Dhaka  - Bangladesh's election authorities Sunday announced fresh election schedules, setting new voting dates for December 29 parliamentary polls and local government upazila elections on January 22, 2009.

Announcing the fresh timetable for the polls after a series of hectic parleys with major political camps, Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said he hoped that the new election dates will be acceptable to all the political parties.

"I hope the parties will begin their electioneering in a festive mood from tomorrow," Huda told a crowded press conference at his office in the evening.

Previously, the dates had been December 18 for the parliamentary polls and December 28 for the upazila elections.

Sofia  - Bulgarian Premier Sergei Stanishev has been re- elected as chairman of the governing Socialist party, the country's election commission said Sunday.

The commission said that Stanishev won 809 votes from among the 853 delegates at the party's congress, confirming him to another term as head of Bulgaria's oldest and largest political party.

Stanishev, 42, has headed the Socialist party since 2001. He proclaimed his goal of leading the party to victory again in national and Europan parliament elections in 2009.

Johannesburg  - The leaders of South Africa and Botswana began deliberating Sunday over the next possible moves regarding Zimbabwe's worsening humanitarian situation, a day after Harare stopped a visit of senior statesmen.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe was meeting his Botswana counterpart, Ian Khama, in Pretoria, but it was uncertain whether they would try to prepare a new diplomatic initiative. Khama is one of the few African heads of state to publicly criticize Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Srinagar, India  - Thousands of police and paramilitary troops patrolled towns of India's restive Jammu and Kashmir state where elections were being held Sunday.

Balloting was being held in six constituencies - two in the Kashmir valley and four in the Jammu region - in the second phase of the staggered elections which are scheduled to end on December 24.

Voting went off largely peacefully with a turnout of 35 per cent reported in the Kashmir valley constituencies until 2 pm, and an estimated 41 to 48 per cent in Rajouri district of Jammu region, election officials said.

Kiev - Ukraine's decision to honour millions of people who died of famine in the 1930s has drawn cries of historical revisionism from Russia, which disputes claims that the Stalin-era government targeted Ukrainians with policies that allowed the famine.

Historians generally agree that the famine was a side effect of a campaign by dictator Josef Stalin's communists against rich farmers in the former Soviet Union.

Dhaka - Bangladesh will announce a fresh general election date on Sunday to replace the December 18 poll which has been cancelled, a top election official said Saturday.

"There will be no voting on December 18. We will announce a fresh schedule for the general elections tomorrow," Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda told reporters.

He was speaking after a meeting with the leaders of the Awami League-led alliance at his office. The alliance leaders said they would give their reaction later.