The national executive of the strife-torn Democrats last night appointed little-known West Australian senator Brian Greig as interim leader--a shock move likely to provoke further conflict between the party's senators and its organisation. In a move to reassert control over the party's seven senators, the national executive last night rejected Aden Ridgeway's bid to become interim leader, in favour of Senator Greig, a supporter of deposed leader Natasha Stott Despoja and an outspoken gay rights activist.
Cash-strapped financial services group AMP has shelved a $400 million plan to buy shares back from investors and will raise $750 million in fresh capital after profits crashed in the six months to June 30. Chief executive Paul Batchelor said the result was "solid" in what he described as the worst conditions for stock markets in 20 years. AMP's half-year profit sank 25 per cent to $303 million, or 27c a share, as Australia's largest investor and fund manager failed to hit projected 5 per cent earnings growth targets and was battered by falling returns on share markets.
The United States government has said it wants to see President Robert Mugabe removed from power and that it is working with the Zimbabwean opposition to bring about a change of administration. As scores of white farmers went into hiding to escape a round-up by Zimbabwean police, a senior Bush administration official called Mr Mugabe's rule "illegitimate and irrational" and said that his re-election as president in March was won through fraud. Walter Kansteiner, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, went on to blame Mr Mugabe's policies for contributing to the threat of famine in Zimbabwe.
A radical armed Islamist group with ties to Tehran and Baghdad has helped al-Qaida establish an international terrorist training camp in northern Iraq, Kurdish officials say. Intelligence officers in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq told the Guardian that the Ansar al-Islam (supporters of Islam) group is harbouring up to 150 al-Qaida members in a string of villages it controls along the Iraq-Iran border. Most of them fled Afghanistan after the US-led offensive, but officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls part of north-east Iraq, claim an "abnormal" number of recruits are making their way to the area from Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
Washington has sharply rebuked Russia over bombings of Georgian villages, warning the raids violated Georgian sovereignty and could worsen tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi. "The United States regrets the loss of life and deplores the violation of Georgia's sovereignty," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.  Mr Fleischer said US Secretary of State Colin Powell had delivered the same message to his Russian counterpart but that the stern language did not reflect a sign of souring relations between Moscow and Washington.