La Paz - The left-wing populist government of Bolivia and the country's opposition were optimistic ahead of a meeting of South American presidents Monday in Santiago to discuss the Bolivian crisis.

The opposition governor of the province of Tarija, Mario Cossio, said in the early hours of Monday that the two sides had almost agreed on the draft of a joint statement.

Cossio - representing the Democratic National Council (Conalde) that brings the opposition together - met with a government delegation headed by Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera for eight hours in La Paz.

Kiev/Moscow - Ukrainian parliament Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk said Monday he expected the coalition to break up on Tuesday as a deadline to resolve differences expired.

"Come with flowers, come with wreathes to the funeral of the democratic coalition," Yatsenyuk told journalists in Kiev, Interfax news agency reported.

The fallout between the West and Russia over last month's war in Georgia has imploded, leaving Ukraine's fragile ruling coalition deeply divided over its identity.

Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's 28-year monopoly on power came to an end Monday when he signed an historic agreement to share power with his decade-long rival, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The deal on a unity government, which comes after eight weeks of tripartite negotiations brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki, ends Mugabe's 28-year monopoly on power.

New Delhi, Sept 15 : Activists of Shiv Sena took to streets in New Delhi on Monday against the alleged indifference of the Central government in dealing with those responsible for the recent serial blasts in several parts of the country.

The activists of the Shiv Sena marched through the streets of the national capital raising slogans against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the wake of Saturday''s serial bombings in Delhi killing at least 20 people.

Harare - After a decade as the face of the opposition in Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai received his just deserts Monday when he was named prime minister in a government of national unity alongside Robert Mugabe as president.

The stocky Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, who, a year and a half ago was nursing a fractured skull following a beating in police custody, shook hands with Mugabe on a deal to share power aimed at ending Zimbabwe's decade-long political and economic woes.

Few would ever have imagined the day when ex-guerrilla fighter Mugabe, 84 and ex-trade union leader Tsvangirai, 56, would agree to work together to shore up the world's fastest-shrinking economy.

Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the leader of an MDC splinter faction, Arthur Mutambara, on Monday formally signed an historic agreement to share power in a unity government.

The deal, which comes after eight weeks of negotiations brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki, ends Mugabe's 28-year monopoly on power.