was killed.

Kercher’s body was found the next day, half-naked, with a stab wound to her neck.

Knox wrote in her statement, a copy of which has been obtained by CNN, that she’s not sure whether she was at the villa that night and that she remembers flashes of blurred images, but doesn’t know if they are reality or dreams.

Knox said she believes she spent the night at the home of her boyfriend, 23-year-old Raffaele Sollecito, who is also in custody in the case.

She said she and Sollecito smoked marijuana at his home and watched a movie. She also said she got a message from her boss, bar owner Diya Patrick Lumumba, telling her she didn’t need to work that night. She says she told Sollecito she could remain at his home all night.

Lumumba was also arrested in connection with the case but later released due to lack of evidence.

In her statement, Knox said she saw Lumumba in flashes of blurred images.

I saw him near the basketball court. I saw him at my front door. I saw myself cowering in the kitchen with my hands over my ears because in my head I could hear Meredith screaming, she wrote.

But I’ve said this many times so as to make myself clear: These things seem unreal to me, like a dream, and I am unsure if they are real things that happened or are just dreams my head has made to try to answer the questions in my head and the questions I am being asked.

But the truth is, I am unsure about the truth.

She cites what the police have said is evidence against her, including what she said was hard evidence that she was at the villa she shared with Kercher and two Italians on the night of the slaying.

I don’t know what proof they are talking about, but if this is true, it means I am very confused and my dreams must be real.

I know I didn’t kill Meredith. That’s all I know for sure, Knox wrote. In these flashbacks that I’m having, I see Patrik [sic] as the murderer, but the way the truth feels in my mind, there is no way for me to have known because I don’t remember FOR SURE if I was at my house that night.

Knox also writes about Sollecito telling authorities she asked him to lie for her.

I also NEVER asked him to lie for me. This is absolutely a lie.

What I don’t understand is why Raffaele, who has always been so caring and gentle with me, would lie about this. What does he have to hide? I don’t think he killed Meredith, but I do think he is scared, like me. He walked into a situation that he has never had to be in, and perhaps he is trying to find a way out by disassociating himself with me.

Authorities found a knife in Sollecito’s kitchen with Kercher’s DNA on it as well as Knox’s. Police discovered that the knife had been washed, authorities said, but in-depth testing was able to recover the DNA.

Knox said the changes in her stories were due to shock and stress, as well as being hit by police.

In regards to this ‘confession’ that I made last night, I want to make clear that I’m very doubtful of the verity of my statements because they were made under the pressures of stress, shock and extreme exhaustion, she wrote. Not only was I told I would be arrested and put in jail for 30 years, but I was also hit in the head when I didn’t remember a fact correctly.

I understand that the police are under a lot of stress, so I understand the treatment I received. However, it was under this pressure and after many hours of confusion that my mind came up with these answers.
found here.