Serbs vote on Sunday in a snap general election widely seen as the most important since the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

The vote could decide whether the Balkan country heads towards integration with the European Union or returns to isolation.

A pro-Western alliance led by President Boris Tadic is running neck and neck with ultra-nationalists.

Kosovo's declaration of independence has boosted the hardliners.

Disagreements over how to react when most EU countries recognised Kosovo led to the collapse of a fragile coalition between Mr Tadic's Democratic Party and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia.

Italy's new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joked that his Spanish counterpart's cabinet line-up looked "too pink" for his liking. The Italian cabinet includes four women but they will have a tough task on their hands, says David Willey in Rome.

It could not be more different in Spain. Danny Wood reports that Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is at the very forefront of the struggle to achieve gender equality in politics.

Italy:  An Uphill Battle

There has been a lot of talk about gender equality in the run-up to Italy's recent general election, but as is all to clear from the line-up of TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi's new cabinet, men still rule here.

Out of 21 ministers in the new right-wing administration there are only four women, all given lightweight roles.

Most of them have so far won distinction more for their looks rather than for their political prowess.

(...)

Spain:  At the Vanguard

Spain - the land that coined the word "macho" - is now at the vanguard of the fight for gender equality.

After winning a second term in March, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has more female ministers in his new cabinet than male, including a 31-year-old woman, the youngest minister in Spanish history.

Yesterday, the Spanish Bishops Conference issued a document that accuses the government of the decline of believers and it stated that they should act with urgency to recover the believers.

Several bishops read a pastoral those criticizing the media, government and individuals who write X "For social purposes" rather than "Aid to the Church" at the annual statement of income.

The bishop of Valencia, García Gascó, criticized the government saying that they "may end up with the family" with its legislation, and advised to "faithfuls" to "convince not stop by materialism" and reject "that destroy marriages the family ".

The bishop of Toledo, Cañizares, charged with "handling public" to the media, the government, and citizens who write X in "For social purposes" rather than "Aid to the Church." It says that they "do not want freedom of man", because citizens can write X in both concepts ("social purpose" and "Church").

Members of the PP criticized the government saying that "Spaniards are not concerned about secularism. The government is doing demagoguery to raise these issues."

When Procrustes looks after you, you're sure to fit in.

BRUSSELS, May 9 (IPS) - The often cosy relationship between corporate lobbyists and the Brussels bureaucracy was illustrated in the past few weeks as several members of the European Parliament (MEPs) prepared to visit Peru.

Vidal Quadras Roca, the assembly's vice-president, contacted a fellow MEP organising the trip to inform him that participants could see first-hand projects in Lima run by British Petroleum, the French private water firm Suez, and the Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica. All these companies, it transpired, are represented by the International Association of Business and Parliament, a shadowy body which has an office within the Parliament's own building and can avail of facilities financed by the European taxpayer.

Revelations that 'stealth lobbyists' have penetrated their way deep into the corridors of power came at a delicate moment for the Parliament. Those MEPs who were not jetting off to Latin America were involved in a debate about how to tighten up the rules covering what lobbyists may and may not do.

A significant breakthrough was made May 8 when the Parliament officially urged that a mandatory register should be set up for the estimated 15,000 lobbyists in Brussels, most of whom work for business interests. Among the details that would have to be included in the register would be a lobbyist's sources of funding and names of his or her clients.

BRUSSELS, Apr 30 (IPS) - Tax havens in Europe are depriving poor countries of more money than they receive in development aid, it has been alleged.

Some 11.5 trillion (million million) dollars is held in offshore accounts across the world, according to Tax Justice Network, a grouping of economists, accountants and academics. Because tax authorities are unable to touch this money, they effectively lose 250 billion dollars per year: the equivalent of five times what the United Nations estimated in 2002 as needed to finance its Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty.

John Christensen, the network's spokesman, argues that the European Union has a "slightly schizophrenic" attitude towards the problems posed by massive tax evasion and avoidance.

While EU institutions have been "leading the world" in taking some initiatives against tax competition, many of the world's most notorious tax havens are located within the EU or on the overseas territories of its member states, he noted. These include the City of London (the financial district of London), Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands, Jersey and Guernsey.

Christensen, who has previously worked in Jersey's banking sector, cited data from the University of Massachusetts suggesting that Africa has lost 607 billion dollars because of capital flight -- or five times the amount it has received in development aid -- since 1970. Capital flight involves the movement of money from one country to another where a firm believes he or she will get greater returns.

GROZNY, Chechnya -- Amina Edieva's abductor stalked her like a seasoned predator. He approached the slender, raven-haired 18-year-old student on a Grozny side street, hoisted her off the ground in a tight bear hug and dragged her into a waiting car.

The speeding car drove past a military checkpoint manned by Chechens and Russians. The Chechen soldiers would not blink an eye, but she screamed out to the Russian soldiers. No one helped.

Nine days later, Ms. Edieva, her makeup smudged by tears, was married in a traditional Chechen ceremony where she stood alone in a corner for hours at the groom's house, forbidden to speak or sit until the elders left.

After the boomers, meet the children dubbed 'baby losers'

Across Spain, France and Italy, young middle-class professionals with good degrees and diplomas are facing a lifetime on low salaries with unrewarding jobs, forever poorer than their parents.

Lots of silly conventional wisdom, paragraphs that obliviously contradict one another, and the snappy conclusion:

'There is a trend towards a certain classlessness and some win and some lose. Jobs that were previously passports to stable middle-class incomes and wealth no longer are. And those who lose out most tend to shout loudest.'

Whiny losers. All in whiny European (read - not British) countries. And in the Guardian.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

Hezbollah has agreed to withdraw its gunmen from Beirut after the Lebanese army settled tensions between the Shia group and armed government supporters.

The army revoked two key government measures that had led to four days of street fighting between the two sides, leaving at least 37 people dead.

Hezbollah had seized large parts of the city, but said it was now handing control back to the army.

But it has vowed to continue civil disobedience until its demands are met.

A Hezbollah statement said: "The Lebanese opposition will end all armed presence in Beirut so that the capital will be in the hands of the army."

a) the military government did not authorize the entry of humanitarian aid, if they do not spread.

b) Statements by several nations and members of NGOs claimed that could not be trusted that the military government to distribute aid and not stay with it.

c) the prestigious professor Carrillo Salcedo has worked on the concept of international humanitarian intervention. According to him, we would be in Myanmar in a situation that could justify "international humanitarian intervention", under the authority of the UNO.

d) they raised the relationship between the "interference" in Iraq -first, eliminating the UNO, and then after the disaster, calling for the legal protection of the UNO- and the current situation in Myanmar.

e) they wondered if the UNO still had sufficient authority or the latest developments of international politics have eroded the UNO.

f) they wondered whether they should not pose a new situation of the UN: the times are far removed from the years after World War II. And also the question about the veto.

When Procrustes looks after you, you're sure to fit in.

India successfully tested a nuclear-capable missile Wednesday that can hit targets deep inside China, joining the ranks of nations possessing intermediate-range missile capacity, the defence ministry said.

It marked the third test of the Agni-III missile -- India's longest-range ballistic missile -- and was staged "to establish the repeatability of the missile's performance," defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar told AFP.

The missile was fired from a mobile launcher Wednesday morning at a testing site on Wheeler Island off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa.

China has vowed to keep grain output above 500 million tonnes in 2008 as the world's largest producer and consumer of rice struggles to cope with rising global grain prices, state media said Thursday.

"We will strive to stabilise full-year grain output at more than 500 million tonnes," said Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai, according to the China Securities Journal.

In 2007, China produced more than 501.5 million tonnes of grain, almost level with the nation's annual consumption of 510 million tonnes, official data showed.

Sun also pledged to strictly control the development of biofuels to protect the country's grain supplies and arable land banks, according to the China Daily Thursday.

Biofuels, transformed from corn, wheat, soy beans and sugar cane, are accused by experts and international organisations of snatching food out of the mouths of the poor.

Sudan says it has cut off diplomatic relations with Chad, blaming it for helping rebels from Darfur to launch an attack on Sudan's capital, Khartoum.

Both Chad and Jem rebels deny working together to launch the assault on the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, which the rebels say they have taken control of.

The government said the rebel advance, the closest they have come to Khartoum, had been defeated.

An overnight curfew imposed on Khartoum has been extended indefinitely.

Burmese cyclone survivors face a massive crisis unless they are urgently delivered aid, leading aid agencies have warned.

A likely death toll of 100,000 could rise to 1.5m without provision of clean water and sanitation, Oxfam said.

The International Rescue Committee said that without a massive delivery of aid, Burma faced "unimaginable tragedy".

Eight days after Cyclone Nargis struck, the UN estimates only a quarter of survivors have received any aid so far.

The military government is still refusing to allow many foreign nationals into Burma to distribute relief.

Tamil Tiger rebels have sunk a naval cargo ship in eastern Sri Lanka, hours before important local elections.

The navy said a 65-metre (213-ft) ship was hit by an underwater blast caused by a suicide diver, though no other casualties were reported.

Rebels said the ship had been loaded with munitions destined for Sri Lankan troops operating in the north.

Voting has now closed in Saturday's local elections, the first in the region in 20 years.

The polls follow a government offensive last summer.

Troops drove the Tamil Tigers from their bases in the region, which they had controlled for 13 years.

Thousands of extra troops and police have been deployed to ensure security for the elections in the east coast towns of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara.

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - If mothers were paid for cooking, cleaning and caring for their families they could easily earn a six-figure salary, according to new calculations.

After asking 18,000 mothers to list their most common tasks such a cooking, cleaning and childcare, a salary compensation company determined the value of their job functions to calculate what they could earn if they were paid.

In Canada the 10 most popular jobs performed by a stay-at-home mother would equate to a C$125,000 ($124,280) salary, including overtime, and almost $75,000 for a working mother, in addition to her real salary.

(...)The salary calculations were based on the top ten jobs mothers said they did at home and the hours they spent doing them each day. The numbers were then compared to the market value each job was worth.

It's the anti-establishment movement that has taken the art market by storm, keenly collected by hedge-funders and Hollywood' s A-list. Now, even Tate Modern is giving Street Art its stamp of approval. Alice Fisher reports:

Disguised in a thick beard, wire-frame glasses and a rather crumpled bucket hat, Banksy sneaked into four of New York's most prestigious museums in March 2005. He hung work on their walls without permission - including a Warholesque painting of Tesco Value cream of tomato soup cans in the Museum of Modern Art and a harlequin beetle accessorised with Airfix weapons at the Natural History Museum. Afterwards, the Street Artist explained himself on graffiti website woostercollective.com: 'I've wandered around a lot of art galleries thinking: "I could have done that," so it seemed only right that I should try. These galleries are just trophy cabinets for a handful of millionaires. The public never has any real say in what art they see.'

This statement is no longer true. Bemusing events have happened since which have unbalanced the status quo of the art establishment as described by Banksy. This month Tate Modern - the world's most popular modern art gallery - hosts 'Street Art', a group exhibition which will turn the building's riverside façade over to be used as a canvas by the artists. The show features work by European Street Artists Blu, JR and Sixeart, São Paulo's Nunca and Os Gemeos and American collective Faile. If recent events are anything to go by, the show will be popular: last weekend's Cans Festival, held in a London railway tunnel, was a huge bank holiday hit. The event featured work by 40 artists and was organised by Banksy, the first show he's overseen since 2005. The crowds at Cans were no surprise - when the genteel Andipa Gallery in Knightsbridge held a Banksy show in March, 2,500 visitors turned up. Queues formed; extra security was hired. At Black Rat Press, a gallery in the more typical Street-Art territory of Hoxton, last month's Nick Walker show saw people camp overnight for the chance to buy one of his prints.The show was a sellout.

The public may still not have much say over what art they see in galleries, but they're certainly getting better at expressing their opinions. Banksy not only received the public nomination for the Turner Prize in 2005, but he was also voted one of the nation's top three art heroes in a YouGov survey last year. In Bristol, the artist's hometown, the city council held a public vote in 2006 on whether Banksy's graffiti on the wall of a local sexual-health clinic should be removed. The public decreed it should stay. Network Rail has since given its cleaners art lessons to ensure they don't erase any of Banksy's work.

I highly recommend visiting The Wooster Collective - one of my favorite blogs.  There's lovely photos of street art from cities all over the world.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 9 (IPS) - Recent efforts by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to clearly mark the difference between Brazilian ethanol and the agrofuels produced by the United States are an admission that signing an agreement with Washington to promote a global bioethanol market was a serious political mistake, say analysts.

Brazilian fuel alcohol, distilled from sugarcane, has been used as a partial substitute for gasoline in the country for 30 years, and makes an acknowledged contribution to mitigating global warming because it emits less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels.

However, in recent months a flood of criticism has engulfed all biofuels, because of their role in helping to drive up food prices. Jean Ziegler, former United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, called the conversion of food crops into biofuels "a crime against humanity."

A memorandum of understanding, signed in March 2007, for cooperation between Brazil and the United States in promoting ethanol production in tropical countries, as well as technology transfer and definition of technical standards, united the biofuels of both countries in terms of their international image.

Negative global perceptions of President George W. Bush and his government's war in Iraq may have contributed to the unpopularity of U.S. ethanol, with Brazil's alcohol being tarred with the same brush.

In January 2007, Bush announced a bold plan to cut gasoline consumption by 20 percent in the United States within 10 years, through the use of substitutes, mainly ethanol.

Dire food shortages that began last year have sparked violent protests in dozens of poor countries, and have led to widespread accusations that ethanol and biodiesel are worsening the food crisis.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Maria Whyte's two-day experiment living at the poverty level left her with debt, a parking ticket and probably a few gray hairs.

"I was so stressed out!" the Erie County legislator said Thursday as she joined a call for the city to address its census ranking as the nation's second-poorest big city.

Whyte and other community leaders spent the past few days trying to make ends meet on $9.25 a day. If they factored in the daily cost of a car, health care, cell phone and cable television, they were in the hole before breakfast.

It was an exercise in solidarity, organizers said, for the 29.9 percent of Buffalo residents the U.S. Census Bureau says are living in poverty _ well over the 13.3 percent national rate. The federal poverty guideline is an annual income of $17,600 for a family of three and $10,400 for a single individual.

WASHINGTON, DC, May 8, 2008 (ENS) - The diversity of life in all the world's freshwater ecosystems is for the first time displayed on a comprehensive map and held in a database. These new tools can be of use to conservationists who are trying to save freshwater ecosystems that are under increasing pressure from human population growth, rising water use, and habitat alteration.

Unveiled today, Freshwater Ecoregions of the World is a collaborative project between the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy, two U.S. nonprofit organizations that are part of larger international networks.

WASHINGTON D.C., May 7, 2008 --WORLD-WIRE-- The senior leadership at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "has repeatedly chosen to stray from the clear and science-based recommendations of expert advisory panels, public health organizations and advocates, and in some cases even its own career staff scientists, in order to make policies and decisions that fall short of adequately protecting children as well as the general public."

That was the conclusion of testimony today by a member of the EPA Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee before the Senate Public Sector Solutions to Global Warming, Oversight, and Children's Health Protection Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

"In some cases, EPA policies and decisions are justified on the basis of arguments that run counter to established scientific principles and the judgments of the most prominent experts in the country," said Dr. John Balbus, chief health scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund. "In other cases, EPA policies and decisions are made with little justification whatsoever. Greater transparency in agency decision-making and greater adherence to the recommendations of the agency's scientific experts will help bolster public trust in the agency and lead to greater protection of the public's health."

The world of computing could have been very different to that of today had a machine that was designed over 150 years ago been built at the time.

That is the view of Doron Swade, the man who is behind realising the creation of the famed Difference Engine No 2 which has just gone on display in Silicon Valley.

The reason the machine is so highly regarded is because it is seen as the first attempt at automated computing and viewed as something of a missing link in technology history.

Designed by the 19th Century computer pioneer Charles Babbage, the Difference Engine No 2 is a piece of Victorian technology meant to compute mathematical expressions called polynomials and return results to more than 31 digits, knocking the socks off your souped up pocket calculator.

Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing has said winning the prestigious award in 2007 had been a "bloody disaster".

The increased media interest in her has meant that writing a full novel was next to impossible, she told Radio 4's Front Row.

Lessing, 88, also said she would probably now be giving up writing novels altogether.

Her latest book is the partly fictional memoir entitled Alfred and Emily.

Since her Nobel win she has been constantly in demand, she said.

"All I do is give interviews and spend time being photographed."

Speaking about her writing, she said: "It has stopped, I don't have any energy any more.