Algerian president appoints MPs

The Algerian President, Liamine Zeroual, has appointed forty-eight people to the newly-elected upper house of parliament, completing the constitutional changes introduced by the military-backed government.

On Thursday the president's governing National Democratic Rally won a comprehensive victory in the parliamentary vote, sweeping eighty of the remaining ninety-six contested seats in the upper house.

Voting was confined to regional and municipal councillors.

The new upper chamber will have the power to approve legislation passed by the lower house and its speaker becomes Algerian head of state should the post fall vacant.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service