In an electric four-hour solo performance on live television, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he will think about whether to reclaim the presidency — one of the strongest signals yet that he may run again for Russia’s top office in 2012.

Putin, who also vowed that Russia would step up its efforts against terrorism, spoke during a question-and-answer show on television and radio that highlighted his dominance of Russia’s political scene.

“I will think about it, there is still enough time,” Putin said when asked whether he will run in the next election.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Putin told another person who asked whether he was planning to leave politics.

Putin added he wants to focus now on his job as premier and make sometimes unpopular decisions without having to take electoral considerations into account.

Putin had to shift into the premier’s seat in 2008 following two consecutive terms in office, but since then the presidential term has been extended to six years and Putin is eligible to run again in 2012.

Some 2 million questions were submitted by telephone or on the Internet to Putin’s marathon television show, which was similar to previous call-ins he did when he was president. It clearly demonstrated that he continued to call the shots, overshadowing his designated successor, President Dmitry Medvedev.

Analysts said no one could miss Putin’s desire to reclaim the presidency.

“While he coyly said it’s too early for a decision, it certainly looked like he has already decided” to return to the presidency in 2012, said Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Endowment’s Moscow office.

“He’s too much of a professional to unveil his actual plans in such a format. But he did not reject the idea of returning to the presidency, and — unlike in previous comments — he made no mention of Medvedev,” Petrov stated.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti of Zimbabwe on Wednesday presented his budget for 2010 to Parliament, proposing spending of $2.25 billion against revenues of $1.44 billion for an $810 million deficit which will have to be filled by drawing down International Monetary Fund credits or through loans or grants.

Biti projected a 2010 economic expansion of 7% following GDP growth of 4.7% this year, with inflation next year of 5.1% after a negative 5.5% in 2009.

While proposing a sizeable budget deficit equal to 14.6% of GDP, Biti noted that he had received 2010 funding requests from ministries and government departments totaling around $12 billion, indicating the scale of need.

Biti described the country as “a sleeping giant in a deep hole,” adding that, “We are slowly getting out of this hole.” Zimbabwe’s economy has been contracting for a decade and in late 2008 went into a near-terminal tailspin resulting in the collapse of nearly all essential public services including health care.

The unity government launched in February of this year as a compromise between the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai plus a smaller MDC grouping has stabilized the economy, but the recovery is still fragile.

The projected 2010 growth rate represented a scaling-down of expectations in comparison with the 12.5% rate anticipated recently by another minister.

Honduras’s Congressrejected the return of Manuel Zelaya, effectively beginning the end of the political crisis in the Honduran nation.

“Things are finally ending,” says Luis Espinal, a technician in Tegucigalpa, who says keeping Mr. Zelaya out of the presidency means the country can start to look past the crisis.

The Honduran Congress was voting on whether Zelaya – who was ousted from office June 28 for pushing plans to hold a vote to consider a constituent assembly – could be temporarily reinstated to office. Many  feared Zelaya was attempting to drop term limits for presidents to prolong his rule, as has his ally Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Zelaya denies the charge.

The Honduran congressional vote was part of a US-sponsored plan to bring an end to the crisis. Zelaya, who is still holed up in the Brazilian embassy, and Roberto Micheletti, the interim president, both agreed to these terms – in exchange for the US recognizing the presidential election held last Sunday.

A majority of Congressmen agreed Wednesday to reject Zelaya’s return to serve out the last few weeks of his presidential term.

Many Hondurans had hoped that elections would bring an end to a crisis, in which nations suspended international aid. While the US has said it will recognize the elections, in which opposition conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo won the race, most nations in Latin America say they refuse to budge.