The party of the Social Democrat candidate in Croatia's presidential election has claimed victory on national television. Ivo Josipovic appears to be on course to be declared the winner. Most exit polls in this run-off vote show him taking a commanding lead of around 30 points over his opponent, the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic.

The Israeli armed forces say they have killed a senior field commander in Gaza belonging to the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. They identified him as Awad Nasir. Palestinian medical workers said he was among three members of the Islamic Jihad killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Earlier, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that there would be, what he called, a powerful response to rocket or mortar attacks launched from Gaza against Israel.

Republicans in the United States have demanded the resignation of the Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over racial

comment

s he made about President Obama. The head of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, said the

remark

s were

inappropriate

and reflected an attitude to race that was

out of step

with modern America. Mr. Obama has accepted an apology from Senator Reid, who'd been a key ally on health care reform.

Egyptian archaeologists say they have discovered tombs of workers who helped build the country's largest pyramid. As Keith Adams reports, the discovery

sheds light on