World gripped - and amused - by the U.S. election

LONDON - An Italian newspaper offered its take Thursday on the winner of the unresolved U.S. presidential race 16 days after the elections: ''The Turkey Won,'' declared the Rome-based Communist daily, Il Manifesto, featuring a large photo of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

Mirth and exasperation over the protracted U.S. presidential recount led newspaper accounts of the race worldwide on Thursday, a day after George W. Bush asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision allowing recounts in three Democratic-leaning counties to continue.

Several Italian newspapers showed Florida election officials counting votes alone, in tandem or with magnifying glasses, emphasizing the tedious, low-tech approach to the recount.

''An American Nightmare, a Government of Judges,'' said Turin's La Stampa.

''America in Limbo,'' said Australia's Sydney Morning Herald.

Some focused on Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney's health.

''Florida gives Cheney a heart attack,'' said a headline in the Athens daily To Vima.

There were hints of boredom in the British press, with The Times and The Guardian putting the story below the fold on page one and the tabloids tucking it inside. The Independent, which carried a cartoon depicting both candidates as babies, worried that Gore might pull ahead in the recount and that Republicans would then shift the battle to the Florida legislature.

''Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush must finally start acting like the statesmen they pretend to be, and accept Monday's figures without further argument,'' the London newspaper said.

The Times of London said it appeared that Bush would lose in Florida ''only if local officials with known partisan affiliations shift disputed ballot papers toward his rival ... Mr. Gore should not want to win the White House in this fashion.''

''The world is sneering at American democracy,'' said Japan's Mainichi Shimbun. ''The damage done to the image of the United States to the outside world is immeasurable.''

''The world isn't going to fall apart,'' countered the Bern, Switzerland, daily Der Bund. ''And the United States also has no reason to be ashamed for too long of the various embarrassments - although some of the scenes from Florida are more reminiscent of a banana republic than the 'mother of democracy.'''

The China Times Express, a leading Taiwanese daily, marveled at how the Americans have kept public order and respected the law while the recount is under way. ''Already it has been two weeks and no one has burned the polls, there has been no fighting in the streets, and neither candidate has been recklessly insisting that he's the winner.''

Egyptian commentator Samir Ragab wrote that democracy activists in his country should take note of the ''U.S. presidential fiasco'' instead of criticizing their own country, where recent parliamentary elections were marred by violence and charges of vote fraud.

''It would be tragic if it weren't so funny,'' commented Le Matin of Lausanne, Switzerland.

''Bill Clinton, meanwhile, was eating turkey at the White House, to prove that America's traditions are stable even if its institutions aren't,'' Le Matin said. ''But it's perfectly valid for us to wonder: Is it Thanksgiving or is it April Fool's Day?''