The armed Islamist group Hamas is expected to break the ruling Fatah movement’s 40-year domination of the Palestinian cause in bitterly contested parliamentary elections on Wednesday. Fatah is likely to lose its outright majority in Parliament as Hamas emerges as a potential partner in a power-sharing government.

The Russian Parliament is to discuss spying allegations against four British diplomats who had allegedly channelled funds to NGOs in Russia. The Federal Security Service on Tuesday briefed the Duma over suggestions that the diplomats were undercover agents who had hidden a transmitter in a rock in a Moscow suburb to liaise via palmtop computer with agents in Russia.

Canada’s Conservative leader, Stephen Harper, celebrated election victory on Tuesday promising lower taxes and better relations with Washington, but he fell far short of a parliamentary majority, limiting his ability to make radical changes. The Prime Minister, Paul Martin, handed his resignation to Canada’s governor general and announced he would step down as head of the Liberal party.

If the Thai masses won’t come to Buddha then Buddha will come to the Thai masses by video, an alliance of monks, Buddhism experts and a devout businessman announced on Tuesday. The group is seeking to arrest the declining popularity of Buddhism and materialism’s seemingly unstoppable rise by using 21st-century technology to reach the masses in a way they can relate to.