Boost for Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto appeared set to embark on her second term as prime minister after her Pakistan People's Party nominee, Yusuf Raza Gilani, was elected speaker of the National Assembly yesterday, AFP reports from Islamabad.

Ending a week-old stalemate about who commands the majority in the hung Pakistani parliament, Mr Gilani defeated his lone rival, Gohar Ayub, of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League by a wide margin.