Melbourne, August 21
Australia's opposition coalition, led by Conservative Tony Abott, appeared to be charging past the Labor Party of Prime Minister Julia Gillard with a razor thin lead in a knife-edge electoral contest, bringing in the prospect of the first hung house since 1940.

According to ABC's latest report, Labor MPs have been swept aside by swings of more than 9 per cent against them in former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's home state of Queensland, and of more than 6 per cent in New South Wales.

Election analyst Antony Green predicted that the Liberal-National Party Coalition will end up with 73 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Labor will muster 72, with four independents, and one Green, and the results might effectively prove the first woman premier a two-month wonder.

With more than half the votes counted, Labor suffered major setbacks, and is set to lose at least 16 seats and gain only two, leaving it unable to muster the 76 seats required for an overall majority.

The swing against Labor is smaller in South Australia and Victoria, meaning the Coalition is also unlikely to be able to muster an outright majority. All eyes are now turning to Western Australia, where a swing of 5 per cent against the ALP could deliver more bad news for the country's first woman prime minister.

The electoral counting was marked by a sea-saw of trends as the Labor and the Liberals kept changing posts.

Liberals maverick leader Abott, 52, told cheering supporters in Sydney that he was satisfied with the "good result" but warned against "premature triumphalism".

"This is a night for pride in our achievements, for satisfaction at the good result that has been achieved, but above all else measured reflection of the magnitude of the task ahead," he said.

Treasurer Wayne Swan, however, said it is too early to speculate about a hung parliament. "I can't speculate about that tonight. I don't know if that's going to eventuate or not. I think we're just going to have to wait," he said.

"I think there are a lot of very close seats out there. I think we've got to wait a few days before we go through those results." Liberal Senator Nick Minchin said a hung Parliament was "looking the most likely option at this point" and that he could not find the 76 seats the Coalition would need for outright victory.

A hung parliament would be the first in Australia since 1940, when Robert Menzies' United Australia Party governed with the Country Party and two independents.

Washington, August 21
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who was away from his country when it was hit by the worst floods in 80 years, has topped a unique list of influential people who were conspicuously absent when they were needed the most.

Releasing the list of five such people, the prestigious 'Foreign Policy' magazine said Zardari was travelling in Europe when millions of people had been affected by the devastating floods and hundreds others hit by political violence in his country. “For a world leader, being seen directing relief efforts is usually a good idea when a natural disaster strikes. But for Zardari, forging ahead with a tour of Europe seemed more important - even after US officials privately urged him to discontinue the lavish trip,” the Foreign Policy magazine said.

Zardari's officials fired back, saying the President chose the “cheapest five-star hotel” in London and even chose not to sleep in the royal suite. Zardari's absence continued on August 18 with a visit to the Black Sea resort at Sochi, Russia, where he met his Russian, Afghan, and Tajik counterparts for a security summit.

Among other leaders part of the unique list are Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow, who was receiving physical therapy in the Austrian Alps while his city was engulfed with wildfires; and Wyclef Jean, a Hip-hop artist-turned Haitian presidential candidate who was “in hiding” at the time of reconstruction of the disaster-stricken country. BP CEO Tony Hayward, who was on a yacht off the Isle of Wight during the oil spill in the Gulf; and Tony Woodley, General Secretary of Unite, the Britain's largest labour union, who during the British Airways strike was on a Mediterranean island villa, also figured in the list. — PTI

Bushehr, August 21
Iran began fuelling its first nuclear power plant today, a potent symbol of its growing regional sway and rejection of international sanctions designed to prevent it building a nuclear bomb.

Iranian television showed live pictures of Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and his Russian counterpart watching a fuel rod assembly being prepared for insertion into the reactor near the Gulf city of Bushehr.

“Despite all the pressures, sanctions and hardships imposed by Western nations, we are now witnessing the start-up of the largest symbol of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities,” Salehi told a news conference afterwards.

Iranian officials said it would take two to three months before the plant starts producing electricity and would generate 1,000 megawatts, a small proportion of the nation’s 41,000 megawatt electricity demand recorded last month.

Russia designed, built and will supply fuel for Bushehr, taking back spent rods, which could be used to make weapons-grade plutonium in order to ease nuclear proliferation concerns.

Saturday’s ceremony comes after decades of delays building the plant, work on which was initially started by German company Siemens in the 1970s, before Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

The United States criticised Moscow earlier this year for pushing ahead with Bushehr given persistent Iranian defiance over its nuclear programme.

Moscow supported the latest UN Security Council resolution in June which imposed a fourth round of sanctions and called for Iran to stop uranium enrichment which, some countries fear, could lead it to obtain nuclear weapons.

“The construction of the nuclear plant at Bushehr is a clear example showing that any country, if it abides by existing international legislation and provides effective, open interaction with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), should have the opportunity to access peaceful use of the atom,” Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, told the news conference.

The fuelling of Bushehr is a milestone in Iran’s path to harness technology which it says will reduce consumption of its abundant fossil fuels, allowing it to export more oil and gas and to prepare for the day when the minerals riches dry up.

While most nuclear analysts say Bushehr does not add to any proliferation risk, many countries remain deeply concerned about Iran’s uranium enrichment. — Reuters

Washington, August 21
After a gap of 20 months, Israel and Palestinians will resume direct talks here on September 2, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced, a development dubbed as a step toward easing tensions in the West Asia.

“After proximity talks and consultations with both sides, on behalf of the US government I’ve invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet on September 2 in Washington, DC, to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all final status issues, which we believe can be completed within one year,” Clinton announced yesterday.

Without a doubt we will hit more obstacles and the enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks, Clinton said.

“But I ask these parties to persevere, to keep moving forward even through difficult times, and to continue working to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region,” she said.

At a hurriedly convened press conference at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, Clinton said US President Barack Obama, has invited the Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan to attend, in view of their critical role in this effort.

“Their continued leadership and commitment to peace will be essential to our success,” she said.

Obama will hold bilateral meetings with the four leaders followed by a dinner with them on September 1st.

The quartet representative, Tony Blair, has also been invited to the dinner in view of his important work to help Palestinians build the institutions of their future state, an effort which must continue during the negotiations, she said. — PTI

Stockholm, August 21
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was accused of rape and molestation in a Swedish arrest warrant today that turned the spotlight onto the nomadic former hacker who's infuriated governments worldwide with his self-proclaimed mission to put secrets into the public eye.

The accusation was labelled a dirty trick by the 39-year-old Australian and his group, who are preparing to release the next batch of classified documents from the Afghan war.

Swedish prosecutors urged Assange, whose whereabouts were unclear, to turn himself in to police to face questioning in two separate cases involving suspicions of rape and molestation, respectively.

They issued a warrant for his arrest, a move that doesn't necessarily mean that criminal charges will be filed. — AP