Spanish stocks dropped after elections on Sunday left no clear winner, signalling weeks of political instability ahead.

In politics, the benefits of talking like a real person as Donald Trump does are questionable, especially in a winner-takes-all electoral system like the US, writes Leonid Bershidsky

Voters will responde to cuts to lone parent allowance at the polls, says Shaun Connolly

To anyone who doubted his re-election strategy, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has had a simple answer: “Trust me”. 

Some of the more unusual news from around the globe.

Ryanair said yesterday it would start flights between Castellon airport in Spain and Britain in September, in the first regular commercial flights to operate from the “ghost” airport since it opened in 2011.

’HEART ATTACK’ PIE

Most Spaniards want their new king, Felipe, to play a greater role in politics and build bridges between the country’s divided parties and regions, a poll showed yesterday.

Tens of thousands of Basques held hands yesterday to form a 123km chain stretching across the northern Spanish region calling for the right to hold a vote on independence.

Oh, how embarrassing. You’re in the middle of a furious, relationship- ending row, and suddenly the doorbell rings and you remember this is the night you invited the neighbours over for drinks.

Voters in Switzerland have narrowly backed a proposal to limit immigration to the country.

Newly elected members of Pakistan’s National Assembly were sworn in today, officially marking the first transition of power between democratically elected civilian governments in the nearly 66-year history of the coup-prone country.

Prosecutors questioned the former treasurer of Spain’s prime minister Mariano Rajoy’s party yesterday in an investigation launched following new allegations of corruption.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy secured backing for his austerity drive in a vote in his home region of Galicia yesterday, but a clear win for nationalist parties in the Basque Country could prove a headache for central government.

Violent protests in Madrid and growing talk of secession in wealthy Catalonia are piling pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he moves closer to asking Europe for rescue money.

IF Harry Potter really has cast his spell across the Government, the results are far from magic.

AS one Labour TD bluntly put it: “How long does it take to write the sentence: ‘We fucked up’?”

FEAR and loathing continues to dominate Fine Gael and Labour’s pre-budget bust-ups.

SPAIN’S short-term borrowing costs hit a 14-year high yesterday as political uncertainty about a solution to the eurozone’s debt crisis punished another southern European country.

THE ISEQ index edged slightly lower yesterday, to close down 4.68 at 2,550.41, in line with world markets.

SPAIN’S ruling Socialists abruptly shelved plans to boost public coffers by selling part of the lucrative state lottery, in the face of tough market conditions, political opposition and banks’ funding concerns.

IS NAZISM making a comeback? You might think so reading some of the headlines this week. “Behind the migrant row, Europe keeps shifting to the far-right,” warns Time magazine. “Finland leads rise of the far-right in Europe,” according to The Daily Telegraph.

Islamic fanatics have murdered the only Christian in Pakistan’s cabinet for opposing the country’s savage blasphemy laws.

THE governor of Pakistan’s wealthiest and most populous province was shot dead in the capital yesterday by one of his own guards, who later told interrogators that he was angry about the politician’s stance against the country’s blasphemy law, officials said.

The governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province was shot dead by one of his guards today apparently for criticising the country’s controversial blasphemy laws.

Pakistan’s prime minister is trying to keep his government from collapsing after a key party said it was quitting the ruling coalition, leaving the government short of majority support in parliament.

BASQUE voters were choosing a new government yesterday in Spain’s most turbulent region, and for the first time the ruling Basque Nationalist Party is seeing a strong challenge from the socialists.

Austrians were bracing themselves for a sharp shift in the country’s political direction today after two far-right, anti-immigration parties made big gains in national elections.

Austria’s far-right parties made huge gains in weekend parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results, while the Social Democrats took the most votes but saw their worst results in decades.

Initial projections after the close of Austrian polls indicate the Social Democrats will take first place in parliamentary elections, while the country’s two far-right parties appear set for a resurgence.

Austria’s two far-right parties could well make significant gains in national elections this weekend, less than a decade after the rise of the right led to EU diplomatic sanctions.

Asif Ali Zardari, the head of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, will likely take over the country’s presidency when legislators meet this weekend to select a successor to former president, Pervez Musharraf.

The party of murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has deferred a decision on who should become Pakistan’s prime minister, deepening uncertainty about how a new government will handle President Pervez Musharraf.

The party of murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is Pakistan’s most popular, according to a survey released ahead of next week’s crucial elections.

Tens of thousands of Benazir Bhutto supporters gathered in a southern Pakistan town today as her widowed husband prepared to address the first major campaign rally by her opposition party since her assassination in a suicide attack six weeks ago.

British forensic experts assisting the investigation into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination met President Pervez Musharraf today to share their initial findings.

Supporters of assassinated Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto today called for a United Nations’ investigation into her death.

THE assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has brought Pakistan’s state of turmoil to new heights. As head of the nation’s most popular political party, Ms Bhutto largely transcended Pakistan’s ethnic and sectarian divides.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has convened an emergency meeting with his senior staff today to discuss whether to postpone the election in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's death, an official at the Interior Ministry said.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said today she would defy a new death threat to start campaigning in cities across the country.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto vowed today to continue campaigning despite a double suicide bomb attack which left more 130 of her supporters dead.

The midnight suicide attack that killed up to 136 people and shattered the homecoming of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto might have been the work of al-Qaida and the Taliban, authorities in Pakistan said today.

Extreme-left groups staged a violent protest in the Swiss capital, damaging property and preventing a campaign rally by one of the country’s largest parties.