News In Brief

Napolitano reelected as Italy president
Reuters, Rome

The Italian parliament on Saturday re-elected 87-year-old President Giorgio Napolitano to serve a second term in an attempt to resolve the political stalemate left by February's inconclusive election.
As most of parliament cheered his re-election, demonstrators protested outside. By evening the crowd had swelled as thousands of people vented anger at an outcome that was widely seen as perpetuating the grip on the country of a discredited political class and favouring centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi.

Paraguay holds key presidential polls
Bbc Online

Voters in Paraguay went to the polls yesterday in a presidential election seen as key to restoring the country's democratic credentials.
Horacio Cartes, of the conservative Colorado Party, and the centre-right Liberal Party's Efrain Alegre are seen as front-runners among 10 candidates.
The country's standing dipped in the region after last year's disputed impeachment of President Fernando Lugo.
The South American blocs Unasur and Mercosur both suspended Paraguay.
They cited a "rupture in the democratic order".
The impeachment followed a land eviction at a farm last June that led to the deaths of 11 farmers and six police officers.
The incident sparked a nationwide outcry and the opposition declared President Lugo responsible.

US academic gang-raped in PNG
Afp, Port Moresby

A US academic has been gang-raped by an armed mob in Papua New Guinea, barely a week after an Australian was killed and his friend sexually assaulted by a group of men.
The incidents come after a brutal spate of sorcery-related crimes that have sparked condemnation from the United Nations and undermined the poor Pacific country's standing as a destination for tourism and investment.
In the latest case, the white academic told AFP that she was attacked on Friday while conducting research on birds and the impact of climate change in a remote forest on Karkar Island in Madang province.

Drone kills 'Qaeda militants' in Yemen
Afp, Sanaa

An apparent US drone strike and ensuing ground clashes in Yemen killed three suspected al-Qaeda militants and two soldiers yesterday, a security official and witnesses said.
The strike targeted a house in Wadi Abida, in the eastern province of Marib, and killed two suspected militants, the official said, requesting anonymity.
Witnesses said the strike was carried out by an unmanned aircraft of the sort that Washington has increasingly deployed against al-Qaeda targets in Yemen which shelters what it regards as the jihadist network's most dangerous branch.