The agreement, reached in September, puts President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party in charge of 15 ministries and gives Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change control of 13 ministries, but Mr Tsvangirai has threatened to withdraw after they failed to agree on the distribution of key cabinet posts.

Woman stoned to death
A woman has been stoned to death for committing adultery after being found guilty in an Islamic Sharia court in the southern Somali city of Kismayo. The woman, Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow, was buried up to her neck in sand and then killed in front of thousands of people in one of the city's squares. A local Islamist leader told the crowd the woman had asked the court to be punished, according to the news agency AFP. Islamist fighters captured the city of Kismayo from forces loyal to the Somali government in August.

Returnees put strain on schools
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) warns the educational sector in Southern Sudan is under enormous pressure as large number of child refugees return. Monitors are finding that most returnees are of school age or younger. They also say more than half the families returning to the region are headed by single women, as men often stay in the areas to which they fled during the civil war. In 2005 the Sudan Joint Assessment Mission estimated some four million people had been displaced from or within Southern Sudan by the 20 years of conflict.

Historic win for woman sold as slave
A woman sold into slavery at the age of 12 has won a landmark victory against the Niger state, which failed to protect her. Hadijatou Mani was sold at the age of 12 and worked as a slave for 10 years during which time she was raped and beaten. The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) fined the government of Niger 18,600 US dollars. The ruling, the first of its kind, was welcomed by human rights campaigners. It applies to all ECOWAS member states and is seen as setting a legal precedent for neighbouring countries where slavery persists. The government of Niger introduced anti-slavery legislation in 2003, but Anti-Slavery International estimates there are still least 43,000 slaves in the country.

India steel plant protests
A project to build a multi-billion dollar steel plant in India has been delayed again after hundreds of people staged a protest in the eastern part of the country. The plant, which is being constructed in Orissa state by South Korean steel maker POSCO, is the country's largest foreign investment. In August India's Supreme Court awarded POSCO large tracts of forest land in the mineral-rich district of Jagatsinghpur. Villagers say it will deprive them of their farmland and make about 20,000 people homeless. POSCO and the Indian government say the plant will create jobs.

Storm deaths in Bangladesh
A tropical storm hit southern Bangladesh on Monday killing at least 15 people and injuring 300. At least 10 fishing boats carrying 50 people were missing in the Bay of Bengal after tropical storm Rasmi battered the southern region with winds of up to 80km/h. In Yemen aid workers have stepped up rescue efforts after fierce storms last week claimed around 60 lives. Meanwhile the UN humanitarian chief has appealed to donor countries for more than 60 million US dollars to assist Haiti as it recovers from storms that killed early 800 people and destroyed most of the country's agriculture between August and September.