World highlights

¤ Chileans voted for a new President yesterday and were expected to elect the South American country's first woman leader, a socialist who is seen beating a moderate conservative billionaire. Michelle Bachelet, 54, a medical doctor and former defence minister imprisoned and tortured during the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, had a five-point lead over opposition candidate Sebastian Pinera in a poll published this week.

¤ Left-leaning President Tarja Halonen won the first round of Finland's presidential election yesterday, but was set to face a run-off against a conservative challenger, according to preliminary results. Voters rewarded Finland's first woman President for her common touch and promises to preserve the welfare state, but she will fail to gain a simple majority and face former Finance Minister Sauli Niinisto again, election organisers said. Ms Halonen won 46.4 per cent of the popular vote

¤ British ministers will lose the power to rule whether sex offenders should be allowed to work in schools, the BBC reported yeserday amid mounting political pressure on education secretary Ruth Kelly. The decision, which the BBC said would form part of the conclusions of a government review into the vetting system, comes after a newspaper reported Kelly had personally allowed a convicted sex offender to work as a teacher.

¤ Several people have been injured in clashes between villagers and armed police in a dispute in southern China over land requisitions, the latest in a series of violent demonstrations in the region. On Saturday, several hundred people blocked a road near the village of Panlong in southern Guangdong province, protesting against what they said was inadequate compensation for their land, a teacher in the town said.