London  - The British government Tuesday hailed as "historic" an agreement struck by the political leaders in Northern Ireland to end five months of political stalemate in the province and to move ahead with the completion of the peace process.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson, who also leads the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and his deputy, Martin McGuinness of the Catholic Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, said regular meetings of the executive, or cabinet, would resume on Thursday.

The executive has not met since June as a result of disagreement over the transfer of policing and justice powers to the executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly, or regional parliament, from the British government in London.

Damascus  - Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged Syria on Tuesday to continue efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel and accused the Syrian-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas of disrupting peace.

"Syria has a big potential role to play in stability in the Middle East. It can be a force for stability or it can be a force for instability," Miliband said.

Syria and Israel have conducted four rounds of indirect peace talks mediated by Turkey since May 2008. A fifth round of talks was postponed due to the leadership crisis within Israel following the resignation of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Paris - The French Socialist Party and its self-appointed diva, former presidential candidate Segolene Royal, are fighting for their political survival, and it is not a pretty sight.

After last weekend's bad-tempered party congress in Reims failed to choose a leader or a platform, the party's more than 168,000 dues-paying members are to vote for a new head on Thursday - and if necessary, on Friday.

The vote will be decisive for Royal's political future, and could also be critical for the chances of the Socialists to unseat President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012.

Tehran - The Iranian parliament on Tuesday approved Sadeq Mahsouli, a former university lecturer, as interior minister, Tehran radio reported.

Mahsouli, 49, an ideological ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, received the support of 138 of the 273 deputies voting at the confirmation hearing, the report said.

Mahsouli is replacing Ali Kordan, who was dismissed by parliament last week for having presented the lawmakers a faked Oxford University honorary doctorate.

The interior minister is directly in charge of the presidential elections scheduled for June, in which Ahmadinejad is to seek a second term in office.

Managua, Nicaragua - Nicaragua's capital was bracing for large demonstrations Tuesday by the ruling Sandinista party and the opposition after supporters of President Daniel Ortega blocked an important highway through Managua, forcing opposition leaders to seek refuge in a church.

The supporters of the Sandinista National Liberation Front cut off the Pan-American Highway and important streets in the capital Monday to block the movements of Eduardo Montealegre, who ran for mayor of Managua in November 9 elections and is now charging electoral fraud.

The member of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party and other opposition leaders then had to hole up in the church.

Washington  - US president-elect Barack Obama and former opponent Senator John McCain pledged to "launch a new era" on Monday during their first meeting since the election.

Obama hosted McCain at his transition team headquarters in Chicago and met privately after appearing for photographs. They later issued a joint statement promising to work together on government reform and across Republican and Democratic party lines to tackle the nation's economic problems.