BANGKOK - Thai protesters poured several jugs of their own blood at the front gate of the government headquarters and outside the ruling party's offices Tuesday in a symbolic sacrifice to press their demands for new elections.

Thousands of red-shirted demonstrators formed long lines to have their blood drawn by nurses, a day after their leaders vowed to collect 1 million cubic centimeters of blood - 264 gallons (1,000 liters) - to spill at Government House and other key locations.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Representatives of a leftist party asserted their independence from President Hugo Chavez on Monday, accepting a dissident politician into their ranks while demanding increased tolerance from Venezuela's socialist leader.

Jose Albornoz, secretary general of Fatherland For All, said the party continues to support Chavez, but its leaders want the socialist president to respect its decision to accept Lara state Gov. Henri Falcon as its newest member.

MOSCOW - The ruling United Russia party appeared headed for an expected victory in regional elections Sunday, according to partial results, although many disgruntled voters threw their support behind opposition candidates.

With about 25 percent of votes counted, United Russia looked set to lose one high-profile contest - the mayoral elections in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, which has seen a series of anti-government protests in recent weeks. A Communist candidate was leading Sunday night.

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's governing party says a leading member didn't mean it literally when he sang about killing whites.

African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema is often in the news for his fiery rhetoric and flashy lifestyle. Tuesday, South African media reported he led University of Johannesburg students in the song, "Shoot the boere, they are rapists." Boere is farmers in Afrikaans, the language of white South African descendants of early Dutch settlers.

LOME, Togo -- Togo's top opposition candidate was pelted with tear gas for a second time Sunday as he vowed to take to the streets every day in protest of what he says was an election rigged to favor the son of the country's longtime dictator.

"I am ready to die," opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre said a few minutes before walking outside the party's headquarters before a column of anti-riot police. "We're going to make them exhaust their stock of tear gas. We cannot let this go on, otherwise they'll hang on to power for the next 200 years."

LOME, Togo-Togo's opposition leader claimed an early victory in the presidential race and accused the ruling party of trying to rig the elections, setting the stage for a violent showdown as election officials arrived in the capital Saturday with physical proof of votes that had been cast in the contentious election.

Togo has been ruled by the same family for the past 43 years and has never had a vote that was considered free or fair. Opposition supporters are vowing to take to the streets in massive protests if the ruling family tries to steal this election.

Togo's main opposition candidate and its ruling-party are both declaring victory in Thursday's presidential election as vote counting continues.

Opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre says Thursday's vote was full of irregularities, but he remains confident of victory.

Fabre told reporters in Lome late Friday that according to results complied by his Union of Forces for Change party, they are averaging between 75 and 80 percent of the vote, a total that he says would have been higher without anomalies that he says included stuffing ballot boxes.

LOME, Togo -- Togo's opposition leader Friday claimed an early victory in the presidential race based on preliminary results and accused the ruling party of trying to rig the elections, setting the stage for a violent showdown.

Togo has been ruled by the same family for the past 43 years and has never had a vote that was considered free or fair. Opposition supporters are vowing to take to the streets in massive protests if the ruling family tries to steal this election. An angry mob crowded outside the headquarters where opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre was speaking, chanting: "Change or death."

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's prime minister on Sunday defended a decision to ban hundreds of candidates from the upcoming election, saying the decision was not intended to target the country's minority Sunni population.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is up for re-election in next Sunday's parliamentary vote, said the decision was made because the candidates were "blatantly propagating Baath Party ideas."

Two retired Turkish generals have been charged over an alleged plot in 2003 to overthrow the government, reports say.

Cetin Dogan, former head of Turkey's First Army, and Engin Alan, a former special forces commander, were both remanded in custody pending trial.

They are the most senior of 33 suspects charged so far over the alleged plot.

The case has increased tensions between the military and the Islamist-rooted ruling party. PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to punish conspirators.

istanbul, feb 26 (reuters) - two retired turkish generals were charged on friday over a plot to unseat the islamist-rooted government, broadcaster cnn turk said, a move which could stoke fresh tension between the ruling party and secular armed

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast-An Ivory Coast opposition spokesman says they will not join the new government created by President Laurent Gbagbo unless he agrees to restore recently fired opposition ministers.

Bertin Kouadio Konan says the opposition wants Gbagbo to give the ministers their jobs back, as he did with many fired ministers from his ruling party.

Gbagbo plunged the country into crisis earlier this month when he dissolved the government just weeks ahead of presidential elections in a move critics say was a pretext for delaying the ballot.

Turkish authorities have detained a further 18 people over an alleged plot to create chaos and trigger a military coup, local media say.

The suspects, 17 of whom are military officers on active duty, were rounded up in a nationwide operation, CNN-Turk and Haber-Turk TV channels said.

Another 49 officers were detained on Monday, 31 of whom have been charged.

The case has increased tension between Turkey's military and its Islamist-rooted ruling party.

ANKARA, Turkey - A Turkish court charged 11 more ranking officers today with allegedly plotting several years ago to topple the Islamic-rooted government, increasing the number of officers jailed to 31.

The 11 newly charged officers included two active-duty admirals and one retired general. The court's decision was handed down hours after prosecutors released the former chiefs of the navy and air force and another top general without immediately charging them with being involved.

Niger's former ruling party on Monday condemned last week's coup against President Mamadou Tandja. The country's new military leaders say they will run the country until politicians agree on a new constitution.

With President Tandja and his prime minister still under house arrest, Niger's former ruling party says people should blame the country's new military leaders if the situation deteriorates further.

BRASILIA, Brazil - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's ruling party nominated his hand-picked successor Saturday to replace him, betting on her promises to extend popular social and economic policies.

Dilma Rousseff, a 62-year-old economist and former guerrilla leader who has never run for office, is currently Silva's chief of staff and served as mines and energy minister during his first term. Widely expected for some time now to garner the nomination, she was approved by acclaim at a Workers Party congress. The presidential election is slated for October.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, who was endorsed as a presidential candidate on Saturday by the ruling Workers' Party, pledged to continue current economic policy if she wins the October 3 election.

Delegates at the party's national convention in the capital Brasilia acclaimed Dilma Rousseff, whose bid could make her Brazil's first woman president.

Rousseff trails Sao Paulo state Governor Jose Serra of the opposition PSDB party by between 5 percent and 11 percent, according to two opinion polls this month.

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil's ruling party has nominated the president's hand-picked successor and chief of staff as its candidate to replace him in elections later this year.

Dilma Rousseff is a 62-year-old economist who has never run for office.

Rousseff has served as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff during his second term, which began in 2007. Her widely expected nomination was approved Saturday at a Workers Party congress.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka's president dissolved parliament Tuesday to make way for spring elections a day after authorities arrested a key opposition leader, crippling the only serious threat to the ruling party's stifling grip on power.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's decision follows his sweeping victory at the polls last month over his former army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who had defected to the opposition after helping to end the country's quarter-century civil war. Fonseka was arrested by the military on Monday on sedition charges.

Costa Rica has elected its first female president in a landslide victory, marking another political milestone for women in Latin America.

Laura Chinchilla, from the centrist ruling party, won 47% of the vote in a crowded field in yesterday's poll, further eroding the region's reputation as a bastion of machismo and patriarchy.

"Wives and working women continue overcoming barriers to make a greater Costa Rica," the 50-year-old said in her acceptance speech. "All the women and also the men who have accompanied us have made it possible that a daughter of this country can today be president."