Moscow  - A man the Kremlin warily views as unpredictable is a shoo-in for what is arguably the most powerful non-government appointment in post-Communist Russia, experts said Monday, as church leaders held council to elected a new Orthodox patriarch.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, 62, the conspicuous head of the Russian Orthodox Church's external relations department and the church's interim leader, is the candidate most likely to win out of three chosen by senior clergy on Sunday.

Buenos Aires/La Paz  - Broad support for a new constitution signalled another impressive victory for Bolivia's left-wing populist President Evo Morales, who was celebrating even before the official results were in.

The new text was approved by 60 per cent of voters in a referendum Sunday, according to exit polls made public by Bolivian media.

The president celebrated the unofficial victory and hailed it as a "new founding" of the poor Andean country, with equal opportunities for all citizens.

Washington  - George Mitchell began his first trip to the Middle East on Monday, planning stops in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, just days after being named US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region.

Mitchell planned to hold talks on the shaky truce between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza and discuss the wider peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Belgrade  - Serbs in northern Kosovo on Monday called for the Serbian parliament to hold a session in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica on February 17 in an effort to show Kosovo Albanians that their declaration of independence is illegal, local media reported.

Kosovo's Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008 and was recognized by more than 50 countries including the United States and a majority of European Union. But Serbia opposes Kosovo's independence.

Washington  - President Barack Obama on Monday signalled the United States would take on a new leading role in confronting climate change and weaning the country off its dependence on foreign oil.

Obama signalled a clean break in climate and energy policy from the administration of former president George W Bush, which was criticized for playing down the dangers of climate change.

Washington, Jan. 25 : A Gallup Poll has given incumbent US President Barack Obama a 68 percent job approval rating for his first three full days in office.

According to Politico, just a week ago, Gallup found an astonishing 83 percent approval of how he has handled his transition, showing he had even won over most Republicans.

The new job-approval figure puts him at the upper end of opening poll numbers for presidents, but doesn't set a record.