Mr Yushchenko's ongoing rivalry with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko - a former ally - is another factor.

BBC: Strategy behind Europe's gas game

The Boston Herald reports that Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack, a key factor in John Kerry's primary sweep and the prime time convention speaker tomorrow, derided blacks, southerners and easterners as bad speakers because she could not understand them.

CNN: 'Shove it,' Teresa's convention debut

The possibility of such a victory in July is the third factor that has been protecting the prime minister and may not do so much longer.

ECONOMIST: The ungrateful Japanese

Politics is a family business in Greece: Costas Karamanlis, the New Democracy leader, is the nephew and namesake of a respected prime minister, and even reformers seem to find that the dynastic factor still counts.

ECONOMIST: Greek politics