Prime Minister | featured news

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard secured a second term in office Tuesday, winning the support of independent lawmakers to form a minority Labor government after losing her majority at elections last month.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday he had canceled a book-signing in London this week to mark the launch of his memoirs, over fears the event would be hit by protests.

South Korean prime minister-designate Kim Tae-ho and two other nominees announced their resignations Sunday, amid corruption allegations that surfaced during their confirmation hearings, the state-run Yonhap news agency reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume direct talks in Washington on September 2 with an aim to reaching a peace deal within one year.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Sunday that he will not resign, even as early results showed his Democratic Party heading for a major political setback in a midterm election.

Australia's ruling Labor Party ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday in a sudden, stunning revolt that also delivered the country its first female leader. Rudd's deputy, Julia Gillard, was elected leader in an uncontested vote about 12 hours after she surprised many colleagues by challenging a prime minister who until recently had been among the country's most popular.

The outgoing Czech cabinet will resign on Friday if the opening session of the new lower house of parliament ends on Thursday as planned, Prime Minister Jan Fischer said on Monday.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva presented what he called a “letter to the Thai people,” calling for reconciliation in a country shaken by months of political unrest and scores of deaths.

As its leader, Kim Jong-il, was watching, North Korea’s rubber-stamp Parliament fired its prime minister and elevated his brother-in-law to the regime’s No. 2 post on Monday in a sweeping government reshuffle analysts said was aimed at defusing public anger over a disastrous revaluation of its currency while consolidating Mr. Kim’s power.

Both the upper and lower houses of Japan's parliament elected Finance Minister Naoto Kan to be the nation's new prime minister Friday, following the resignation of Yukio Hatoyama from the post earlier this week.