BBC News with Marian Marshall
The electoral commission in Iraq says the political group led by the secular former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has won the country's parliamentary election. His group secured two seats more than the bloc led by Nouri al-Maliki, the current Shiite Prime Minister. Mr al-Maliki has expressed concerns over irregularities, and says he'll challenge the result in court. Here is our Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi.
As it's been widely anticipated, the scene is setting Iraq for a protracted political conflict with a risk of violence never far off. Almost immediately after the announcement that handed Mr Allawi the electoral victory, the incumbent Nouri al-Maliki refused to accept the result. He repeated his demand for a recount of the vote. He even went further than that by asking for a re-run of the poll in what he described as problematic provinces. Iraq can
ill-afford in outdrawing political conflict
with no effective government.
At least 40 people were killed just before the announcement when two bombs exploded in the town of Khalis, north of Baghdad. The twin bombing occurred outside a restaurant, wounding a further 60 people.
The American and Russian presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. After finalizing the deal in a telephone conversation, President Obama said other countries should meet their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Kevin Connolly reports.