BBC News with Roy Larmour

In a rare Sunday session, the US House of Representatives is debating the health care reform bill at the centre of President Obama's domestic agenda. A final vote could follow in the coming hours and is expected to be very close. The Republicans say the measure is too expensive and have tried to persuade

undecided

Democrats to vote against it. Paul Adams reports from Washington.

This make-call break session of the House of Representatives has been going on for several hours,

but the president's chances of succeeding have improved

dramatically

with the announcement of a deal between the White House and a group of Democrats who want to be sure that federal money will not be used to fund abortion.

This guarantees that seven more Democrats will support the bill. In the words of the group's leader Michigan's Bart Stupak, the Democrats are now

well past

the 216 votes needed to pass the bill. The Republicans can probably

scent

defeat, but they are still fighting hard.

Early

projection

s in the second round of regional elections in France suggest President Sarkozy's centre-right party has suffered a heavy defeat. Exit polls indicate his party won 36% of the votes. This was the last nationwide ballot before the presidential elections in 2012. Emma Jane Kirby reports from Paris.

President Sarkozy has always insisted these were only regional elections with no national