Observers from the independent monitoring organisation Golos recorded more than 1,000 violations nationwide, including voter roll irregularities and multiple voting.
Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy was part of an international mission that observed the Russian presidential election and said that the campaign coverage had been “biased” in favour of Vladimir Putin.
Recent opinion polls indicate Vladimir Putin’s party could lose its parliamentary majority – making it unable to impose constitutional changes at will.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the union would be based on a higher level of economic integration between former Soviet states – but insisted it was not some kind of re-formation of the Soviet Union.
“I never imagined I would be sitting with you at this table,” gushed the heavy metal fan and Russian President upon meeting his idols at his country residence near Moscow.
AS THE WILDFIRES which have killed 48 people and wiped out forests, villages and a military base continued to rage across Russia today, the ten million residents of Moscow were left to suffocate on a thick, black smog.
The smoke – which was blown in from burning peat bogs outside the city by a strong wind – descended from the early morning, stinging the eyes of commuters, and leaving public health officials to warn of the hazards of breathing in carbon monoxide. People were urged to wear face masks if they ventured outside.
Some 400km to the east of the capital, firefighters have turned to the help of robots in the struggle to contain the flames surrounding a top-secret nuclear facility in Sarov.
President Dmitry Medvedev has already fired several high-ranking military officials – including the chief of Russia’s naval aviation – over what he called criminal negligence in allowing fires to ravage a military base. Some reports say up to 200 naval aircraft have been destroyed.
Over the last 24 hours, firefighters have extinguished 293 fires, but another 403 have been spotted – while more than 500 continued to rage over large swathes of countryside.
Temperatures in Moscow and to the south and east are forecast to reach 38 degrees in the coming days.
SIXTY-EIGHT PER cent of patients are unaware that they can officially complain about their hospital stay.
An Irish Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare survey revealed that although 93 per cent of the patients surveyed were satisfied with the service they received, one in every five wanted to discuss an area of dissatisfaction but a third felt they never had the opportunity to do so.
The aspects of care that patients were most dissatisfied with included emergency department conditions and waiting times and lack of information about hospital routines, tests, medication side effects and after-care.
So today we want to know: Have you ever lodged a complaint about a hospital?
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