Parliament's approval for the bill would permit the release of huge quantitiesof grain from the government's overflowing storage sites at near giveaway prices and is expected to become a big vote-winner for the Congress party-led coalition government, which faces a general election in early 2014.
In a sudden about-turn, Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, refused to promulgate a bill that would have legalised the possession of small quantitiesof drugs, both hard and soft.