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11:06 AM
gtventic
The French Socialists are savouring their historic victory over the conservatives French President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government has lost its majority in the Senate for the first time in recent French history.The Socialist Party and its Communist and Green allies have won enough seats to gain control of the upper house.
Their victory comes just seven months before the country's presidential election in April.
Right-wing parties have controlled the Senate since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958.
Early results from the indirect elections showed left-wing candidates took at least 23 seats from the governing conservative party, giving them an absolute majority.
"The 25th of September, 2011, will go down in history," Jean-Pierre Bel, head of the Socialist group in the Senate, said on French television.
"The results of this Senate election represent a real comeuppance for the right."
France's conservative Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said the right had suffered from its divisions and that the left had made a "strong breakthrough".
"The moment of truth will come next spring. The battle begins tonight," he said in a statement.
Of the 170 seats up for grabs in the election, Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party had 147 seats out of a total 343 to the Socialist Party's 115 before Sunday's vote.
The number of seats in the upper house is being increased to 348 to reflect an increase in population.
MANILA, Philippines - GMA ups its ratings and programming ante, now running ahead of competition in national TV ratings. This value won for the network 40 percent of advertisers’ TV ad spending (based on ratecards) from July until this month.GMA 7 won over other mainstream TV channels in terms of audience share from all over the Philippines, according to the recent household data of the ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.From a 2.8-point margin over chief rival ABS-CBN in total day average household audience share in National Urban Television Audience Management (NUTAM) last month, GMA stretched the gap by 3.2 points in partial August (until Aug. 16; Aug. 7 to 16 based on overnight data), garnering a total of 34.6 points. The lead this month translates to 119,973 households or almost 600,000 more viewers.According to Nielsen, the Kapuso channel is ahead in the key markets of Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, respectively, comprising 77 percent and 58 percent of total TV households nationwide.GMA’s primetime block was ahead by 1.7 points in Urban Luzon while in Mega Manila, GMA had a gap of 4.5 points with 35.2 points as against competition’s 30.7.The lead of GMA in Urban Luzon translates to 63,061 households or 315,305 more viewers during primetime. Meanwhile, the Kapuso Network’s 4.5 lead in viewer-rich Mega Manila translates to 134,646 households or 673,230 more viewers using an average of five viewers per TV household.For July, GMA was dominant in the Top 30 programs in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila with 20 entries. Amaya and Munting Heredera were the top two programs in the areas, while TV’s longest-running noontime variety show Eat Bulaga ranked third.Meanwhile, GMA’s afternoon block (from 12 nn to 6 p.m.) remains a showcase of programs with storylines friendly to both viewers and advertisers - the company’s key stakeholders.GMA had six entries in the overall Top 10 weekday afternoon programs in NUTAM, including Blusang Itim, Sinner or Saint and Sisid. From a 13.1-point lead in NUTAM in the afternoon block last month, the gap grew to 15.9 household share points in partial August with GMA scoring 41.1 points.In terms of number of televiewers, the lead of 15.9 points equaled to 600,265 households or over three million more viewers nationwide were attuned to GMA’s afternoon block this partial August.Still in the afternoon block, GMA Network garnered 45.9 household audience share points in Urban Luzon this partial August, a 26-point lead that translates to 759,282 households or almost 3.8 million more viewers. In Mega Manila, GMA gathered 47 points, a 28.7-point lead that translates to 647,938 households or over 3.2 million viewers in the afternoon block.The Nielsen TV Audience Measurement is used by 21 companies including two other local networks, namely, TV5 and Solar Entertainment.
