<B>LE FIGARO

Royal et Sarkozy confortent leur domination</B>

Nicolas Sarkozy et Ségolène Royal continuent de faire largement la course en tête et d?écraser tous leurs concurrents. C?est le principal enseignement du baromètre présidentiel TNS Sofres-Unilog pour Le Figaro-RTL-LCI, premier sondage de la rentrée sur les intentions de vote au premier tour de 2007.

Les résultats de cette enquête placent le probable candidat UMP à la première place (36 %), en hausse d?un point par rapport au précédent sondage. La favorite des socialistes le talonne à 34 %, en hausse de deux points. On retrouve donc la même hiérarchie qu?au début de l?été. L?université d?été du PS à La Rochelle n?a donc pas déplacé les lignes. Celle de l?UMP, à Marseille, non plus.

<B>TEHRAN OBSERVER

Winning the new cold war</B>

As Iran spurns the West?s ultimatum to give up its nuclear enrichment program, panic is the dominant response. Relax, say some. Containment worked against the USSR. It can work against Iran. Boil away the verbiage, and the West?s reaction to Iran?s apparent drive for nuclear weapons amounts to: «Oh, no!» It?s a reasonable reaction. A bitter enemy appears determined to acquire fearsome weapons, or the capability to produce them (which comes to the same thing). A preventive military strike might do little more than buy a couple of years, and at a steep price. Iran might drop a bomb on Israel; it might give the bomb to terrorists; it might use the bomb to blackmail and dominate the Middle East; it might feel emboldened to export terror and insurgency without constraint.

<B>THE MIRROR

Blair : Sorry about all this</B>

Tony Blair said sorry to the nation for the turmoil over his leadership. Revealing he would stand down by next summer, he said: «I?d like to apologise on behalf of the Labour Party. It has not been our finest hour.» Gordon Brown broke his silence to pledge support.But despite the two men?s carefully co-ordinated statements, there was little evidence of a genuine truce. Mr Blair, who apologised to the nation for 48 hours of public feuding, continued to face calls that he announce his resignation at the Labour conference on September 26. Mr Brown, who candidly admitted he had «had questions» about Mr Blair?s departure, is still suspected of leading a coup plot. In a dangerous sign for both men some MPs said the leadership was «out of their hands» and called for a contest with a slate of challengers. Making no secret that Thursday?s announcement was forced out of him, Mr Blair said: «As for my timing and date of departure I?d have preferred to do this in my own way. But the party conference in the next couple of weeks will be my last as party leader. The TUC next week will be my last TUC, probably to the relief of both of us. I?m not going to set a precise date now. I?ll do that at a future date and I?ll do that in the country?s interests.» Mr Blair has fought tooth and nail to avoid detailing his timetable for leaving Downing Street since he announced two years ago he would not fight another election.

<B> ABIDJAN POST

Ivory Coast election talks fail</B>

Elections in the divided Ivory Coast seem set to be delayed even further after opposing factions failed to reach an agreement during rare face-to-face talks. Laurent Gbagbo, the president, and Charles Konan Banny, the Prime minister, from the transitional government met Guillaume Soro, leader of the New Forces rebels, and opposition leaders Henri Konan Bedie and Alassane Ouattara on Tuesday to discuss a national identity scheme which has delayed elections scheduled to be held before the end of October.Diplomats and United Nations officials have said it will now be impossible to carry out elections by the October 31 deadline set under a peace plan aimed at reuniting the country which was split by a civil war in 2002. Sidiki Konate, a spokesman for the rebels who control the north of the country, told reporters: «There was no final statement because there was no agreement.» We have therefore asked the Prime minister to consult with all the parties to find a solution to the current blockages. Konan Banny was more positive about the outcome telling reporters the process of issuing identity papers to 3.5million undocumented people in the country would be speeded up.