"Boris Nikolayevich, however difficult it was for him and whatever difficulties the country was going through, always believed in Russia's revival and transformation, respected the talent and power of the Russian nation," Putin said at a mourning reception in St. George's Hall, the biggest and most solemn hall of the Kremlin palace.

"He sincerely tried to do everything possible to make the life of millions of Russians worthy of such a proud title," the Russian leader said, adding that this was Yeltsin's dream. "We will walk toward this goal." .................

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 53 minutes ago

ANKARA, Turkey - The United States and other world powers are willing to consider an Iranian proposal that would allow the country to keep some of its uranium enrichment program intact instead of dismantling it completely, foreign government officials said Tuesday.

On the eve of talks between top Iranian envoy Ali Larijani and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, the officials — some of them diplomats, others based in their capitals — said the discussions were key because for the first time they could try to sidestep the deadlock over enrichment by trying to agree on a new definition of the term.

The officials were familiar with the negotiations with Iran or specialized in non-proliferation issues......

In both places yesterday, polling stations had been set up in primary schools. In both places, the voters chose from piles of slips of paper pre-printed with the 12 candidates' names.

In both places, the electors retired behind the same kind of flimsy, grey curtains in the same kind of portable voting booths. They placed the name of their chosen candidate in the same sky-blue envelopes, marked "Republique Francaise"....

Barely days after the government of Sudan agreed on the deployment of United Nations troops in the war-torn Darfur region, President Paul Kagame has called for a quick transfer of the mandate. Addressing a press conference at Village Urugwiro last week, Kagame observed that the current situation demands for a prompt transfer the mandate of the peace keeping mission from the African Union to United Nations to facilitate the successful lobbying process of both troops and logistics.

"It is true that the Sudan government has allowed the deployment of UN troops in Darfur.

However, if the process is to become more proactive and effective, the parties need to sit and agree on how the mandate of overseeing the peace mission can be transferred from AU to UN," he said, adding that if the dialogue to make such a fundamental shift in the Darfur peace mission comes in time it would undoubtedly give a speedy platform for the mobilisation of troops and financial resources from UN contributing member countries.

.

"Thinking about the general election for president in November 2008 -- If [see below] were the Democratic Party's candidate and [see below] were the Republican Party's candidate, who would you be more likely to vote for: [see below], the Democrat, or [see below], the Republican?" If unsure: "As of today, do you lean more toward [see below], the Democrat or [see below], the Republican?"  Names rotated

.

51

46

-

2

1

50

48

-

1

1

50

45

1

2

2