BBC News with Nick Kelly

The Socialist Francois Hollande has been elected president of France, defeating the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. He told a crowd in his home city of Tulle that his victory meant the French people wanted a different kind of country.

"Citizens on today, the 6th of May, the French have voted for change – they've elected me as the president of the republic." Mr Hollande said he respected the feelings of all of those who had not voted for him, and said he would be a president for all of France.

"The first duty of the president is to bring people together to enlist every one of us in a common effort to tackle our problems. And those problems are many, and they're serious. We must kick start our industrial output to get our country out of crisis; we must reduce the deficit and get our debt under control, we must keep our social model to make sure everyone has the same access to public services."

Earlier, Nicolas Sarkozy had acknowledged his defeat, telling his supporters that he'd called Mr Hollande to wish him good luck as France's new leader.

"France has a new president. This is the democratic choice of our republic. Francois Hollande is the president of France, and we have to respect that." Hugh Schofield has been following the events of the day and he sent us this report in Paris.

For French Socialists, it's a moment to savor . And parallels have been drawn with 1981 when Mr Hollande's mentor, Francois Mitterrand, also came to power on a promise of mending divisions caused by the right. Mr Hollande is with supporters in his political base, the southern town of Tulle, but here in Paris, the outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy has delivered a dignified concession speech . He said he alone carried responsibility for the defeat that he is now preparing to become a Frenchman like any other. Hugh Schofield in Paris.

Exit polls after the general election in Greece suggest there have been big games by parties opposed to the current austerity measures linked to the EU financial bailout. Our Athens correspondent Mark Lowen sent us this report.

The sample result from half of the polling stations confirms a large rebellion against the two main pro-austerity parties here. The conservatives New Democracy appear to have topped the poll, but could now struggle to form a majority with the other austerity- supporting party, the socialist Pasok. They seem to have been beaten into third place by a left-wing anti-austerity coalition that also appears keen to attempt to form an alternative government. A period of intense uncertainty now begins for Greece, which could send shockwaves throughout the eurozone. Mark Lowen reporting.

This is the World News from the BBC.

Thousands of opposition demonstrators in Moscow have clashed with riot police who arrested three leading opposition activists at a rally on the eve of Vladimir Putin's formal return to the presidency. A BBC correspondent at the scene said some protesters tried to veer off the approved route and break through police lines preventing them from crossing a bridge leading to the Kremlin. The Russian authorities have blamed the demonstrators for provoking the violence.

Lawyers for the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have publicly challenged the fairness of the military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay prison camp. On Saturday, the military court heard formal charges against him and four other men accused of plotting with him. The lawyers told reporters that the court was censoring evidence of torture the men suffered while in American custody. Steve Kingstone reports from Guantanamo.

The defense council at Guantanamo are a mix of military and civilian lawyers who address reporters together. They complained of what they called 'assembly line justice' protected by a 'veil of secrecy', which they say prevents them from raising in court the treatment of the defendants while in US custody. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was repeatedly water-boarded at secret CIA prisons before being brought to Guantanamo. His lawyer David Nevin said everything is being done to prevent this from being fair.

Customs officials in Bulgaria say they've seized a cocaine shipment worth about $70m. They said 67 kilos of the illicit drug were discovered inside a harvesting machine being delivered by a container ship from Argentina to the Netherlands. Correspondents say Bulgaria has recently stepped up customs checks to help it secure membership of the visa-free Schengen Area in Europe.

And a player for the Argentine first division football team Banfield has been accidentally killed by a stray police bullet. The player, Lautaro Bugatto, was shot dead in front of his home in the capital Buenos Aires while a policeman confronted an alleged robber.

BBC News