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BBC world news,I'm Fiona Mc Donald.
The opposition center-right in Sweden has narrowly won the general election ending 12 years of Social Democratic rule. The man who will be Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderate Party won after promising to creat more jobs and reform Sweden's costly welfare system. L.B reports from Stockholm.

Addressing a jubilant crowd of party colleagues and supporters, Sweden's incoming Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt claimed victory after a cliff-hanger election night. A few moments later, the Social Democrat Prime Minister Goran Persson conceded defeat and said he would step down as party leader in March next year. Fredrik Reinfeldt heads the conseravative Moderate Party which had compaigned on the need to reform this country's general slow system to make sure Sweden can continue to compete in the global market/. He says he wants to cut employer's taxes and unemployment benefits to stimulate more jobs and increase tax revenues.

Germany's far-right has entered the third regional parliament. Provisional results from state elections showed that the right-wing NPD has gained seats in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which look set to become the third state in Germany to a far-right representation in its assembly. T.M reports from Berlin.

The NPD party won around 7% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which means far-right MPs will sit in the regional parliament for the first time. Unemployment in this east German state is high and the far-right NPD has founded to be fertile ground by campaigning on an anti-foreigner platform and appealing to young jobless voters. The current governor of the state Harold Rainstore said it was a disastrous result.

Vote are being counted in the breakaway Republic of Trans-Dniester in a referendum on independent from the former Soviet Republic of Moldova. Voters have been asked whether or not they want the region to separate from Moldova and work towards joining Russia. Three quarters of the nearly 400,000 eligible voters cast their ballots. And a BBC correspondent to Moldova says prediction suggests the vast majority would choose independence.

News just in, Venezuela and Iran have signed 29 agreements as the start of a visit to Venezuela by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The agreements include the establishment of a joint steel and oil exploration companies as well as a car factory in Venezuela. Earlier the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke of their common interests and goals. This is what Mr. Chavez had to say.

It is not an anti-US alliance. Iran is without doubt one of the emerging countries today in Asia and in the Middle East. And Venezuela is one of the emerging countries in Latin America. This union aims to strike a ballence in the world.

Muslims around the world have given a varied reaction to a personal statement by Pope Benedict, expressing his deep regret over the offence calls by a speech made in Germany last week. The Pope said the medieval text he quoted criticizing Islam did not in any way reflect his own views. Although his clarification was welcomed by a number of Muslim groups, there are still signs of continuing anger around the Muslim world. B V reports.

In Germany where the Pope made the speech last week, the central council of Muslim said it welcomed the expression of regret. It said the Pope had taken an important step towards calm the unrest in the past few days. Elsewhere in the Muslim world , there were signs that anger of the speech had not yet subsided. Angry Palestinians attacked two churches in the West Bank with firebombs, destroying the interior of one of them. And in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, a spokesman for the Islamist group H told the rally that the Pope's statement has been fueled by an extreme hatred of Islam, and his expressions of regret for them were insincere.

The new President of the United Nations General Assembly H has appealed to religious leaders to promote reconciliation between faiths. Speaking at a church service in New York, she made no direct reference to the controversy over the Pope' remarks about Islam. But she said that the Middle East as the birth place of three major religions needed to embrace forgiveness.

After weeks of political controversy, the Israli govenment has agreed to set up a limited enquiry into the handling of the war in Lebanon. Cabinet ministers voted by 20 to 2 with one abstention to appoint a retired judge to lead /the enquiry. The judge will have fewer powers on the full state commissioner of enquiry which many critics of the government had been calling for. The Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it was unnecessary and would take too long.