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First Aboriginal MP for Australia

Ken Wyatt was elected as the Liberal representative for the seat of Hasluck

An Aboriginal man has been elected to Australia’s House of Representatives, becoming the first indigenous MP in the country’s history.

Ken Wyatt, 57, took the seat of Hasluck in Western Australia for the centre-right Liberal Party.

Neither the Liberals nor the governing Labor Party gained enough seats at last week’s election for a majority.

Mr Wyatt has dismissed the racist hate mail he received, saying it was time for Australia to move forward.

As counting closed, Mr Wyatt declared victory with a majority of nearly 1,000 votes over his rival from the centre-left Labor Party, with fewer than 1,000 votes still to be counted.

“In 50 years’ time historians and people will be analysing why Hasluck chose an indigenous candidate, and what they’ll discover is that they didn’t choose an indigenous candidate because I was indigenous,” Mr Wyatt told reporters on Sunday.

“They chose a person who they believed would represent the interests of everybody within Hasluck.”

“Let’s move on from that [racism] – what’s more important is the way in which we move Australia forward, ”

Ken Wyatt Newly elected Aboriginal MP

The Liberals have 73 seats while the centre-left Labor Party have 72. Independents took four seats, and the Greens one. Seventy-six seats are needed in order to form a government.

Negotiations between the two main parties and the independents who hold the balance of power are continuing.

Mr Wyatt said he was disappointed by the hate mail sent to him by people who said they would not have voted for him if they had known he was indigenous.

“I’ve had that all my life, growing up as an Aboriginal in the ’60s, the ’70s and the ’80s,” he told reporters.

“Let’s move on from that – what’s more important is the way in which we move Australia forward, and the thinking that we have, and the society that we build on.”

Mr Wyatt is the first Aboriginal elected to the House of Representatives but two other indigenous Australians have served as senators in the upper house of parliament.

Neville Bonner, who died in 1999, was first appointed to the senate in 1971 to fill a casual vacancy but went on to win four elections in his own right.

Aden Ridgeway represented New South Wales in the senate from 1999 to 2005

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Two killed in serious crash on A9

A man and woman have been killed and several people have been left injured in a crash on the A9 in the Highlands.

Northern Constabulary said the collision involving a car and motorcycle happened at about 1048 BST three miles south of Dalwhinnie.

The man and woman on the bike died at the scene. Four people had to be cut free from the car.

They were taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. Two were said to be suffering from serious injuries.

The road was closed while accident investigations took place but has now reopened.

The crash comes on the same weekend as the annual Harley Davidson rally Thunder in the Glens, which is based at Aviemore.

It is not known if the two dead had been attending the event.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Bolton 2-2 Birmingham

Bolton’s 10 men battle back to deny a more-gifted Birmingham side victory in a feisty game at the Reebok Stadium.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

‘Islands at the edge of the World’

80th anniversary of the day the last permanent residents of St Kilda left the islands – the date is now commemorated as St Kilda Day.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Snorkellers take to the bogs for annual event

Competitors try to swim two gruelling lengths of the bog

Up to 200 plucky sportsmen and women are to brave the murky depths of two muddy trenches in Powys in the World Bog Snorkelling Championships.

The event’s chair is expecting a record time to be set because he joked that the bogs had been cleaned out for the first time in a decade.

He said old flippers and a snorkel were among the items found when they were cleared of silt and debris recently.

The event in Llanwrtyd Wells is on Sunday instead of Bank Holiday Monday.

The annual championships have put the small mid Wales town on the tourist map.

People have travelled from all over the UK to swim the gruelling two lengths, spanning 60 yards (55m), in the bog pits. The world record stands at 1min 35sec.

“I’m expecting record times to be set because the trenches have been dredged for the first time in 10 years”

Lindsay Ketteringham Event chairman

Championship rules state that entrants must not use conventional swimming strokes but instead must rely on using flippers.

Chairman Lindsay Ketteringham said: “I’m expecting record times to be set because the trenches have been dredged for the first time in 10 years.

“Silt and other debris was removed by two diggers, but they’re still pretty murky.

“We’ve changed the day of the event the year to a Sunday because people were concerned about rushing back to work when it was staged on a bank holiday.”

Hundreds of spectators are also expected to shout on the competitors as they take part in the eccentric sport.

Competitors pay to take part in a variety of categories which range from men and women to juniors and fancy dress.

Organiser Green Events Limited donates all funds raised to charity.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Miners ‘could be free in two months’

The BBC’s James Reynolds takes a tour around Camp Hope in Chile where engineers are working on a new plan to rescue 33 miners who are trapped underground.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Hamilton wins Belgian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton storms to victory in the Belgian Grand Prix after an incident-packed race at Spa-Francorchamps.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Afghan election workers shot dead

A woman walks past a campaign poster of Fauzia Galani in Herat, Afghanistan (26 August 2010)

Fauzia Galani is one of the few female candidates standing for election in September

The bodies of five people working for a female candidate in Afghanistan’s parliamentary election have been found in western Herat province.

They were among a group of 10 people kidnapped by armed men on Wednesday. Five were later released, say reports.

The Taliban later said they carried out the abductions. No group has said it carried out the killings.

The staff were working for Fauzia Galani, who is seeking re-election to parliament in September’s polls.

Police chief Nisar Ahmad Popal said the bodies had been found dumped on a mountainside in Adrskan district.

Reports say their hands had been bound and they had been shot in the head.

Taliban insurgents opposed to the elections in general – and female candidates in particular – have been blamed for the murder of a number of candidates.

On Saturday, candidate Haji Abdul Manan was shot and killed as he was leaving a mosque on the back of a motorcycle.

The Taliban have also been blamed for the kidnap of four women working at a drug treatment centre in northern Faryab province. Officials were reported to be negotiating to secure the women’s release.

The US has sent an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan since December 2009 in an effort to defeat the Taliban.

But the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville say that outside the city centres, the campaign of intimidation appears to be working, with many potential voters saying they are too afraid to go to the polls on 18 September.

More than 2,500 candidates are competing for 249 seats in the lower house.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Dead girl may have been strangled

Irish police close to where the body of the girl was found on Saturday afternoon

Police are questioning a 19-year-old man in connection with the death of an 11-year-old girl whose body was found in Dublin on Saturday afternoon.

A passer-by found the body on the banks of the Royal Canal at Porterstown in the west of the city.

A post-mortem examination is expected to held later on Sunday.

It is understood the girl left her home at about midnight on Friday night. Her parents reported her missing two hours later.

The teenager is being detained at Blanchardstown Garda station and can be questioned for up to 24 hours.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Hong Kong rally over bus hostage deaths

Thousands of people have joined a rally in Hong Kong to express their anger at the Philippines’ handling of last week’s tourist coach hijacking.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Floods swamp fresh Pakistan town

The town of some 250,000 people has been totally submerged

Floodwater has submerged a town in the southern province of Sindh, and threatens another being used as a key staging post for flood relief workers.

Sujawal, a town of some 250,000 people, has been submerged while people battle to save the nearby city of Thatta, reports say.

Authorities are still trying to rebuild levees around Thatta against the raging Indus river.

But water is still advancing on the all-but-abandoned city, reports say.

“We fled so hastily that we could not even pick up our belongings,” Amena Bibi, a mother of four, told the BBC.

“We are sitting in this graveyard under the blazing sun, looking for shade here and there. We have nothing to eat. The floodwater swept away our cows and buffalo.”

The international aid agency Oxfam says Pakistan will face devastating problems in the future, unless flood reconstruction efforts begin immediately.

A month after the floods began, the effort is still focused on the first stage of relief, rescuing and evacuating people.

But farmers have only a small window in which to plant the next harvest’s crops, and that is fast closing, raising fears of future hunger.

“Pakistan doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for the emergency phase to be over before starting the reconstruction,” Neva Khan, Oxfam’s country director said.

The massive floods have left some 8m people in need of emergency relief.

The lack of proper sanitation and cramped living conditions mean disease could spread quickly, says the BBC’s Jill McGivering in Islamabad.

Four weeks since the flooding began, the scale of this humanitarian crisis is still growing. And on the ground, the amount of aid available is a long way from meeting the need, our correspondent says.

Across the country, some 17 million people have been affected.

Map of Pakistan's flooded areas, 25 August 2010

If you would like to make a donation to help people affected by the floods in Pakistan, you can find information about how to do so by clicking here.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

US to mark Katrina, five years on

Musicians including Branford Marsalis (C) lead a parade in New Orleans, 28/08

Musicians have already been paying tribute to the victims of Katrina

The US is set to mark five years since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, killing more than 1,800 people and leaving New Orleans under water.

US President Barack Obama will visit New Orleans, where sombre ceremonies are planned, including a tolling of the bells at St Louis Cathedral.

Louisiana residents held a symbolic burial for victims on Saturday.

The storm, which hit land on 29 August 2005, displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Funeral for Manila hostage-taker

Coffin of Rolando Mendoza - Tanuan, 28 August 2010

Pallbearers carried Mendoza’s coffin from the church in Tanuan

About 1,000 people have attended the funeral of a Filipino policeman who killed eight tourists from Hong Kong when he took their bus hostage.

Rolando Mendoza was shot on Monday when Manila police tried to storm the bus.

Mendoza, 55, seized the bus with an assault rifle in an attempt to get back the job he lost in 2009 for extortion and threat-making.

Arrest over cricket ‘betting scam’

A man has been arrested in connection with an alleged cricket betting scam carried out during the current test between Pakistan and England at Lord’s.

The News of the World claims it gave £150,000 to a middleman who promised to arrange for Pakistan to bowl “no balls” during a match.

A 35-year-old man is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

There has been no comment yet from the Pakistani cricket team.

The BBC’s Andy Swiss said the allegations involved “very minor, very small details within the match that might seem ridiculously trivial to a lot of people”.

But he added: “That sort of information is worth a huge amount of money in the betting world where you can put bets on the tiniest details within a cricket game”.

And he suggested the allegations could affect the sport’s reputation.

“Cricket prides itself on the integrity of its reputation for fair play.

“This is a difficult situation for cricket and there are going to be some uncomfortable questions for the Pakistan team when the match resumes,” he said.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

No new tax cuts for ‘some time’

Danny Alexander said he wanted to “rebalance” the tax system to make it fairer

New tax cuts are unlikely within the next five years, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said.

In an interview with the Observer newspaper he said the overall tax burden was likely to remain at its current level for “quite some time”, to help reduce the UK’s deficit.

He appeared to dismiss more tax cuts before 2015 but stressed that a fair, rebalanced tax system was the priority.

Later this week ministers will meet to discuss departmental spending cuts.

In the newspaper interview, Mr Alexander – Chancellor George Osborne’s deputy – said: “I think the tax burden is necessary as a significant contribution to getting the country’s finances in order. So it will have to stay at that level for quite some time.”

“We need the tax revenues from the taxes we are putting up to help us reduce the deficit”

Danny Alexander

When asked whether a reduction in the overall tax burden was possible once the country’s books were in order, the minister added: “You are asking me to take decisions for five years down the line now and I am not going to do that.”

Mr Alexander stressed that a fair, rebalanced tax system was the priority.

He suggested that higher earners would have little respite from tax to look forward to before 2015.

“The plan we set out is to rebalance the tax system,” he said.

“We need the tax revenues from the taxes we are putting up to help us reduce the deficit.”

In the Budget, Chancellor George Osborne announced plans to cut taxes for the poorest by gradually increasing the personal allowance to £10,000.

However, VAT and capital gains tax were increased.

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said Mr Alexander’s comments “may well irritate some members of the Conservative half of the coalition [who were] hoping that steep spending cuts might open the door to further tax cuts before the next election”.

“The government wants to eliminate the structural deficit within five years – and spending cuts are doing most of the work,” said our correspondent.

Cabinet ministers will meet later this week to discuss the submissions from most departments to cut their spending from between 25 and 40%.

Departments had been ordered to draw up plans for spending cuts of up to 40% ahead of a comprehensive spending review in October.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.