Dutch voters, after rejecting a draft constitution for Europe four years ago, delivered a solid bloc for anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders to take to Europe’s parliament, exit polls showed Thursday.
Underscoring skepticism over further European integration, Wilders’ right-wing Freedom Party appeared set to win four out of 25 contested seats in elections for the European Parliament being held over the next four days.
Wilders, who says the Koran incites violence, said he would stop Turkey’s bid to join the bloc, an issue that causes deep fissures among the 27 European Union member …

As one of the Australian government’s most senior ministers, Joel Fitzgibbon has overseen some important policy shifts in just over 18 months in office.
There was a new defence policy paper; a radical reform program for an at-times resentful defence department; and there were big changes in Australia’s role in two major conflicts, in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

A beautiful woman glances seductively over her shoulder from a billboard on a busy Beirut thoroughfare. But it isn’t perfume or shampoo she’s selling: It’s politics.
The ad, which urges women to “be beautiful and vote,” was one of the more controversial campaign advertisements rolled out by parliamentary candidate Gen. Michel Aoun, whose party is allied with the Islamist group Hezbollah and is expected to make gains in national elections Sunday.

Beleaguered by Labor Party plotters hoping to unseat him and by the prospect of disastrous local election results for Labor that are expected on Friday morning, Prime Minister Gordon Brown chose on Thursday to send out aides avowing to reporters, anonymously, that there was “no chance” he would resign.
The prime minister’s move, reported by the BBC and the Web sites of several British newspapers, surprised nobody, given Mr. Brown’s trademark as a political pit bull. He has a reputation for fighting his corner with a tenacity born of the decade …

Italians are always scornful about the obsession of the “Anglo-Saxon” media with the private lives of the rich and famous, but for the past month the Italian newspapers have been preoccupied with one subject and one subject only: the relationship between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a young woman from Naples called Noemi Letizia.
Mr Berlusconi has been caught out telling numerous lies about the relationship and refuses to explain them. And with important elections pending, his popularity, at an all-time high only six weeks ago, may be eroding.

Iran has blocked its citizens from accessing the social networking site Facebook to allegedly prevent campaigning before June’s presidential poll for a leading opposition candidate.
The local ILNA news agency reported on Saturday the prohibition of use of the site for several days.
The elections are on June 12.
The ministry of communications and information technology had announced the decision, according to one internet service provider employee, although this has not been confirmed by authorities.

Violent protests, accusations of fraud, and a forced recount following Moldova’s election in early April were to little avail for demonstrators. The April 22 recount confirmed the Communist Party’s win announced on election day, April 5. Moldovans’ resistance to the initial outcome comes as little surprise, as Gallup has consistently found a majority of Moldovans lacking confidence in the honesty of their elections — including 59% in the most recent survey.

Voters in Mongolia are preparing to head to the polls in an election that is expected to see a closely-fought race for the presidency.
Sunday’s vote across the vast land-locked country pits Nambaryn Enkhbayar, the incumbent president and leader of the Mongolian People’ Revolutionary party (MPRP), against opposition leader, Elbegdorj Tsakhia, of the Democratic Party.
Local media reports suggest that Enkhbayar is expected to win the election but with a slim majority.
He has promised to be tough on law and order and continue government support for his party’s rural base, while …

Germany’s federal president is not chosen through a popular vote. Instead, a special committee formed for the sole purpose of choosing the president votes in the next officeholder.
The Federal Assembly only gathers for the election of the president. It is made up of all the members of the Bundestag – the German parliament – and an equal number of representatives chosen by Germany’s 16 states. The 2009 Assembly will have 1,224 members: 612 members of parliament, and 612 state representatives.

Veteran Lib Dem Sir Alan Beith has become the first MP to declare an interest in replacing Michael Martin as House of Commons Speaker.
Sir Alan, who was in the running for the post in 2000, told BBC News he would stand if he had enough support.
He added that he had “started to get indications of that from people in at least three parties”.
Earlier, Mr Martin announced he would stand down amid pressure over his handling of MPs expenses.
He told the Commons he would relinquish his post on 21 June, …