Kgalema Motlanthe, who like many of South Africa’s current leaders was involved in the struggle to end white minority rule, is to serve as head of state until national elections are held in seven months’ time. He has been considered a key African National Congress strategist who has appealed to supporters of both Mbeki and the outgoing president’s rival Jacob Zuma. Zuma, who is ANC president, is widely seen as the favourite to become head of state after the election.

Gordon Brown’s centre-left Labour Party trails David Cameron’s resurgent Conservatives by 17 percentage points, according to a poll yesterday. About 54 per cent of Labour activists want someone other than Mr Brown as leader for the next general election, which must be held by mid-2010, according to a newspaper poll yesterday.

President Thabo Mbeki has lost a power struggle against his rival, African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma, and has been under pressure to quit following a judge’s ruling this month that he was instrumental in Mr Zuma being charged with corruption.

An opposition Movement for Democratic Change source close to the negotiations said on condition of anonymity: “ZANU-PF wants all the powerful ministries like finance, defence, local government and information and leave us less important ministries. We are saying: ‘Let’s have an equal share’.”

Mr Somchai, 61, will not take office until he is endorsed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a process that could take several days. However, anti-government protesters who have occupied the grounds of the prime minister’s offices for three weeks have already vowed to continue their rally to force Mr Somchai from power.

Anwar Ibrahim’s challenge is the most serious threat to the ruling coalition since it took power in 1957, when Malaysia gained independence from British colonial rule. One of the most stable countries in the region, it has been plunged into political turmoil, alongside its neighbor Thailand, where the government is in disarray.

The intercepts circulated last week among Western intelligence agencies, part of a Georgian government effort to argue that Georgia was under invasion and attacked defensively. Georgia argues that as a tiny and vulnerable nation allied with the West, it deserves extensive military and political support.

President Robert Mugabe began the frequently violent land seizures in 2000 to boost his fading popularity, accusing Britain of reneging on a commitment in the 1979 Lancaster House agreement to compensate white farmers for land redistributed to blacks. The move triggered Zimbabwe’s economic collapse as its productive farms were ruined.

Long-time President Robert Mugabe, former Opposition Leader and Prime Minister-elect Morgan Tsvangirai, and Arthur Mutambara - leader of a breakaway faction of Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - signed the agreement in front of some 3,000 invited guests in Harare’s International Conference Centre.

Opinion polls have shown the Clark Government trailing the main opposition National Party for several months, although the gap narrowed to 6.5 percentage points at the start of September. The announcement came amidst a scandal involving political donations to Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party.