New Madagascar leader sets agenda

Madagascar's new leader has laid out his priorities after seizing power in an army-backed overthrow of the president.Addressing 15,000 supporters in the capital, Antananarivo, on Wednesday, Andry Rajoelina promised to reverse some of the policies that had fuelled anger against Marc Ravalomanana, the ousted president.  Rajoelina - who is six years too young to be president under the constitution - heads a transitional government which has pledged to hold elections within two years. The former opposition leader promised to bring food prices down on the island, where three-quarters of the population live on less than $2 a day. He also said he would sell a plane that Ravalomanana recently bought for $60m, and use the money "to establish a hospital for the people's health, which is a higher priority". Rajoelina also cancelled an agreement to lease South Korean corporation Daewoo more than a million hectares of land in Madagascar to grow food crops, deal for which Ravalomanana was heavily criticised.