consequence
s. But the huge defeat his right-wing party has suffered is a clear indication that France is angry with its government. Unemployment is at its highest level in decades. And the election promises to make ordinary people richer have failed to
come good
. The opposition Socialists, who
teamed up
with other leftist parties and the Greens, have greatly profited from the government's unpopularity. Nearly all of France is in their control.
The electoral commission in Iraq has rejected calls by President Talabani and the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a
manual
recount of the vote in recent parliamentary elections. Mr Maliki's party has alleged that the computer system used in the counting process was faulty. But a spokesman for the commission Qassim al-Aboudi said no strong evidence had been provided.
"There have to be very significant and strong reasons to
grant
the recount demand. There has to be
conclusive
evidence that there was organized poll-rigging in vast areas, in accordance with the international standards of course. This hasn't happened, and no international or local reports have referred to this so far."
Missiles from an unmanned American aircraft have killed at least five people in Northwest Pakistan. Pakistani officials said the air attack hit a militant hideout near the Afghan border. They said the identities of those killed were not known, but the region was