The conclaves of cardinals which elect a new pope are laden with rituals and shrouded in secrecy, but tantalising details have emerged from previous votes of what really happens behind the sealed doors of the Sistine Chapel.
Vatican workers made final preparations in the Sistine Chapel on Saturday after Roman Catholic cardinals voted to begin their conclave to elect a new pope under Michelangelo's famous frescoes next week.
Cameroonian strongman Issa Hayatou will be re-elected unopposed in Morocco on Sunday for a final four-year term as Confederation of African Football (CAF) president.
A large majority of Swiss voted Sunday to rein in executive pay and force business leaders to give up golden parachutes, according to final results of the popular vote.
The Liberal Democrats on Friday hung onto the southern England parliamentary seat of Eastleigh, dealing a heavy blow to Prime Minister David Cameron whose Conservative Party were beaten into third place.
The US Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense Tuesday, ending a long and acrimonious nomination process and handing President Barack Obama a boost as he fills his second-term cabinet.
Italy on Monday holds a second day of voting in a critical election for the future of the eurozone in which the centre-left Democratic Party is expected to win but fall short of a governing majority.
Irish lawmakers voted through emergency legislation to liquidate the former Anglo Irish bank early Thursday, as part of a deal to ease the eurozone country's massive debt burden.
British lawmakers voted in favour of controversial legislation allowing gay marriage on Tuesday despite fierce opposition from members of Prime Minister David Cameron's own party.
A vote on whether to build a second nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, the EU member's first referendum since the end of communism in 1989, looked set to fail Sunday because of insufficient turnout.
Milos Zeman, a bold veteran of the Czech left, takes on eccentric Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on Friday and Saturday in the tight round-two battle of the republic's first direct presidential election.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to remain in power despite the poor showing by his Likud-Beitenu list, which will push him into an alliance with the centrist Yesh Atid, the surprise winner of Tuesday's vote.
Polls opened on Tuesday in Israel's general election, which is expected to return Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power at the head of a government of hardline right-wing and religious parties.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be forced to size up her election year strategy Monday after a bitter defeat to the centre-left opposition in a cliffhanger state poll.
Israel's voting system reflects the many different political currents in society, but it has also been behind the repeated failure of governments to form stable coalitions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces her first test at the polls in a general election year Sunday with a state vote that could prove even more decisive for her flailing coalition partners.
International criticism mounted Saturday over a move to impeach Sri Lanka's chief justice, with Britain demanding protection for the incumbent and the beleaguered legal profession in the former colony.
Czechs vote Friday and Saturday in their country's first direct presidential election, with recession, austerity and graft weighing heavily on the nation as it turns the page on a decade under ardent eurosceptic Vaclav Klaus.
