Tallinn  - An effort by Estonian parliamentarians to lead by example and freeze their own salaries as part of a national austerity plan was wrecked Monday when President Toomas Hendrik Ilves refused to sign the relevant bill into law.

The proposals would have prevented MPs in Estonia receiving a pay rise from the start of 2009 until February 2010, and were passed almost unanimously last Wednesday by the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu.

However, according to Ilves, the move was unconstitutional and therefore would not receive his backing, which is necessary for any bill to pass into law.

Washington  - President-elect Barack Obama unveiled the key leaders of his economic policy on Monday, naming Timothy Geithner to head the US Treasury and Larry Summers as his top White House economic advisor.

Geithner, currently the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will be charged with returning stability to the US financial system. He has already worked closely with current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke since the financial crisis spiralled out of control in September.

Harare  - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change on Monday rejected suggestions by Nelson Mandela's Elders that it should form a unity government with President Robert Mugabe - and work through the kinks later.

"We understand the direness and precariousness of the situation but a longer gestation period (for the unity government) makes more sense than a short period that will result in abortion," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Chamisa was reacting to a suggestion by former US president Jimmy Carter that, once a constitutional amendment that sets out the powers of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister is agreed upon, the party should join Mugabe in a power-sharing government and push for further change in parliament.

Vienna  - In the new Austrian cabinet lineup presented on Monday, social issues are firmly in the hands of the Social Democratic Party, while law and order portfolios have shifted to the conservative People's Party.

As expected, social democratic leader Werner Faymann, 48, will lead the government as chancellor, while his conservative counterpart Josef Proell, 40, will become vice chancellor and finance minister.

The 18-strong cabinet is expected to be sworn in next week by President Heinz Fischer.

Compared with the last coalition between the two parties, which broke apart in July, the labour and health agendas shifted back to the social democrats.

Johannesburg  - The Elders on Monday urged Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to go into government with President Robert Mugabe in the interests of the country, despite being offered a junior partnership.

Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, former US president Jimmy Carter and Mozambican social activist Graca Machel were briefing journalists in Johannesburg about their three-day fact-finding mission on Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis.

Prague  - The Czech government Monday asked the country's Highest Administrative Court to outlaw the far-right Worker's Party, whose events are commonly attended by neo-Nazis, official said.

Interior Minister Ivan Langer said the party violates Czech law, which outlaws political groups that aim to abolish democracy.

He said that actions by the Worker's Party "are not and will not be tolerated in the Czech Republic".

Public protests organized by the Worker's Party have been commonly attended by neo-Nazis, experts on the country's far-right extremist scene have said.