Among the three leading candidates virtually tied in the polls is former two-term President Carlos Menem, 72, the Edwin Edwards of Argentina politics. Like the former Louisiana governor, Menem survived scandal and public womanizing to become one of the nation's most cherished rakes. (Unlike Edwards, Menem has not gone to prison.) Menem's romance with Cecilia "Chechi" Bolocco, a former Miss Universe half his age, made the tabloids.

They are now married, and some Argentines see Chechi as the next Evita. Menem has been credited with Argentina's relative prosperity during his 1989-1999 presidency -- and blamed for the free spending and corruption that brought about the economic collapse. Among those accusing Menem of cheating the public was his ex-wife.

Most analysts expect the presidential race to go to a May 18 runoff.
• Buenos Aires Herald

Speaking of tough elections . . .

In Nigeria, tough elections are measured in real casualties. At least two dozen people were killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes in legislative elections over the weekend leading up to Saturday's presidential election. The Vanguard newspaper in Lagos described one of several episodes in which voting materials and ballot boxes allegedly were "hijacked" by officials wanting to rig elections. When news surfaced that some of the material had been taken to the governor's lodge in Sagbama, according to Vanguard, "youths in the hundreds armed with dangerous weapons invaded the council secretariat, where they razed the one-story building housing the governor's lodge." They also torched 10 vehicles in the parking lot. Some police officers responding to the melee were beaten and stripped of their uniforms.

Some plain talk about satphones

One of the odder controversies to come out of the war with Iraq was over Thuraya satellite phones. Mohammad Omran, chairman of Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co., based in the United Arab Emirates, issued a public statement in defense of his phones' security after the U.S. military reportedly banned "embedded" journalists from using Thuraya satellite phones. "We are confident that our system is robust in its design and that users' position data cannot be compromised," Omran said.
• Jordan Times

In the spirit of voodoo

Haiti's government has officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners to begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal authority. In an executive decree, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide invited voodoo adherents and organizations to register with the Ministry of Religious Affairs. After swearing an oath before a civil judge, practitioners will be able to legally conduct ceremonies such as marriages and baptisms. Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, has said he recognizes voodoo as a religion like any other. It was a voodoo priestess who bestowed a presidential sash on him at his first inauguration in 1991.
• News Haiti

A Herculean search for an Olympic song

China has started its search for the official Olympic song for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. According to China Daily, 10 candidate songs will be chosen each year over the next four years. "We want something extraordinary, emotional, popular and brimming with traditional Chinese culture," said Sun Weijia of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games. What the committee is looking for, says China Daily, is something like "Hand in Hand," performed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, or "Reach," the pop hit performed by Gloria Estefan in the Closing Ceremony at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Wu Yanze, a noted Chinese folk singer and a member of the song search committee, said he is expecting songs that will match some of the most influential Chinese music pieces ever recorded, such as "Reflection of the Moon in the Erquan Spring," "Butterfly Lovers" and "Jasmine Blossom."

Easy Hugo Chavez listening

Tucked away in one of Caracas' poorest districts, Radio Perola is raising the hackles of Venezuela's big media executives, The Associated Press reports. From a room the size of a walk-in closet, Radio Perola -- and dozens of other small, government-sponsored stations -- broadcast programs supporting President Hugo Chavez and his self-proclaimed revolution. Chavez argues the stations counter opposition-allied commercial broadcast media that don't address issues vital to Venezuela's poor. Media executives argue the unlicensed stations interfere with their signals and are Chavez propaganda machines. At Radio Perola, disc jockeys spin tunes by the late folk singer Ali Primera, a social activist. Guests announce workshops for single mothers or meetings on neighborhood problems. "We aren't neutral," concedes Radio Perola manager Carlos Carles. "We have a position. It just so happens that most people here in this district support the president."
• Vheadline.com

WORLD WRAP
More than 440 pounds of shahtoosh wool skinned from endangered Tibetan antelopes was seized in China. . . . "Mein Kampf," a play about the young Adolf Hitler by Hungarian-born George Tabori, opened in Vienna, Austria, where Hitler lived as a young man . . . Topp and Brand, an advertising agency in Chile, has been lauded by the United Nations for giving preference in hiring to pregnant women . . . More than 3,000 primary school students in Haicheng, China, suffered food poisoning after they drank soya milk produced by a Sino-U.S. joint venture, according to China Daily . . . The last two embassies operating in Baghdad, Iraq, before it fell were those of Cuba and the Vatican.

QUOTED
"Nobody is going to China, Bangkok or the Philippines at present. We are going to cash in on this trend."
Gour Kanjilal,India's outgoing regional director of tourism in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, promoting India as the best tourist destination in times of war and SARS