Liberte (Algeria)
Bouteflika III, la victoire absolute (Bouteflika III, absolute victory)

Algerian independent paper Liberte’s front page calls incumbent Bouteflika’s landslide win an “absolute victory”. He won his third term in office – with an improbable 90.24 percent.

On the inside pages they quote the minister of the interior who says so many people voted because Bouteflika has done so much for the country, that he really galvanised people.

Liberation (France)
Faim de règne sur l'Algérie

Liberation is bit more cynical. They say Bouteflika was re-elected with a fabricated 90 percent vote and that there was no way turn out could be that high. The paper says he will probably stay president until he dies, they call him  weak – and hot tempered.

La Stampa (Italy)
Lacrime d’Italia (Italy's tears)

“Italy's tears” has a cover shot is of two women surrounded by coffins, a reminder of the scale of last week's earthquake disaster.

Il Mattino (Italy)
Lacrime per non dimenticare (Tears of remembrance)

Il Mattino say the nation is crying for its dead. Thousands came to mourn the victims of the earthquake. There is a particularly sad image on the front of Il Matino of a woman, her baby and a child’s coffin.

 
A big story for the French press today is the French hostage killed as French comandos stormed a yacht held by Somali pirates.

Le Figaro (France)
Tanit : un otage tué, 4 autres libérés (One hostage killed, 4 others freed)

The paper shows an image of the young man killed during a mission to rescue him and his family with his child. This family had sold up everything to take the trip of a lifetime.

The Guardian (UK)
Japan banks on manga to help fight recession

Manga is the popular Japanese style of graphic illustration, but this isn’t a comic about kickboxing bankers – it’s about the bankabilty of manga.

The Japanese PM (a self-confessed managa geek) wants to capitalise upon manga’s popularity abroad. Part of the economic stimulus package he announced yesterday will go to promoting manga overseas – they hope to raise the export of animated films, cartoons, video games and fashion from a current 2 percent to 18 percent over the next decade. They think it could lead to 500,000 new Japanese jobs and bring lots of money to the economy.