New leader for British Labour Party

Britain's opposition Labour Party yesterday elected 40-year-old lawmaker Ed Miliband as its new leader.

The young Miliband narrowly defeated his elder and better-known brother in a close-run contest to replace ousted prime minister Gordon Brown.

The siblings shared an emotional embrace after Ed squeezed out David Miliband, the 45-year-old former foreign secretary, in a ballot of legislators, party activists, and about 3.5 million labour-union members.

Miliband pledged to reunite his wounded party, which was kicked out of office in May after 13 years.

The British-Jamaican legislator Diane Abbott was among three other candidates who failed to garner much of the votes.

The new leader will make a major address to the party's annual rally on Tuesday, and will seek to build on recent opinion-poll gains.