But politicians in Cardiff Bay were today focused on a different kind of deficit - the gap between political activity in the National Assembly for Wales and media coverage of it - or the lack of it.

BBC: Why doesn't Welsh politics sell newspapers?

Each has an elected local assembly, but the premier political exercise is the election to the National Assembly in Paris.

CNN: HE BRITISH FORCES LANDED

The Socialists now control almost all of France's political institutions: the presidency, the National Assembly, the Senate, all but one of the 22 regions and most local government.

ECONOMIST: A Socialist landslide, but trouble looms ahead

Secretary Rice told senators yesterday that she expects Sunnis to turn out in large numbers for Iraq's next political landmark, the National Assembly elections scheduled for mid-December.

NPR: Command and Control of the Iraq Insurgency

Dr. Sylvain Charat is a graduate from the University of the Sorbonne, Paris, was chief political adviser of a former French Minister of Finance in the French National Assembly, and is now a public affairs consultant, specializing in the welfare system.

FORBES: In France's Welfare State Status Quo, Are We Seeing America's Future?

The unification of all the political parties guarantees 48 votes, which is a majority in the Nicaraguan National Assembly.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Pro-Iranian Chavista Daniel Ortega overturns term limits

Spiralling political tensions led the Emir to suspend the National Assembly for one month on 18 June, but this was superseded two days later by a ruling by the Constitutional Court that annulled the February election and reinstated the parliament that had been dissolved in December 2011.

BBC: Kuwait: Political crisis at critical juncture

Kim Young Sam could plainly see that the political landscape was changing as politicians jockeyed for position in the upcoming National Assembly elections and beyond that the 2002 presidential contest.

CNN: THE RETURN OF THE THREE KIMS

In Libya, where a national assembly election is expected on 19 June, the Muslim Brotherhood has become a main political player.

BBC: Regional rise of the Muslim Brotherhood