WESTERN EUROPE
In the British general elections a row over tax and spending has dominate
d the opening days of the campaign. The dispute between the Conservatives and Labour over payroll tax and public spending has eclipsed worries about a large budget deficit.
In the Netherlands, according to PVV’s party leader Geert Wilders, a ban on headscarves for city council workers and in all institutions and clubs which get local authority money will be the most important point in the party´s negotiations to join governing coalitions in Almere and the Hague.
Meanwhile the European rights chief while urging politicians to promote understanding of different cultures has warned that a ban on face-veil would violate individual privacy rights and alienate Muslim women.
The Guardian reports that French Muslims of North African descent have spending power worth an estimated of 5.5bn euros a year. The young ones want high-end halal luxuries and a range of halal cuisines, rather than the foods that their parents grew up with.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Polish President Lech Kaczynski, 60, along with the country's highest military and civilian leaders died last week when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 97 people. On board were the army chief of staff, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers. The plane was taking the president and his delegation to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of 22,000 Polish officers in KATYN forest by Soviet secret police. Reflecting the sensitivity of the incident on bilateral relations, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has personally assumed charge of the investigation.
Putin also made an unprecedented gesture of good will to Poland by attending the memorial ceremony for 22,000 Poles executed by Soviet secret police during World War. However after attending the solemn event he said Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the atrocity as revenge for the death of Red Army soldiers in Polish prisoner of war camps in 1920.
Last week US President Barack Obama wrapped up a two-day visit to the Czech Republic that saw the signing of a new US- Russian nuclear arms control treaty.
In Slovakia, several groups have sought to make an election issue out of the questions of nationhood and ethnic minorities. Meanwhile, the Czechs look like they might swing to the left. The Czech voters will choose their next government on May 28-29, while in Slovakia the general election is scheduled for June 12.
According to Hungary’s national election office OVI after processing 99% of the votes, the country's center-right opposition party headed by FIDESZ got 52.8% of the vote in last week’s first round of parliamentary elections, while all other parties gained considerably less support. The second round of the elections is scheduled for April 25.
Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych during a meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week reiterated his country's willingness to strengthen strategic partnership with Russia. Meanwhile The Ukrainian president has dissolved the government's commission working toward NATO membership. The move has buried the ambitious pro-NATO policies by his predecessor, Orange Revolution hero Viktor Yushchenko.
On the economic front, according to a report of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Poland's GDP may rise 3 percent this year and up to 3.6 percent in 2011.
Czech consumer prices rose by 0.3 percent on the month in March, putting year-on-year inflation at 0.7 percent. According to the Central bank, it saw inflation near the 2 percent target in the first half of 2011, the bank's policy horizon.
Latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that the total external debt of Belarus in 2010 would reach the highest level in history to take up some 52 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
Ukraine's Finance Ministry has received offers from nine lenders as the government prepares to sell Eurobonds after it resumed talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The ministry is still receiving offers from banks across the globe, including the United States and Japan.
According to reports The Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were in the top four in unemployment among European Union countries in February. Latvia led with a 21.7 % unemployment rate, followed by Spain at 19%, Lithuania 15.8%, and Estonia at 15.5% jobless rate. The average unemployment rate in the 27-member European Union member states was 9.6 % in February.
Several local start-up software developers attended the first Czech Republic Microsoft Business Academy held in Brno last week
More than 20,000 Lithuanians have signed an electronic petition to the government against the planned construction of a nuclear power station in neighboring Belarus for the safety of 500,000 inhabitants around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the planned site of the plant. Belarus plans to build a new nuclear plant that could possibly export energy to Lithuania. Lithuania agreed to close its own Soviet-era IGNALINA nuclear station by 2009 as part of its 2004 EU accession agreement.
Estonia's banking, media and government presence online was disrupted by several waves of distributed denial of service attacks that knocked services offline. The country is heavily wired - 90 percent of all financial transactions are conducted over the Internet and 70 percent of the population files their tax returns electronically.
RUSSIA
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations has introduced a draft resolution to the Security Council calling for new measures to ensure Somali pirates are punished when they are caught.
As USA President 
Obama signed a landmark arms-control treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week, a chorus of skeptics in Russia has raised concerns that Moscow may have conceded too much in the deal. Meanwhile according to officials the Obama administration plans to send the new arms-control treaty package with Russia to Congress by the end of April, hoping for ratification by year's end.
Russian Prime Minister and a top Foreign Ministry official have strongly condemned suggestions that Russia could be involved in the disturbances in Kyrgyzstan.
In a statement from the kremlin, President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law amendments to legislation on economic crimes that should increase the use of bail for suspects awaiting trial and cut abuse of the system.
On the economic front the first Russian-Arab cooperation forum is expected to be held in the capital of Russia, Moscow, by the end of 2010.
The Nord Stream pipeline project was laid last week in PORTOVAYA Bay, north of St. Petersburg, Russia. The dual-pipeline project, the first phase of which is to be completed in 2011, will allow Russia to pump its natural gas directly under the Baltic Sea to Germany. But the project has been hugely contentious in Europe, especially for Poland, who accused Germany of going behind the backs of its Eastern European neighbors by forging a closer energy alliance with Russia. The European Union obtains nearly 45 % of its gas imports from Russia, while 70 % of Russia’s gas exports are earmarked for the 27-country bloc.
Russian president Medvedev arrived in Slovakia last week to take part in activities commemorating the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe and liberation of former Czechoslovakia. In 2008, the bilateral trade exchange between Russia and Slovakia reached the record USD 9.6 billion, but in 2009 it dropped to a half of the figure. An important point in the Bratislava talks was the extension of the broad-gauge railway from the Ukrainian-Slovak border to Vienna, which would for the first time directly connect central Europe with the Russian railway system, including the Trans-Siberian Railway.
A joint Russian-US project has created a new 117-proton element, provisionally called ununseptium, making the second heaviest substance created thus far.
According to reports Over 4,000 Russian inmates died in 2009. There are currently 861,867 people imprisoned across Russia. The country's prisons are notorious for their overcrowding and the high incidence of infectious diseases.
US/CANADA
Last week in the USA a prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group welcomed reports from Pakistan that American Al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn has been arrested. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also repudiated Gadahn’s latest call to violence contained in an Al-Qaeda video released recently.
LATIN AMERICA
President Cristina Kirchner admitted last week that Argentina would never succeed in claiming the Falkland Islands by military force. However she expressed the hope that diplomatic and political pressure would wrest them away from Britain.
China's Ministry of Commerce recently suggested that its traders cancel soy oil cargoes from Argentina due to sanitary problems, a move that elicited objections from the Argentine government. Argentina, Latin America's No. 3 economy, is facing a financing crunch this year to meet debt obligations of up to $15 billion.
Under Brazil's electoral law, the deadline for departure from government positions to participate in general elections is April 3, six months before the elections. 10 Brazilian ministers quit their posts last week in this stead. The most notable departing minister is Dilma Rousseff, who has been handpicked by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as his successor. Meanwhile Lula da Silva called for continuity of government policies and plans in the first cabinet meeting following the pre election reshuffle.
President Dmitry Medvedev visited Argentina and Brazil last week, as Russia strengthens relationships in a region long influenced heavily by the United States. Preceding that, in his first visit to Venezuela Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered Russian assistance to help the nation set up its own space industry, including a satellite launch site. The two nations also agreed on a joint oil production project worth $20 billion. Meanwhile President Hugo Chavez affirmed last week that Venezuela and Russia are forging a strategic alliance aimed at the establishment of a new international order based on multilateralism.
Chinese President Hu Jintao is also expected to pay visits to Brazil, Chile and Venezuela this month.
Venezuela’s main thermoelectric plant, Planta Centro, was shut down last week due to failures in five of its generating units, exacerbating the country’s worsening electricity crisis.
Mexico’s Finance Ministry raised its forecast for economic growth this year to 4.1%, which would be the fastest pace in a decade, as U.S. shoppers increase demand for the country’s exports.
AUSTRALASIA
According to latest Roy Morgan findings a clear majority (81%) of Australians do not want Australia’s population to exceed 35 million by 2040.
Australians are more divided on the question of immigration where 46% say immigration should ‘remain about the same,’ while 39% say immigration should ‘be reduced’ and just 11% say immigrations should ‘be increased.’ §
d the opening days of the campaign. The dispute between the Conservatives and Labour over payroll tax and public spending has eclipsed worries about a large budget deficit.
Obama signed a landmark arms-control treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week, a chorus of skeptics in 
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