About 6,000 polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0500GMT). More than four million eligible voters have until 10:00 pm (2000GMT) to cast their ballots with results expected during the night.

Incumbent Ivan Gasparovic, 68, a lawyer and experienced politician, won the first round election two weeks ago with 46.7 percent of the vote -- well ahead of his female rival Iveta Radicova, 52, who scored 38 percent.

"I chose the female candidate because I trust her," said 76-year-old pensioner Anita in the centre of the capital Bratislava.

"I voted for Slovakia, I don't want any Obama here," said another pensioner, who refused to give her name, referring to Radicova's campaign slogan "Yes, we can," borrowed from US President Barack Obama.

...In the last few days, the campaign has centered around nationalist issues, as the country is home to two large minorities, Romas in the east, and Hungarians in the south. Radicova won several southern regions inhabited mostly by the Hungarian minority who make up 10 percent of the population.

(That's an understatement... the hate'nationalist' campaign was ugly. Even in both television debates, the main sparring was about autonomy and Beneš decrets and Radičová's support from the Hungarian minority party.)
 

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

Czech dailies write open letter to US president, EU leaders

Czech dailies on Saturday published an open letter to US President Barack Obama and European Union leaders, protesting a recently introduced law they say restricts press freedom. The law, which took effect April 1 prohibits the publication of police wiretappings and bans media from naming the victims of crimes. Sentences for breaking the legislation dubbed "muzzle law" run to five years behind bars and fines of up to five million crowns (225,000 dollars). The dailies said they'd published the open letter in order to highlight the problem and trigger a discussion on the necessity of freedom of speech.

Brown gives grudging blessing to his old rival's return to new job at centre of the global stage

Tony Blair has emerged as the leading candidate to become the first permanent president of the European Union after Gordon Brown gave his grudging blessing to the plan. The former prime minister has stepped up his campaign for the job, which he wants to use to build a bridge between Europe and the new Obama administration.

His return to the global stage would be a shock to his critics over the Iraq war and dismay many in Europe.

But The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Mr Brown has accepted that his old rival should be in pole position for the appointment, on the basis that Britain needs to have a key figure in the architecture of the "new world order".

("Islamic propaganda?... These people are hideous.)


*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

the race is all but over before the upcoming election on April 9, with current President Abdelaziz Bouteflika virtually unopposed and expected to easily win a third term.

 
The 79-year old strongman has been in power since 1999. Facing off against six little-known candidates from minor parties, Bouteflika will almost certainly keep the top job another five years.

...This collective boycott denounces the constitutional reform passed on November 12, 2008, by which Bouteflika, as well as future presidents, are no longer limited to two five-year terms in office.

The opposition have nicknamed the reform the 'Tunisian syndrome', in reference to Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's longstanding reign....

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai ordered a review on Saturday of a new law that has been criticized internationally for introducing Taliban-era restrictions on women and sanctioning marital rape.

The president defended the law, which concerns family law for the Shiite minority, and said Western news media reports were misinformed. Nevertheless, he said his justice minister would review it and make amendments if the law was found to contravene the Constitution and the freedoms that it guarantees.

"The Western media have either mistranslated or taken incorrect information and then published it," Mr. Karzai said at a news briefing in the presidential palace on Saturday. "If there is anything in contradiction with our Constitution or Shariah, or freedoms granted by the Constitution, we will take action in close consultation with the clerics of the country."

A Cambodian government spokesman, Khieu Kanharith, said that in addition to the four fatalities, 10 Thai troops had been seized after two separate clashes. But Thailand said just one soldier was killed and seven injured, and that none had been taken.

The fighting is the latest violence to break out near the cliff-top Preah Vihear temple. It is located on the Cambodian side of an ill-defined border that has led to conflict between the two neighbours for several decades.

Einigung auf Generalsekretär Rasmussen: Obama rettet Nato-Regierungen vor Gipfelblamage - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik		Agreement on chief secretary Rasmussen: Obama saves Nato governments of summit disgrace - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - Politics
Weltstaatsmann in Aktion: Barack Obama hat die Gastgeber Deutschland und Frankreich vor einem Fiasko des Nato-Gipfels bewahrt - er bewegte die Türken dazu, ihren Widerstand gegen den künftigen Nato-Chef Rasmussen aufzugeben. Die Wende brachte ein Telefonat des US-Präsidenten.		Global statesman in action: Barack Obama saved hosts Germany and France from a fiasco of the NATO summit - he moved the Turks[sic!] to give up on their resistance against the future Nato chief Rasmussen. The turn was brought by a call from the U.S. President.

Sick, aint't it? Both the choice of Rasmussen and SPIEGEL's glowing Atlanticism. But here is the actual info SPIEGEL had:

Der entscheidende Impuls ging demnach wohl von den USA aus. Obama redete mit Gül und telefonierte mit Erdogan, dessen Bedenken er angeblich ausräumte. Erdogan sagte, er habe von Obama Garantien erhalten. Angeblich soll es dabei um den in Dänemark stationierten kurdischen TV-Sender Roj TV gegangen sein, aber auch um einen möglichen Top-Nato-Posten für die Türkei.		The decisive impulse was thus probably from the U.S.. Obama talked with [President] Gül and telephoned with [PM] Erdogan, whose concerns he allegedly cleared up. Erdogan said he had received guarantees from Obama. Supposedly this is about the Denmark-based Kurdish TV station Roj TV, but also a potential top NATO post for Turkey.
Keine dieser Informationen konnte am Ende des Gipfels bestätigt werden...		None of this information could be confirmed by the end of the summit...

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance is giving "serious consideration" to a proposal from the construction industry to launch an infrastructure bond that would help fund major capital projects.

The proposal was submitted by the Construction Industry Council (CIC), which represents a wide range of parties in the construction sector here, and includes input from the Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM), the umbrella body for pension fund managers.

It is understood that the bond could be structured in such a way that it would effectively be an off-balance sheet investment in relation to the Government's exchequer finances.

The Independent has learnt that the Prime Minister will report back to the next gathering of G20 leaders in September in New York on how the IMF can be overhauled.

The organisation was created in 1944 to bring stability to an international financial system shattered by the Second World War. But the Government believes it has become too much of a "commentator" on events rather than trying to shape them. It wants a new-style IMF to be able to aid countries when economic problems loom rather than acting as a port of last call when they face bankruptcy. The makeover is also aimed at removing the stigma countries feel at having to turn to the IMF for emergency help.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU countries Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as non-EU member Switzerland, have not been put on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation's (OECD) blacklist of non-co-operative financial centres.

Instead, they figure on a so-called "grey" list of eight countries that "have committed to the internationally agreed tax standard, but have not yet substantially implemented" it.

In addition, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are listed among the 30 "tax havens" that also have yet to "substantially implement" the international tax standards.

Ireland's ballooning deficit, which led Standard & Poor's to cut its prized AAA credit rating, has fed doubts about how well the euro zone is equipped to handle such strains.

But the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) said the bloc was a safety net for its members.

"The euro area belonging represents for any country ... a formidable help which should not be underestimated," ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Prague.

...Lenihan has warned that the shortfall could hit 12.75 percent of GDP for all of 2009, easily the highest in the EU, unless action is taken.

Demonstrators, in the hundreds of thousands, marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday in a protest organised by the CGIL, Italy's largest trade union, against Silvio Berlusconi's government's response to the economic crisis.

 

"This is a day we will remember for a long time," said Guglielmo Epifani, general secretary of the CGIL. "There are so many of us. We represent the part of Italy that works, the pensioners, those without stable jobs."

 

"I wish the government would pause and think about the seriousness of this crisis, I wish the government would try and do more against it," he told journalists during the protest.

The powerful Commons Treasury Committee says all charities should be compensated for their losses as a one-off measure and has called for new guidelines to govern their investments.

But MPs said that it would be "perverse to reward" council authorities who also lost money in the collapse.

Estimates suggest local authorities had £953m deposited with Icelandic banks when the crisis broke. The committee said that some councils had managed the risks better than others.

They said: "Local authorities are required to take their own decisions on the level of prudent, affordable capital investment. They have a duty to the taxpayer diligently to protect the money they are investing on their behalf. Under these circumstances it would seem perverse to reward those authorities who failed to protect their investment with yet more money from the taxpayer."

The Local Government Association (LGA) criticised the report, saying it was inconsistent to bail out charities but not councils. Margaret Eaton, the chairwoman of the LGA, said: "There must be a consistent and fair approach to compensation. If charities are to be compensated why should there be no relief whatsoever for the council taxpayer? Councils provide vital services to society's most vulnerable people.

Sir Fred Goodwin will not be making a voluntary reduction in his £703,000-a-year pension despite a direct plea from the current chairman of RBS to yield to mounting public and political outrage over the size of his pay-off.

...RBS shareholders jeered and heckled the bank's current directors at the group's annual general meeting in Edinburgh yesterday.

Earlier they had rejected the group's new remuneration report containing details of Sir Fred's controversial pension pot. It was opposed by 90.4 per cent of shareholders, the overwhelming majority of whom made up the Government's controlling stake in the group managed by UK Financial Investments, which voted against the report. The vote is advisory, and the defeat will have no impact on Sir Fred's pension deal.

A study of computer models of the Arctic region has found that the vast expanse of floating sea ice that covers the region is far more vulnerable to rapid melting than earlier studies had assumed. The latest analysis found that virtually all the sea ice in the Arctic will have melted during the summer months by 2037, and that it may even disappear as soon as the summer of 2020. Previous studies had suggested that this was unlikely to happen until at least the end of the century.

AFP - Pfizer has agreed to pay 75 million dollars compensation over a 1996 drug trial that caused the death of 11 children in northern Nigeria, a source close to negotiations said Friday.
  
"Pfizer has agreed to pay the sum of 75 million dollars in compensation and the Kano state government has agreed to the offer," said the source, who did not want to be identified.
  
The source said a separate 6.5-billion-dollar suit lodged against the US drug firm by the Nigerian federal government will be dropped under the terms of the settlement.

A study into slumber has found that the nerve connections built up in the brain during a busy day are pruned back during the night in an attempt to keep the mind from overloading on junk information.

The findings lend support to the idea that a good night's sleep is essential for consolidating important memories of the previous day and getting rid of things that would otherwise clog up the system.

Rail passengers travelling between London and the North-west are set to enjoy new vistas over Easter. Instead of the humdrum landscapes punctuated by Hemel Hempstead, Bletchley and Rugby, they will drift through the Chiltern Hills, past picturesque villages.

And they will have plenty of time to enjoy the view; the journey from Nuneaton to Euston is scheduled to take three hours - triple the typical trip time.

After £9bn of investment, and years of disruption, the new timetable on the West Coast Main Line was brought in shortly before Christmas. Yet the key stretch of track between Rugby and Milton Keynes will be closed for engineering work over Easter, adding hours to many passengers' journeys and no doubt persuading some to switch from rail to road.

...The railway systems of Switzerland and Britain are similar: each has networks with trains at the same times each hour. Operations are split over operators. Fares are high for "walk-up" customers but there are alternatives. Yet while the Swiss believe trains should connect - cross-platform transfers are one or two minutes - in Britain the mindset is to disconnect.

As Docklands barricades come down and the winking lights of departing foreign leaders' jets fade into the dusk sky, Gordon Brown must move from one world back into another - ours.

Matthew Parris may be writing from a right wing perspective, but IMHO has a lovely turn of phrase.

But for Mr Brown this weekend, the few miles back from the ExCeL centre to Downing Street must be like the thousands traversed back from a lovely fly-now-pay-later foreign holiday. The sun has shone, the sea has sparkled, food came on trays borne by waiters, and it's all been grand.

Now come the reality and the drizzle. The front door will barely open because of the bills accumulating on the doormat, weeds have overtaken the lawn, and a pile of neglected washing-up is sprouting mould in the sink.

...unlike her outspoken husband Prince Philip, the Queen is always careful to keep her real opinions about the politicians she meets firmly under her hat.

But on the eve of the G20 summit, the grating tones of one boisterous Italian gentleman proved too much for even her practised royal ears to bear. After posing for the traditional "family" photograph at Buckingham Palace with the G20 leaders, Her Majesty was caught on film raising her arms in exasperation and openly berating Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, for unduly raising his voice.

...The author of the footage, which was uploaded to the Italian YouTube site within hours, remains unknown. Visitors to Buckingham Palace are forbidden from recording anything using mobile phones or video cameras.

Yesterday, the incident made the front page of almost every Italian newspaper, with most using the opportunity to criticise Mr Berlusconi, 72, for bringing shame on his country. One cartoon showed a visibly distressed Queen putting her fingers in her ears as he shouted out, under a caption which read: "The Voice of Italy".