Vienna  - Joerg Haider, the right-wing leader of Austria's Alliance for the Future of Austria, died in a car accident early Saturday, Austrian news agency APA reported.

According to police, the accident occurred in Klagenfurt, capital of the province of Carinthia, where 58-year-old Haider was governor.

Haider was driving by himself when his car left the road and flipped over. Police is still investigating the cause of the accident.

The politician died of serious injuries to the head and chest, police said. (dpa)

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Friday pushed for amendments to the country's constitution in a bid to boost the local economy amid the financial meltdown in the United States.

While assuring the business community that the Philippine economy was in "relatively good shape" despite the global crisis, Arroyo said some economic provisions in the 1987 constitution needed to be revised to further boost the country's competitiveness.

Thailand's Office of the Attorney General on Friday requested the Constitution Court accept a case seeking to dissolve the People Power Party (PPP), the lead party in the coalition government.

The case, if accepted, was expected to lead to the disbandment of the PPP because the same court already convicted former PPP deputy leader Yongyuth Tiyapairat of committing election fraud in the December 23 polls.

Taipei  - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, in his National Day speech, called for peace with China under the precondition that Taiwan's sovereign and defence is guaranteed.

Presiding over the first National Day celebration since his May 20 inauguration, Ma said his pursuing peace and expanding exchanges with China has won support from the international community.

Bangkok - Former deputy prime minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has called for a military coup as the only means of solving Thailand's political stalemate, the Bangkok Post reported Friday.

"There is no other way out," said Chavalit, in an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post, an English-language daily.

"I see a putsch. After the military steps in, power should immediately be returned to the people and an interim government can be formed in which every party takes part," he said.

Lima  - The entire Peruvian cabinet handed in their resignations en masse to President Alan Garcia on Thursday over corruption allegations.

Jorge del Castillo, head of the Peruvian Council of Ministers, and all the cabinet members offered to resign at a time when Congress is making progress on a vote of no-confidence against them.

A rare union of opposition legislators is likely to allow the no- confidence vote to pass with 70 votes in favour, when only 61 are required, analysts said.

Washington  - President George W Bush's massive bailout of the finance sector isn't very conservative or Republican - and he has no problem expressing the discomfort he feels by breaking with his political ideology to rescue Wall Street.

While in the White House, Bush was supposed to represent the conservative base of the Republican Party opposed to large government spending, taxes, economic restraints or Democratic attempts to regulate the free market.

A member of Norway's ruling Labour Party said Thursday she would not seek re-election to parliament next year after disclosures that she routinely placed calls to clairvoyants and fortune tellers at taxpayer expense.

Saera Khan, elected to the legislature in 2005, said in a statement late Wednesday she "regretted" that she had not disclosed the calls. She added that she had provided compensation for phone expenses that were over the average for a Norwegian member of parliament.

Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday called on Zimbabwe's southern African neighbours and the African Union to intervene to end the deadlock in power-sharing talks between his and President Robert Mugabe's parties.

In a statement 24 days after Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed a deal to share power, Tsvangirai said, despite claims of progress by Mugabe's party, the two sides were still poles apart on the formation of a 31-ministry unity government.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday ordered parliament dissolved and called for new elections.

The Orange Revolution leader did not in the short nationally- televised speech make clear when the vote would take place.

Before ceasing work, Ukraine's current parliament should amend the
national budget to pay for the national vote, which according to
Yushchenko would allow Ukrainians to select a brand new legislature.

Yushchenko's decision came after months of political infighting in the former Soviet republic.