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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jon Dennis

Guardian Daily: EU presidential candidate blasts ‘secretive’ selection

EU leaders meet in Brussels tonight, where they'll decide who'll be the first President of the European Council. Former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga - unlike most candidates - has formally declared an interest in standing. She says the selection process is male-dominated and undemocratic.

A report from Human Rights Watch finds repression as bad under President Raúl Castro as it was under his brother Fidel. Nik Steinberg, who wrote the report, says dissidents are being imprisoned under the regime's Orwellian "dangerousness" laws. The group's deputy director for the Americas, Daniel Wilkinson, says the 50-year-old US embargo continues to be counter-productive.

Fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley looks at Marks & Spencer's spring collection, and detects a whiff of optimism among high street retailers.

Columnist Polly Toynbee assesses the Queen's Speech, setting out the government's legislative programme in the last parliament before the general election.

And Rhydian Roberts, X-Factor finalist in 2007, discusses Simon Cowell and this year's villains, Jedward, with G2's Hannah Pool.

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