The Hague - What colour hat will Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands wear when she presents the government's budget to both houses of parliament on Tuesday?

That, rather than government policies, was the question preoccupying most Dutch on the eve of Prinsjesdag - Prince's Day - the day that government is to make known its plans.

Ever since 1848, successive Dutch governments have presented their budget proposals on the third Tuesday in September at 1 pm sharp.

San Francisco  - California lawmakers are set to approve a new budget for the largest state in the US Monday night, allowing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to end the longest budget impasse in California history.

The 77-day impasse was prompted by a record 15 billion dollar shortfall in state finances. The Democratic majority in the legislature wanted to raise taxes and avoid drastic cuts but were stymied by the Republicans. The budget needs a two-thirds vote to pass.

Brussels  - The Dutch government on Monday vetoed European Union attempts to implement a trade deal with Serbia, saying that Belgrade is still not cooperating fully with international war-crimes prosecutors.

"There is better cooperation, but I do not find myself in the position to be able to conclude that there is full cooperation," Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told journalists after the meeting with EU counterparts in Brussels.

Washington, Sep 13 : Republican presidential candidate John McCain has taken a slender lead over his rival Barack Obama less than two months before elections, a poll on the presidential race has said.

The Arizona senator has a 13-percentage-point lead over his Democratic rival both with men and senior citizens, and a 23-point advantage among rural residents, according to the Associated Press-GfK Poll of likely voters.

Warsaw  - A rural district in southern Poland on Friday became the first in the country to display German signs, in what some said was an attempt to reconcile the area's troubled history.

The first of 67 signs was unveiled in the small district of Radlow, which boasts some 28 per cent Germans, the daily Wyborcza reported.

"You can see similar bilingual signs in many places in Europe," said Christoph Berger, a German government attorney dealing with minority issues.

Paris - Pope Benedict XVI spent the first day of his four-day visit to fiercely secular France trying to revive Catholicism in a country known traditionally as "the Church's eldest daughter."

Addressing 10,000 young people gathered late Friday in the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral while tens of thousands of others watched the event on large screens erected around the venerable church, the 81-year-old Pontiff resurrected a phrase used by his popular predecessor John Paul II: "Do not be afraid!"