In the latest round, when 122 votes would have been enough to secure victory, Guatemala obtained 101 votes, Venezuela received 78, Barbados, Ecuador and Jamaica received one respectively. However, none of them got the necessary two-thirds majority.

Guatemala has led in every round so far, with the exception of the sixth round on the first day of voting, when the two countries were tied.

Balloting is scheduled to resume Wednesday afternoon, and will continue until a state from the region achieves the required majority.

There is no limit to the number of rounds of voting and in 1979-80 there were a record 155 ballots before Mexico was chosen from the Latin American and Caribbean Group to serve a two-year term.

Belgium, Indonesia, Italy and South Africa were elected during the first round on Oct. 16 to serve as non-permanent members on the council. They will replace Denmark, Greece, Japan and Tanzania when their terms end on Dec. 31.

The council's five other non-permanent members, whose terms end on Dec. 31, 2007, are Congo, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia.

The five permanent members, which are the only members with veto power when voting, are China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States.

Congressmen Ed Royce and Peter Hoekstra agreed with their republican counterpart Dana Rohrabacher, who has demanded the government make a contingency plan before the possible triumph of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).

Consulted by Prensa Latina, local analyst Aldo Diaz Lacayo rejected the proposal of blocking family remittances, which amount to between 700 and 800 million dollars annually.

"This measure would directly affect the hundreds of Nicaraguans living in United States more than the Sandinista government," he said.

Ortega said if he wins November 5 he will try to reduce the expenses of the Nicaraguans living abroad to send money to their relatives at home.

"I don't know what calculation methods are used in the United States, but there are other sources which paint a slightly different picture. According to all reliable sources, the U.S. is far ahead of Russia, France, the United Kingdom and other countries," Russian delegation leader and Federal Military Technical Cooperation Service deputy head Alexander Denisov said at a news conference at the aviation and space show in China in answer to a question from Interfax.

"Perhaps some groups in the U.S. make use of such methods whenever they resort to anti-Russia rhetoric," he said. "We seek to become the leader, there is no denying it. If we ever leave the U.S. behind - excellent! But this is not now the case, unfortunately," he said.

The research including interviewing of Russian businessmen was carried out in three Russian cities Moscow, Volgograd and Smolensk.It was discovered that Russian businessman gives bribes twice a year on the average.

IDEM analysts say corruption in Russia is rapidly increasing for the period from 2002 to 2005 it went up 900 percent. As the experts of the foundation reports only 1 out of 100,000 corrupt goes to prison, so chances to fine oneself behind the bards for a bribe taker is 0.0013 percent in Russia.

In response to deteriorating political, social and economic conditions in Zimbabwe in recent years, civil society organisations have increasingly taken to the streets to peacefully express concerns.

The government's response has been heavy-handed and brutal, says Human Rights Watch. Police have violently disrupted peaceful protests by beating demonstrators with batons and rifle butts.

Activists who had been detained told Human Rights Watch that they were often held in overcrowded and filthy cells, where floors were littered with human waste and blankets were infested with lice.

The activists were sometimes denied legal counsel and access to food, water and medical assistance. Some were also tortured. Police tactics included punching, kicking and striking with batons, beatings on the soles of the feet, repeated banging of detainees' heads against walls, and shackling in painful positions.

While most activists are released within hours of detention, some are held for days, often without charge. Others are brought before the judicial authorities to answer charges that, in many cases, are dismissed by the courts. Police have used laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Miscellaneous Offences Act to justify the arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds of civil society activists in Zimbabwe.
Human Rights Watch says police and intelligence officers also routinely target human rights lawyers and activists who try to expose human rights abuses in an effort to prevent them from doing their work. The lawyers and activists are subjected to sustained harassment and intimidation in the form of verbal attacks in the state-run media and death threats from people purporting to work for the government.

Freedom of expression is severely restricted in Zimbabwe. Despite constitutional guarantees protecting freedom of expression, an otherwise draconian legislative framework continues to hamper the ability of journalists and media outlets to freely report the news, according to Freedom House.

Authorities use a range of restrictive laws to harass journalists, including the Official Secrets Act, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, POSA and criminal defamation laws. The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Bill passed in June 2005 increases prison sentences for defamation offences to a maximum of 20 years.

Journalists are also routinely subjected to verbal intimidation, physical attacks, arrest and detention, and financial pressure at the hands of the police, authorities, and supporters of the ruling party.

Read Human Rights Watch's report here: http://hrw.org/reports/2006/zimbabwe1106/