(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) holds the lead in British Columbia, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 41 per cent of respondents in the Canadian province would vote for the NDP in next year’s provincial election.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Three-in-four people in the United States acknowledge that their country’s economy is facing major challenges, according to a poll by Opinion Research Corporation released by CNN. 75 per cent of respondents rate the economic conditions in the country as poor, up 16 points since January.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Democrat Barack Obama is barely ahead of Republican John McCain in the Great Lake State, according to a poll by the Detroit News. 43 per cent of respondents in Michigan would vote for the Illinois senator in this year’s United States presidential election, while 41 per cent would back the Arizona senator.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are virtually tied in the Silver State, according to a poll by Research 2000. 44 per cent of respondents in Nevada would back the Illinois senator in this year’s United States presidential election, while 43 per cent would support the Arizona senator.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Republican John McCain is ahead of Democrat Barack Obama in Florida, according to a poll by Strategic Vision. 49 per cent of respondents in the Sunshine State would vote for the Arizona senator in this year’s United States presidential election, while 42 per cent would support the Illinois senator.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Democrat Barack Obama holds the upper hand in Pennsylvania, according to a poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. 49 per cent of respondents in the Keystone State would support the Illinois senator in this year’s United States presidential election, while 42 per cent would back Arizona senator John McCain.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - There is no clear presidential favourite in the Buckeye State, according to a poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. 44 per cent of respondents in Ohio would vote for Democratic Illinois senator Barack Obama in this year’s election, while 43 per cent would support Republican Arizona senator John McCain.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The race for El Salvador’s top office is becoming tighter, according to a poll by CID-Gallup. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for Mauricio Funes of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in next year’s ballot, down one point since May.

Gabriela Perdomo - A saying in Spanish goes "he who doesn’t want soup will get two bowls." It looks like Venezuelans just got two bowls full of Hugo Chávez’s self-branded 21st century socialism.

Rob Annandale - The peace process looks to be back on track in the southern Philippines where the fight to carve out a Muslim homeland in an overwhelmingly Christian country has spanned four decades and cost an estimated 120,000 lives.

Mario Canseco - The next G-8 summit will be held at the Sardinian town of La Maddalena. Silvio Berlusconi will much likely be the host next year, but some of the faces that were seen in Japan earlier this month might not make it to Italy.

Gabriela Perdomo - Turkey’s promising democracy is facing a major challenge as a battle to defend the country’s secular mandate is turning into an almost-religious crusade. The Asian country standing at the door of the European Union (EU) faces a tough question: is radical secularism the only way to prevent Turkey from becoming an Islamist state?

Gabriela Perdomo - It is hard to find out. Nicolas Sarkozy’s administration has delivered on some of his campaign promises, but nobody seems to know that. For most of his first year at the Élysée, all eyes were too set in the president’s personal soap opera to care about policy decisions. His family life has stabilized now so there is no more media craze left. Now Sarkozy must face the fact that this operetta has harmed both his persona and his mandate to make decisions as France’s head of state.

Gabriela Perdomo – Call it the Iraq war effect. With no doubt left that the coalition effort to topple Saddam Hussein has turned to be the biggest military mess of our time, people in various Western nations with troops in Afghanistan are now turning their eyes to the war on terror and wondering, is Afghanistan the next Iraq?

Gabriela Perdomo - Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, called it an opportunity to "re-found" the nation. With the final draft now ready, Bolivia’s constitution looks more likely to split the nation in two.

Mario Canseco - Robert Mugabe will seek a new term in office this Saturday, in the "harmonized" election that will see voters choose a president, select a new House of Assembly, renew a Senate that has been in place for just 26 months, and pick the members of their local councils.