World news in brief

ITALY: The second day of parliamentary polls open tomorrow as Italians vote in an election crucial to the future of the eurozone.

Turnout was expected to be hit by bad weather - Italians normally go to the polls in spring.

Pier Luigi Bersani led in opinion polls going into the vote, but much attention has been focused on disgraced former premier Silvio Berlusconi's attempted comeback.

Topless Femen protesters went to the ballot with "enough of Silvio" written on their chests.

Rebels bring tanks into academy raid

SYRIA: Rebels backed by captured tanks launched a fresh offensive on a police academy near Aleppo today.

The government - which responded with air strikes - has lost a hydroelectric dam, a major oil field and two army bases to the rebels in recent weeks.

Three killed as police fire on rally

BANGLADESH: At least three people were killed today when police fired on Islamists rallying to demand the execution of bloggers they accuse of blasphemy.

Tensions have risen over allegedly anti-Islamic posts by Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death last week in Dhaka.

On Saturday around 5,000 students protested demanding the death penalty for eight Islamist leaders accused of crimes against humanity during Bangladesh's independence war.

Taliban launches four attacks

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban militants launched four attacks in and around Kabul and Jalalabad today.

Guards shot dead the driver of one car in Jalalabad but he still detonated his explosives, killing two security personel.

A Kabul car bombing was foiled when police killed the driver.

Two separate suicide attacks in nearby Logar province killed one policeman and wounded three others.

Obama calls for marriage law change

US: President Barack Obama has asked the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a section of federal law that only recognises male-female marriages.

The 1996 Defence of Marriage Act denies a number of federal benefits to same-sex couples.

Nationalists launch party

BASQUE COUNTRY: Nationalist political party Sortu was formally launched on Saturday.

The event comes eight months after the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled it was not directly linked to militant separatist group Eta.

Imprisoned leader Arnaldo Otegi told delegates in a letter that the Spanish and French states continue to deny the Basques' "right to self-determination."

Boko Haram blamed for Yobe attacks

NIGERIA: Ngalda residents today blamed Islamist terror group Boko Haram for an attack that killed at least six people on Saturday.

Police said no arrests had been made relating to the attack in the country's Yobe state.