Kosovo assembly elects president

Kosovo's parliament has elected Atifete Jahjaga as its new president, the first woman to head the state. The 35-year-old received 80 votes, with no votes against, in Thursday's parliament session. Jahjaga was a compromise candidate in a US-brokered deal between Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, businessman Behgjet Pacolli and the head of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa. 

The Kosovo Constitutional Court had ruled that Pacolli's February election win had breached the constitution because an opposition boycott left fewer lawmakers in the parliament for the vote then required by law. The opposition threatened to repeat the boycott if Pacolli ran again. (AP)