Wellington - Three weeks from a general election, New Zealand's Labour-led coalition, which has governed for nine years, is headed for defeat at the hands of a conservative administration, according to an opinion poll published on Saturday.

The Fairfax Nielsen poll shows the opposition conservative National Party favoured by 51 per cent of committed voters, against 33 per cent for Labour.

Washington - With only 18 days left before presidential elections, the US Supreme Court Friday ruled against a voter registration request by Ohio Republicans that could have limited participation by newly registered, mostly Democratic, voters.

The challenge mounted in Ohio was among nationwide protests being filed by Republicans in key battleground states where Democratic nominee Barack Obama has put Republican John McCain on the defensive on normally Republican turf.

Prague - Czech voters Friday began casting ballots in regional and Senate elections that could shake up Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's rule and affect the country's ratification of the EU Lisbon Treaty.

The Czech Republic has been divided into 14 regions since 2000. Their governments have been since dominated by Topolanek's senior ruling Civic Democratic Party.

Prague, also a Civic Democratic bastion, is officially a region but its government is elected in a municipal election that last took place in 2006.

New Delhi, Oct.17: Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Friday said that his party has always favoured fostering positive ties with China.

Interacting with a 15-member Chinese delegation led by Yu Zhengsheng, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Secretary of CPC Shanghai at the BJP Central Office here, Singh described India and China as two big countries, emerging economies and two great ancient civilizations,  and therefore, both of them having mutual good relations would benefit not only them, but also other parts of the world.

Vienna  - Joerg Haider was one of Austria's most divisive political figures, but his memorial service on Saturday is set up like the funeral for a national hero.

Up to 30,000 people are set to attend the public mourning in Klagenfurt, the capital of Austria's southern province of Carinthia, where Haider was governor.

Before his death last Saturday, when Haider drove drunk at 142 kilometres per hour and crashed his car, the politician was known mainly for his anti-immigrant policies, his portrayal of refugees as criminals, or calling SS veterans "respectable people."