IMAGINE spending €190,000 on flowers. Or €15,000 on a cake. Or how does up to €15,000 for toilets sound?

SENATE Democratic leader Harry Reid has apologised for saying the race of Barack Obama – whom he described as a “light skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one” – would help rather than hurt his eventual presidential bid.

A CAR bomb struck a busy market in north-western Pakistan yesterday, killing 91 people — mostly women and children — as visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged US support for Islamabad’s campaign against Islamic militants.

PAKISTANI commandos freed dozens of hostages held by militants at the army’s own headquarters yesterday, ending a bloody, 22-hour drama that embarrassed the nation’s military as it plans a new offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

INDIA and the United States can jointly devise a breakthrough plan for fighting climate change that will generate massive new investments and millions of jobs, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said yesterday.

IRAN’S election oversight body last night declared the hotly-disputed presidential vote valid after a partial recount, rejecting opposition allegations of fraud and further silencing calls for a new vote.

POLICE in Afghanistan said yesterday that air strikes against insurgents had killed 100 people, most of them civilians.

BILL RICHARDSON, America’s only Hispanic governor, threw his support behind Barack Obama for president yesterday, delivering one of the most coveted and tightly held endorsements in the race for the Democratic nomination.

THE passport files of all three US presidential candidates — Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain — have been breached, the US State Department confirmed yesterday.

THE founder of a prestigious institute on media and politics added his voice at the weekend to the chorus of complaints over perceived press bias in favour of Democrat Barack Obama.

RELIGION played a huge role in Mike Huckabee’s triumph in the Iowa Republican caucuses, although there are some mixed signals for him on the road ahead.