Paris - The French Socialist Party on Monday began trying to resolve an ugly factional row that grew out of a disputed election for a new party leader.

A special party committee began examining complaints about the vote count that resulted in a victory of 42 votes out of 137,000 cast, or a margin of 0.04 per cent, for Lille Mayor Martine Aubry over former presidential candidate Segolene Royal in Friday's election.

Kabul - A French soldier of the international force in Afghanistan was killed in a mine explosion in Kabul Saturday, military sources said.

Paris - The French Socialists just spent two days voting for a new leader, and the big winner was - President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The conservative Sarkozy is certain to be strenghened by the bad blood and infighting that marked the Socialist campaign and the bitter dispute accompanying the results announced early Saturday.

The official vote count of Friday's second round of the election showed Lille Mayor Martine Aubry edging out former presidential candidate Segolene Royal by 42 votes out of 137,000 cast, a victory margin of only 0.04 per cent.

Paris - Aides to former French presidential candidate Segolene Royal said Saturday that she would not accept the results of Friday's election that showed her losing the race to head the French Socialist Party by a handful of votes.

French radio reported that former party spokesman Julien Dray said Royal was disputing the result because of apparent irregularities in some regions.

Paris, Nov 22 : Scientists have used the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Mars Express to produce the first crude map of aurorae on Mars, which are a powerful tool with which scientists can investigate the composition and structure of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.

The aurorae on Mars were discovered in 2004 using the SPICAM ultraviolet and infrared atmospheric spectrometer on board Mars Express.

These displays of ultraviolet light appear to be located close to the residual magnetic fields generated by crustal rocks on Mars.

They highlight a number of mysteries about the way Mars interacts with electrically charged particles originating from the Sun.

Paris  - The run-off vote to chose a new leader for France's Socialist Party was too close to call early Saturday as the losing Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential election, Segolene Royal, sought another shot at the country's top job.

If she beats her opponent, Lille Mayor and former labour minister Martine Aubry, she would take a big step toward securing her party's nomination to again take on President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election.