A box of broken cigarettes is left as a sign of protest on the counter of a coffee bar in the centre of Zagreb. Croatia is set to implement a public smoking ban, including in bars and restaurants, echoing standards adopted by the EU which it hopes to join by 2011, the health ministry said this week leaving many smokers aggrieved with the ban. (AFP)
More pain for Gordon Brown
A newspaper published more damaging claims about Labour MPs' expenses yesterday, a day after reporting details of those submitted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and senior cabinet ministers.
In day two of the latest expenses row to engulf the government, the right-leaning Daily Telegraph published claims made by a number of junior ministers who it accused of cynically exploiting House of Commons' expenses rules.
It plans to publish more revelations about MPs' expenses from other parties in the coming days.
The Commons authorities have complained to the Metropolitan Police, who have confirmed they are considering a request for an investigation into leaks to the paper.
The fresh revelations include claims for some £25,000 over a four-year period made by tourism minister Barbara Follett for personal security patrols outside her London home. (Reuters)
Pro-cannabis protest in Amsterdam
About 150 people smoking pot and wearing T-shirts with a cannabis leaf print gathered in Amsterdam yesterday as part of a worldwide action in favour of the legalisation of marijuana.
The peaceful protesters gathered on a square in the Dutch capital, listening to pro-legalisation speeches from a small podium as a strong smell of marijuana hung in the air and music pumped from several speakers.
Small stands sold T-shirts with pro-cannabis logos, as well as biscuits and other snacks containing marijuana.
"Prohibiting something that people will always want causes illegality and the emergence of criminal gangs," Daan Rosenberg Polak, a publisher of pro-legalisation books, told AFP at the gathering. (AFP)
Minnesota Senate seat still unfilled
The US Senate seat from Minnesota that could give President Barack Obama's Democrats the margin to pass legislation without Republican interference remains unfilled six months after the votes were cast.
Democrats, for now, show no indication they will try to force the issue in Washington by attempting to seat Al Franken, the comic turned politician who has been declared the winner by 312 votes over incumbent Republican Norm Coleman.
Instead, the contest will be allowed to play out in Minnesota where a final resolution at the state level may come in about six or seven weeks. Coleman has asked the state's supreme court to reconsider the ruling from a special judicial panel that declared Franken the winner. (Reuters)
US has more than 2,000 new flu cases
The United States has 2,254 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 swine influenza, with 104 people in hospital, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.
"Today there are almost 3,000 probable and confirmed cases here in the US," the CDC's Dr Anne Schuchat told a news briefing. "The good news is we are not seeing a rise above the epidemic threshold in that system." (Reuters)
Berlusconi riding high despite divorce
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday said polls in his possession showed his approval ratings were surprisingly unaffected by a "pile of falsities" in the media over his impending divorce.
Berlusconi, who went on national television last week to deny his wife's accusations he was involved with a teenage girl, said his ratings were just as high as last week - when he declared himself the world's most popular leader.