Cape Town  - The leader of a faction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Thursday accused President Robert Mugabe of trying to clobber the opposition in the run-up to anot

Ankara  - The lifting of Turkey's ban on the wearing of Islamic-style headscarves at universities was being discussed in the Constitutional Court on Thursday, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Belfast/London  - A new leader of the regional government of Northern Ireland is to be nominated Thursday, following the departure from office of Ian Paisley, the veteran Protestant politician.

He is to be succeeded as First Minister by Peter Robinson, his long-term protege who has also taken over the leadership of the main Protestant Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP).

As Paisley before him, Robinson is to work with Martin McGuinness, of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, as his deputy in a power- sharing government.

Wellington  - New Zealand's indigenous Maori Party welcomed Barack Obama winning the Democratic nomination for the US presidency on Thursday as an inspiration to people of colour around the world.<