Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has failed to secure enough parliamentary votes to form a new government and faces a second ballot in which his election is assured.

Pakistan's president has sworn in a political enemy as prime minister. Meanwhile, two top U.S. State Department officials arrived in the country and held talks with the embattled president and the new government leaders.

President Pervez Musharraf says that a "democratic era" has begun in Pakistan and that the incoming government will enjoy his "full support," even as the opposition named a candidate to lead a coalition government united against him.

Pakistan's Taliban militants say they are willing to talk with the parties expected to form the country's new government, but only if military operations against militants and terrorists end in the tribal regions.

Pakistan's opposition parties are planning their next move in the formation of a new government, including selecting a new prime minister and weighing the fate of President Pervez Musharraf.

A personal opinion about the new French government.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled the lineup of his slim, but broad-based Cabinet Friday, giving key posts to a centrist and a left-winger, as well as to representatives of his own conservative camp.