But most commentators agreed that he had been politically wounded.Mr Koizumi needed a strong showing in the election to help him silence rivals in his own party. Asked on television whether he would rethink these reforms or his support for the unpopular US-led war in Iraq, Mr Koizumi replied: "Absolutely not. We will continue exactly as before."Naoto Kan, the leader of the DPJ, told reporters he was stunned by his party's strong showing. The election showed the LDP was yesterday's force and that voters strongly opposed Japan's unqualified support of America, he said.The Prime Minister has promised to send the military to Iraq by the end of the year.The main losers appeared to have been the left, with a dismal performance by the Communists and the Social Democrats, whose leader, Takako Doi, lost her seat.. Akshaya has worked in HSBC's main call centre in India for just over a year. The graduate in business and finance, from Hyderabad, in the eastern state of Andhra Pradesh, comes to the office after mid-day when the bank's customers in Britain are just getting going for the day.

"This job contains everything I studied - finance, marketing, accounting. And we are the front line for customers, so if you want to move on to the next level, it is easier to do because you understand the customers better," he says.HSBC outraged Britain's unions and shocked its staff three weeks ago when it said it would scrap 4,000 jobs in the UK and move them to the subcontinent, where salaries are dramatically lower but potential employees have a very high standard of education.The bank first set up its data processing and call centre in Hyderabad in July 2001 and has been taking on 240 employees a month. It will have 2,600 employees in the city by the end of this year. The average age of its recruits is 23 and the split between men and women is even.Puneet Dar joined a year ago, moving from front office manager for the Sheraton hotel - one of the poshest in the city. He is now one of HSBC's call-centre managers.Dar, 31, who has a degree in economic and political science and a diploma in hotel management, went through five rounds of interviews before he got the job. He applied to HSBC because "the hotel industry was stagnating in India.

Also we had a lot of people from HSBC staying at the Sheraton and they were always very decent people. If they had an issue they would come and talk to you rather than making a hue and cry about it."HSBC is the first British company to set up a major operation to process work for its UK business in Hyderabad, one of India's fastest growing centres for software and telecommunications.Companies such as British Telecom, Prudential and Lloyds TSB are following HSBC's lead on the basis that they can hire well-educated staff for about a sixth of the salaries they have to pay people in the UK. An annex is being built.Khaled Hamed Rachid, whose three daughters attend Hebtikar, says: "Of course I'm afraid the fanatics will consider this school a target. "I will pray for peace in the country," she says.Sister Beninia had plenty of experience facing down troubles, beginning with the Baath Party's 1974 decision to nationalise all schools including Hebtikar, which was originally run by her convent.