The latest results from Iraq's parliamentary election show that the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is strengthening his lead over his rivals. Andrew North in Baghdad has the details.
Iraq's election commission has now released partial results for all the country's 18 provinces. They show the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki leading in seven, his main challenger Ayad Allawi is ahead in five, including as expected in three predominantly Sunni provinces. There is one surprise that Mr Allawi is also in the lead in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk where the Kurds were expected to be on top. Complete results are not expected for at least another few days, but talks on forming a new coalition government will now get under way in earnest.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, the Cardinal Sean Brady, is facing calls for his resignation after it emerged that in the 1970s he represented the church at a meeting where two abuse victims were asked to swear an oath of silence. The teenagers said they'd been sexually assaulted by Father Brendan Smyth who was later jailed for child abuse. Cardinal Brady insists he did nothing wrong and said he didn't tell the police about the allegations because he wasn't the person designated to do so.
World News from the BBC
Initial results of only first round of the French regional elections indicate that President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right allies are heading for defeat. The results suggest the Socialists are likely to emerge as the largest single party and that the centre-left and the Greens would get more than half the vote. There's also been a strong showing by the far-right National Front.