SYDNEY, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush calls him a 'man of steel', his opponents call him a cunning politician, but Prime Minister John Howard calls himself 'an average Australian bloke'.

As Howard, who Sunday called a general election for November 24, asks Australian voters for a fifth term in office, all of those personas are on show: he's tough on Iraq, adept in close political combat with the opposition Labor Party, and always ready to talk about sport.

JERUSALEM, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - Former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to be re-elected as head of Israel's right-wing Likud party on Tuesday, is a media-savvy arch-hawk determined to move back to the political centre stage.

Netanyahu was expected to sweep to victory during a Likud primary with at least 70 percent of the vote, according to internal opinion polls, in a contest against two other candidates.