(CNN) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe faced the most formidable challenge in his 28-year rule Monday, with official government results showing his ZANU-PF party leading by one seat in parliamentary elections.

The government has released results slowly from Saturday's vote. By late Monday, it had announced results in only 67 of 210 parliamentary races. Of the 67 seats, ZANU-PF won 31; MDC won 30; and a party that split from the MDC won six seats.

(CNN) - Zimbabwe's government Monday began releasing the results of the weekend parliamentary vote, but offered no data on the hotly contested presidential race in which President Robert Mugabe is facing the most formidable challenge to his 28-year rule.

Zimbabwe's main opposition party - Movement for Democratic Change, led by presidential contender Morgan Tsvangirai – announced Sunday that it had won enough votes in Saturday's presidential and parliamentary election to end the 84-year-old incumbent's rule over Zimbabwe.

But a group of non-governmental organizations monitoring the election released exit polling data that showed the race much closer - and possibly headed for a runoff vote. Noel Kututwa, chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, said that his group's polling data gave Tsvangirai 49.4 percent of the vote - short of the 51 percent needed to win. Mugabe was second with 41.8 percent, and Simba Makoni third with 8.2 percent.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned Monday amid multiple ethics investigations and criticism from top lawmakers, saying he needs to focus on "personal and family matters."

Jackson said his resignation will take effect April 18. It follows criticism from members of Congress that he has refused to respond adequately to allegations of impropriety - allegations he did not address in his announcement.

In a written statement, President Bush said Jackson "made significant progress in transforming public housing, revitalizing and modernizing the Federal Housing Administration, increasing affordable housing, rebuilding the Gulf Coast, decreasing homelessness, and increasing minority homeownership."

But Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, who called for Jackson's resignation earlier this month, welcomed his decision to step down. "I think it was the right move. We need to have people whose focus and attention is going to be 100 percent on this issue," he told reporters.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - Kidnappers have released the Iraqi civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan four days after his abduction, his family told Iraqi authorities Monday.

Tahseen Sheikhly was seized Thursday at his home by a force of dozens of gunmen, who killed three of the spokesman's bodyguards and burned down the house, Iraqi authorities said.

A relative told the Interior Ministry that he had been released Monday, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. A high-ranking official with Iraq's Defense Ministry confirmed the report, but provided no further details.

(CNN) - One of six men accused of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey received a sentence of 20 months in prison and three years of supervised release in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, the New Jersey U.S. attorney's office told CNN.

Abdullahu, 25, of Buena Vista Township, last October pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of providing firearms to illegal aliens. He could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison on that charge.

Abdullahu told the court in October that from January 2006 to May 2007 he and Serdar Tatar had provided firearms to Dritan Duka, Shain Duka and Eljvir "Elvis" Duka. He also admitted knowing that the Duka brothers - born in the former Yugoslavia - were in the United States illegally.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) – Farmers seething at export taxes on their
crops resumed blockades of rural highways Monday after talks failed to end a
19-day-old strike that has halted grain exports and emptied supermarket shelves
of meat.

The farmers launched their strike to protest a 44 percent export tax on
commodities like soy and sunflower seeds implemented by the government March
11.

More negotiations were expected Monday, and President Cristina Fernandez
de Kirchner was planning to address the nation about the standoff.

 ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) - Turkey's constitutional court agreed Monday to hear a case that could shut down the ruling AK Party and ban 71 of its members from politics, including the president and prime minister.

Turkey's chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, asked the country's constitutional court to consider the case over two weeks ago, setting up a political struggle with the government.

Yalcinkaya accuses the government of violating Turkey's secular constitution with what he called anti-secular practices, including a recent lift on a headscarf ban in public universities.

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) - Cuba's communist government on Monday lifted a ban
on Cubans staying at hotels previously reserved for foreigners, ending a
restriction that had been especially irksome to ordinary citizens.

Cubans will be allowed to stay in the hotels beginning at midnight
Monday, said employees at several Havana hotels. Word of the change came from
officials of the Ministry of Tourism, the employees said.

For most Cubans, the measure is largely symbolic, as hotel rates are
simply unaffordable. Tourist hotels in Cuba can cost anywhere from $60 to more
than $200 a night - well out of reach for most Cubans, who earn just under $20
a month on average.

The hotel announcement is the second loosening of rules announced by Cuba
in recent days. Last week, the government lifted a ban on Cubans owning cell
phones.

– CNN's Morgan Neill and Shasta Darlington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, welcomed
Monday a proposal to overhaul the nation's regulatory system as "a step in the
right direction" but warned that it would only affect problems in the future,
not existing problems.

"The White House should direct their attention to what needs to be done
now," he said.

(CNN) - Chad's president has pardoned six French aid workers and a Chadian middleman convicted of plotting to kidnap African children for adoption in Europe, state radio announced Monday.

The workers from the international charity Zoe's Ark were arrested in October and sentenced to eight years in prison. Under an agreement between Chad and France, they were allowed to serve their time in a French jail.

Chadian President Idriss Deby pardoned the seven convicts Monday, state radio announced, but there was no immediate word on when they would be released.