Albanians vote Sunday in legislative elections seen as critical for the EU membership aspirations of one of Europe's poorest countries. The EU has indicated that progress toward membership depends on peaceful elections.

AFP - Albanians go to the polls on Sunday for legislative elections seen as crucial for the European future of the country, with polls showing the two main rivals neck and neck.
  
Some 3.1 million voters are being asked to elect 140 parliamentary deputies for a four-year mandate in the election -- the seventh since the fall of communism in the 1990s -- choosing among 4,000 candidates representing 39 parties and coalitions.
  
Polls are to open at 7 am (0500 GMT) on Sunday and close 12 hours later.
  
Various surveys have put Prime Minister Sali Berisha's Democrats and Edi Rama's opposition Socialists close in the polls, seen as key to the country's hopes of joining the European Union.
  

The Czech Republic's presidency of the European Union, which ends on Tuesday, will not be remembered as a success. The country's government fell before it had even reached the half-way stage.  

The first Czech presidency of the EU got off to an intense start in January, thanks to the conflict in Gaza and the dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas supplies.

Yet the government of then-Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek won early praise, particularly for its diplomacy in the gas dispute.

Yet the government ran into trouble during the last week of March, when the Czech opposition succeeded in toppling Topolanek's government. The government was eventually replaced by an interim cabinet, but by then it had already become, in the eyes of many, something of a lame duck.

That view is disputed by Stefan Fule, Europe minister in the new caretaker government, who described the Czech's six-month presidency as "very successful."

When Russia and Georgia fought a five day war in 2008, NATO broke off military ties with Russia. But now, Russia and the alliance have agreed to start a new era of cooperation. 

After nearly a year with no formal ties, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his NATO counterparts on the Greek island of Corfu and re-convened the NATO-Russia Council. 

"The NATO-Russia Council is now back in gear. We agreed not to let disagreements bring the whole train to a halt. On Georgia, there are still fundamental differences ... (But) Russia needs NATO and NATO needs Russia," said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

And the fundamental differences between NATO and Russia will not go away, particularly when it comes to Georgia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia's recognition of two Georgian regions after last August's war is irreversible.

Two major Northern Irish Protestant paramilitary groups say they have destroyed their weapons to comply with a variety of peace agreements. After three decades of conflict, it's another step forward for diplomacy. 

Two of Northern Ireland's biggest loyalist paramilitary groups, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Red Hand Commando (RHC), say they have destroyed their weapons, and have promised to respect local laws. Another group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), said it has started destroying its weapons, too.

"The dark days are now behind us and it is time to move on," the UDA said in a statement. "There is no place for guns and violence in the new society we are building. It is time to work for a better future."

The groups, which advocate Northern Ireland remaining a part of Britain, are responsible for almost 1,000 murders of mainly Catholics during the bloody 30-year conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the region.

Berlusconi always seemed immune to scandal, but lurid reports of the sexual carousel of parties, models and money are taking their toll. Now the Catholic Church has turned on him.

There is a sudden stench of decay coming off the court of King Silvio.

The faithful retainers who have stood by him for decades, and grown immensely rich as a result, are still at his side: the pianist who tinkled along behind his singing on the cruise ships, the Sicilian lawyer fighting a long sentence for mafia crimes, the lawyer who did time for bribing Roman judges on Mr Berlusconi's account; none of them has dropped even a hint of dissidence or doubt in their padrone. But on the fringes of the circle, the unstoppable gusher of revelation and innuendo about the dozens of beautiful young women who flocked to his homes for all-night parties is beginning to do him palpable damage.

It is no longer only his political enemies in the media who are drawing attention to the grotesque spectacle of a 72-year-old Prime Minister cavorting with bimbos young enough to be his granddaughters. This week, after a long, pregnant silence, powerful forces in the Catholic Church have begun to speak out against his excesses. First it was L'Avvenire (The Future), the daily paper of the Italian bishops, which asked the Prime Minister to give Italy "clarification" about what had been going on. Then an important Catholic weekly, La Famiglia Cristiana, published stern comments about "moral decadence". And now three senior churchmen have criticised him publicly. One of them, the Bishop of Mazara del Vallo in Sicily, called on him to consider resigning. And one of the most powerful church figures in the country, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Bishops Conference, warned, without mentioning Mr Berlusconi by name, of "men drunk on a delirium of their own greatness, who touch the illusion of omnipotence and distort moral values".

French Prime Minister François Fillon said Saturday that the only way the government can make its retirement payments is to raise the retirement age from today's 60 years. Fillon has made lowering France's deficit a priority of his administration.

French Prime Minister François Fillon on Saturday said that the only way the government can make its retirement payments is to raise the legal retirement age.

 

"There is no other solution for saving the retirement system than working for a longer period," he said.

The Lisbon Treaty is expected to take a key step towards becoming law across the European Union this week when Germany's highest court rules that it is broadly compatible with the country's constitution.

The much-anticipated judgment will mean that only three out of the EU's 27 member states will still have to complete formal ratification of the treaty - Poland, the Czech Republic and Ireland.

The former two countries merely need their presidents' signatures on the legislation to finalise the process. Ireland, where voters rejected the Treaty last year, will stage a new referendum in October - with the government increasingly confident of a "Yes" vote this time round after the EU assured Ireland of its independence over taxation, security, defence, abortion, and workers' rights.

Politicians across Europe are now looking forward to a day when the controversial treaty gives the EU more streamlined institutions - with greater central power and, for the first time, a new "President of Europe" to represent all the member states around the world.

Advertising should be used for the purposes of selling. In Italy, for the past twenty years it has been used for the purposes of buying. It is a simple yet twisted mechanism. Three out of every four of the Country's television broadcasting frequencies have been allocated to a private citizen since time immemorial. The individual in question is none other than the psychodwarf, who has benefited from State concessions granted to him in return for a low fee. Bargain basement fees if the truth be told. In return for the use of these frequencies, he pays one percent of turnover. It is like one of us conceding the use of our apartment to someone else and then being satisfied with receiving one percent of the rent that he charges for it. Only someone that is totally insane or is looking for some other favour in return would do such a thing. This is precisely what the D'Alema Government did back in 1999 by introducing an ad-hoc law (pg. 32: law 488, art.27 clause 9, dated 23 December 1999).
The revenues that have been obtained via Publitalia have been immense. The Forza Italia party came into being thanks to Publitalia. A political-advertising creation, which grew thanks to the use of the world of advertising's persuasion and marketing techniques. A company party that was established to save the company and then to maintain and even increase advertising revenues. Many years ago already it was predicted that Italy would in future be moulded by television rather than by certain political parties or ideologies. Today instead, we see that Italy is the offspring of advertising and of its mechanisms. Advertising is in power.
The psychodwarf is urging advertisers to refrain from placing any of their advertising with the catastrophist media. This is like saying that people should only advertise in the optimistic media that denies the economic reality, in other words, only in his media. He is merely canvassing support for more advertising at a time when advertising revenues are crumbling. State controlled companies such as ENI, the Government Railways Company and ENEL spend vast amounts of money on advertising. What better investment could there be, from a political point of view, for Mediaset, the television business owned by none other than our Prime Minister himself? This is an extraordinary mechanism to say the least. Money from public companies funding a privately owned television broadcasting business that makes use of public broadcasting frequency concessions obtained at bargain basement prices. Money that has ensured, and that continues to ensure that the owner of said television business remains in power.
Advertising revenues control politics and information through a process of mass validation. It happens in a roundabout manner, so no one really notices what is happening. The major strength of this system, which is absolutely and unbelievably rotten to the core, is the advertising that is used as a bargaining chip and a source of power. An exchange of favours and a kind of protection racket that is perfectly legal and highly attractive, where the protection money is never extorted from anyone but is offered willingly. The only logical way forward for an Advertising Republic such as this is the boorish and trivial advertising spot that is currently being played out right before the very eyes of a totally dumbfounded world.

This is not only the worse global economic downturn of the post World War era, it is also the first serious global downturn of the modern era of globalization.  There is need for a global response to this global downturn.  But our responses are framed at the national level, and often take insufficient account of  the effect  on others.  The result is that there is less coordination than there should be, a smaller stimulus than would be optimal-and well less designed.  Every crisis comes to an end, and this one will too.  But a poorly designed stimulus means that the downturn will last longer, and the recovery will be slower, and more innocent victims will be hurt badly.  Among the innocent victims of this crisis are the many developing countries-even countries that have had good regulatory and macro-economic policies-far better than those pursued by the US and some European countries-are being badly affected.  While in the US, a financial crisis transformed itself into an economic crisis, in many developing countries, the economic downturn is creating a financial crisis.  While the U.S. may have the resources to bail out its banks and to stimulate its economy, the developing countries cannot.

A UN meeting later this month hopes to continue a global discussion that began at the earlier G-20 meetings, and hopes to extend the discussion to what went wrong, so that we can do a better job of preventing another such crisis.  The global politics of the meeting are complex.  Many of the 172 countries not members of the G-20 argue that decisions affecting the lives of their citizens should not be made a self-selected club, lacking political legitimacy; some of the members of the G-20-including the new members brought into the discussion for the first time as discussions expanded from the G-8 to the G-20-like it the way it is.  They would like to avoid too harsh criticism of the banks, or of the international economic institutions that not only didn't prevent the crisis, but also pushed the deregulatory policies that contributed so much to its creation and its rapid spread around the world.  Indeed, the G-20 turned to the IMF as the centerpiece of its response to the crisis for the developing countries. 

I chair a UN Commission of Technical Experts whose interim report hopefully will have some influence on the discussions.  Whether it will, and whether anything concrete comes out of the meeting, is too soon to tell.  The international community should realize, however, that what has been done by the G-20, while a good beginning, is just that-a beginning, and much more needs to be done.  Our preliminary report lists ten policies that need to be taken immediately, and ten deeper reforms in the global financial system on which work needs to be begun.  

With its soaring roof and light-filled spaces, Madrid's Barajas airport is a sign of the good times Spain has enjoyed.

But spend some time in the departure lounge and you can see the signs of the economic downturn.

There is raw emotion at the departure gates. Airlines say 25,000 Latin Americans have bought one-way tickets home.

Private equity attacks EU plan

The private equity industry has made a scathing attack on regulatory proposals from the European Union, saying they could restrict free movement of capital.

(...)

The EC's proposals, a response to public anger at the excessive risk-taking that led to the credit crisis, would require alternative fund managers to register, seek government authorisation, and disclose more about themselves and their investments.

The City of London - home to much of Europe's hedge fund and private equity industry - has criticised the added regulatory burden.

Left-leaning European politicians say the proposals do not go far enough.

Jonathan Russell, EVCA chairman and head of buy-outs at 3i, told the Financial Times he was confident of persuading governments to push for wholesale changes in the directive, especially after elections dealt heavy losses to the socialists, who were its main architects.

"The directive would be incredibly complicated - it could really be quite dangerous. You are in danger of clogging up the system," Mr Russell said.

"We can make quite a lot of difference. People in the European parliament and Commission don't want poor-quality legislation. Member states understand that and want . . . a workable solution."

Socialists are incompetent haters of freedom, and want to bring London  down. No wonder they are presented as bumbling...

SPD adopts sober tone to match prudent times

The Federation of German Women Entrepreneurs is not a club the left-of-centre Social Democratic party would normally define as its core audience.

So when Franz Müntefering, the SPD chairman, addressed the association recently at Berlin's Hyatt hotel, braving mild scepticism and an eye-watering mist of Chanel No 5 perfume, he was not exactly on home ground.

However, these are desperate times for Germany's oldest party and junior partner in the national unity government of Angela Merkel, the chancellor.

(...)

Having run an unapologetically leftwing European campaign, calling for higher wages and denouncing "finance sharks", the SPD is now repainting itself as pragmatic and sober to match the prudent zeitgeist.

Beyond the insulting description of female entrepreneurs, the socialists are described as having lost in the European elections for being too lefty rather than not enough, and the commentary is about how they are "desperate" and "opportunistic"...

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

Crisis - What Crisis? Lessons Learned - What Lessons?

Let us remember that very few months ago bankers and politicians alike threw ashes on their heads and promised both to repent and reform: this was .....

Today, both groups like to talk about "green shoots", of narrowing spreads, of a reversal of the stock market crash, and so on: optimism is in full swing, at least as far as the financial sector is concerned. However, I have the uneasy feeling that they just want to get on where they were stopped before they got us into the biggest financial and economic crisis in 70 years. Lessons learned? - We don't want state interference! Repent? - Let's pay back government money so we can finally get our deserved 2008 bonuses! Reform? Let us not destroy the green shoots, no heavy-handed regulation, especially not on an international level! Remuneration Reform? We want to create value for the shareholders!

Read the whole post. Nothing that would surprise regulars here, but a well written summary of the current situation, made all the more interesting by the fact that the writer is a a(n Austrian) member of the board of the European Investment Bank.

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

A Recession Measured by New-Home Sales

There have been bad housing markets before, but never in post-World War II history has the market for new homes suffered as badly as it has in this decline.

(...)

At the peak of the housing boom in 2005, sales of both existing and new homes were running at twice the 1976 rate. This year, the sales rate for existing homes seems to have stabilized at about one-third higher than the 1976 rate. New-home sales also seem to have stabilized, but at about half the 1976 rate.

The second chart reflects the same data, but shows how far sales fell from peak levels during each downturn in the past. The plunge in sales of existing homes is severe but not unprecedented. But new-home sales are now running at only about a quarter of peak levels, a fall far deeper than anything seen since the statistics began being collected in the 1960s.

New-home prices, while they have fallen sharply, do not appear to have declined as far as prices of existing homes. At the worst point this year, the median price of existing homes was off 29 percent from the peak, while the largest drop for new-home prices was 23 percent.

(...)

It may be that builders will have to cut prices even more to sell some houses -- houses that, in retrospect, probably should never have been built at all.

Germany and France need to sing in tune

Germany, as I argued last week, is heading in the direction of a zero level of government debt in the long run as a consequence of a new constitutional balanced-budget law.

(...)

Now, Germany is a country with a large current account surplus, or excess of domestic savings over domestic investments - 6.6 per cent of GDP in 2008 and 7.6 per cent the year before. It is no surprise therefore that German banks have been hit so heavily by the securitisation crisis. They had to channel masses of surplus savings abroad. In the event, they bought US subprime mortgages and their derivative products.

They will not repeat the same mistake, but they will still be facing a problem. If Germany's national debt converges towards zero, Germany's surplus savers will have to invest huge amounts of their savings outside the country, since the supply of German government bonds will diminish over time as the outstanding stock of debt is depleted.

Now this is where Mr Sarkozy's bad deficits come in. Most German savers, especially pension funds, will want to invest in euro-denominated government debt, which, for practical purposes in this scenario, means French debt, because no other domestic European bond market is sufficiently large and mature. As a result France may enjoy a version of America's exorbitant privilege.

(...)

How long can this go on? Imbalances can last a long time, but they do not last for ever. Something will have to give. It could be that future generations of German politicians find ingenious ways around the balanced budget law. Or that they find a two-thirds majority to overturn it. Or that Mr Sarkozy or his successors follow Germany into a future of austerity. But as long as one of those three events fails to happen, Germany may discover that unilateral fiscal rigour in a monetary union could prove extremely costly.

Munchau brings up an intriguing way to kick start growth in Europe: have France spend German money (presumably to buy German goods). That does not resolve the main problem of weak-ish incomes, but it could actually be a workable solution in the short and medium term for Europe, and I don't think a situation where France would owe tons of money to Germany be either unsustainable or even seen as a problem. After all, the Germans could just come and enjoy a bit more some holidays in France to solve that...

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

President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras has been arrested by army troops ahead of a controversial constitutional referendum on whether to allow him to run for re-election. The referendum had been opposed by elements within the military.

Reuters - Honduran soldiers detained leftist President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday in a constitutional crisis over his attempt to win re-election, government officials said.  

Troops took Zelaya, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, from his residence to an unknown location, Eduardo Reina, the president's private secretary, told Reuters.

Iran has arrested eight staff members at the British embassy in Tehran (pictured) on accusations of having a role in post-election riots. Iran's foreign minister has said ties with Britain may be downgraded after both governments expelled diplomats.

AFP - Iran has arrested eight local staff at the British embassy in Tehran on accusations of having a role in post-election riots, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

"Eight members of the local staff at the British embassy who had a considerable role in the recent riots have been arrested," the agency said without quoting a source.

The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet.

Both nations agree that cyberspace is an emerging battleground. The two sides are expected to address the subject when President Obama visits Russia next week and at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November, according to a senior State Department official.

But there the agreement ends.

Russia favors an international treaty along the lines of those negotiated for chemical weapons and has pushed for that approach at a series of meetings this year and in public statements by a high-ranking official.

The United States is to dramatically overhaul its anti-drug strategy in Afghanistan, phasing out its opium poppy eradication programme, the US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan has said.

Richard Holbrooke said on Saturday that poppy eradication - for years a cornerstone of US and UN drug trafficking efforts in the country - was not working and was only driving Afghan farmers into the hands of the Taliban.

"Eradication is a waste of money," Holbrooke said on the sidelines of a G8 foreign ministers' meeting on Afghanistan, during which he briefed regional representatives on the new policy.

"It might destroy some acreage, but it didn't reduce the amount of money the Taliban got by one dollar.

"It just helped the Taliban. So we're going to phase out eradication," he said.

A public hearing organised by a UN team investigating alleged war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza war is under way.

The public hearings, which are a part of the information-gathering work of the fact-finding mission, will enable victims, witnesses and experts from all sides in the conflict to speak directly to the international community.

Obama included a five-paragraph signing statement with the bill, including a final paragraph that outlined his objections to at least four areas of the bill....

"Provisions of this bill...would interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations by directing the Executive to take certain positions in negotiations or discussions with international organizations and foreign governments, or by requiring consultation with the Congress prior to such negotiations or discussions," Obama said in a statement. "I will not treat these provisions as limiting my ability to engage in foreign diplomacy or negotiations," he added.

The sections in question would compel the administration to direct its World Bank representatives to pressure that institution to use metrics that "fairly represent the value of internationally recognized workers' rights. Organized labor groups had pushed for a revision of those standards.

The World Bank section would also push the bank to account for the costs of greenhouse gas in pricing out projects, and would require development banks to more fully disclose operating budgets....

According to the University of California at Santa Barbara's "American Presidency Project," Obama has issued five other signing statements since taking office.

Hmmm 'War Bill'? | CBS | 18 June 2009

The Senate passed the measure on a one-sided 91-5 vote despite complaints from several senators about the add-ons that pushed the total more than $20 billion above the funding request Obama made two months ago. The House approved the bill on Wednesday by a much closer 226-202 vote.

The White House and its Democratic allies insisted that this will be the last time Congress will be compelled to pass an emergency war bill, or supplemental, that is outside the normal budget process and thus goes directly to an increase in the national debt.

a/k/a H.R. 2346 a/k/a Gitmo Relocation Manual

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Jonathon Porritt steps down from Blair's sustainability commission with UK still second-worst greenhouse gas emitter in Europe

When it comes to environmental sustainability, the prognosis is grim: Britain is "winning battles, but still losing the war".

The UK is failing to hit a raft of key targets on sustainable living, according to a new report to be published this week. In its critical analysis, released on Wednesday, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) warns that progress on a number of green targets has been "undermined by stasis or even reversion". Jonathon Porritt, outgoing SDC chair and one-time "green guru" to Tony Blair, claims sustainability plays second fiddle to the drive for consumption-driven economic growth. "The thing that stands out is the very limited progress we've made on reducing inequity in our society... it's a startling indictment of this Government that more people will be living in fuel poverty at the time of next election than were living in fuel poverty in 1997," he said.

The "review of progress on sustainable development" details how the "Securing the Future" strategy launched by Tony Blair in 2005 has failed in a number of areas. It says Britain remains the EU's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases and is not on track to meet its target of a 20 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010.

Kashmir's Dal Lake is dying, choked by algae that thrives on pollution. But a plan to clean it up threatens the livelihoods of local people

On the east of the lake boatmen were hauling out weeds on behalf of the local authorities. On this side, however, the boatmen gathering the dark-green algae were farmers collecting it for their own use. Mr Dar, 62, who has been working as a boatman for 50 years, paddled to one of the lake's numerous floating gardens where, on a buoyant "field" made of reeds and composted weeds, the farmers raise a variety of crops.

"I grow tomatoes, melons, cucumbers and marrows," said Gulam Hassan, who was gathering weeds, leaning with all his weight on the supple willow pole to lever his dripping green haul from the water.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Paris and Berlin to take part in Gay Pride parades and call for equal rights. US actress and diva Liza Minnelli lent her star power to the event ahead of a performance in the French capital.

AFP - Hundreds of thousands on Saturday marched through Paris and Berlin in flamboyant Gay Pride parades with US showbiz diva and gay icon Liza Minnelli mesmerising crowds in the French capital.
   
Minnelli, who takes to the stage later Saturday in the French capital, a city which also holds fond memories for the star of her film director father, dazzled with a brief dance routine.
   
"Freedom," she cried, dancing on a float festooned with multi-coloured balloons in the gay movement's symbolic rainbow hues.
   
Organisers said about 700,000 people attended the event but police put the number at some 200,000.

European leaders have assembled in the Hungarian capital Budapest to mark the 20th anniversary of the symbolic fall of the Iron Curtain that divided the continent during the four tense decades of the Cold War. 

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  German President Horst Koehler stressed the role Hungary played in the fall of the Iron Curtain

Heads of state and government of over a dozen European nations including Germany, Austria, Finland, Slovenia and Switzerland, as well as top officials from Poland and Britain, were among dignitaries from more than 20 countries joining a commemorative session at the Hungarian parliament.

German President Horst Koehler thanked Hungarians for their solidarity with the East Germans and their contributions to German unity.

"I would like to express my gratitude to the Hungarian people for their bravery, attitude and support toward the East Germans," he said.

Thousands of people lined the streets on Saturday to celebrate Britain's first Armed Forces Day.

Side by side they marched, the veterans of World War II and the serving soldiers of more recent conflicts, age and youth united in the pride of service to their country.

All across Britain on Saturday, thousands thronged the streets - from Aberdeen to Worthing, from Barnet to Birmingham - to celebrate Britain's first Armed Forces Day.

This multi-millionaire had a beautiful wife, a string of gay lovers, a budding career as a Hollywood producer, and links to the Kremlin. Then a year ago he vanished -- leaving a web of sordid intrigue behind him.

Wanted by prosecutors in Moscow over a bitter business dispute, the Russian-born American multi-millionaire had sought refuge in London. He moved his wife and three-year-old son to Mayfair and liked to lunch at the Wolseley on Piccadilly and dine at Nobu, a trendy Japanese restaurant. He bought a £3m mansion and co-founded the business free sheet City AM.

An indefatigable partygoer, Leonid Rozhetskin found London staid compared to Los Angeles, where he had lived briefly after fleeing Russia. But, recall his friends, it was more suitable for his family. And crucially, it was where he felt safest. In mid-March last year, however, Rozhetskin, who had fallen out with a powerful Kremlin insider, felt he had to get away from London and the family for the weekend. Lulled into a false sense of security, he boarded his private jet and headed for Latvia, the former Soviet state.

Rozhetskin had not visited his luxury villa on the country's Gulf of Riga for months. Only a three-hour drive to the east, the border with Russia was too close for comfort. But, by now, the murky business dispute that had made him flee Russia was all but resolved. Few people knew he was flying in, and he would only stay for 48 hours. He would be safe, or so he reasoned, and set off without bodyguards.

Kumari Mayawati Das, the low-caste champion who became a political star in the run-up to the recent Indian general elections, has become embroiled in fraud allegations, amid accusations that success has gone to her head.

But even that crisis is dwarfed by the scale of the latest disaster to befall the 53-year-old politician. An investigation by the income tax authorities into her vast personal fortune has concluded that she has been dramatically understating the scale of her income for a number of years. As a result, she is now facing a 100m rupees tax bill (£1.25m) after the revenue decided her real income for one year alone [2006-7] was 220m rupees, rather than the 22m she had declared.

At the root of the financial inquiry is the question of whether the millions of rupees presented to Mayawati every year by supporters and those seeking favour as "birthday presents" constitute income. The investigators think so and are determined to overturn an earlier decision to grant her tax relief on the "presents". They believe the "presents" amount to income and noted that after her birthday her bank balance swelled significantly.

The band put together to get the Swedish brand guru a girlfriend just completed its summer mini-tour with a gig in Stockholm. The singer has laryngitis, so my daughter stepped in at the last moment. I went along for the ride.

You can't be me, I'm taken