Unity Government

Ariel Sharon has been installed as Israel's prime minister, together with an oversize multi-party Cabinet that many expect to behave more like a large, dysfunctional family than a smooth-running government. Its members range from dovish Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on the left to Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi--who advocates expelling all Palestinians from the West Bank--on the lunatic right. Sharon calls it a national unity government.

ATHENS - Greeks braced for another trip to the ballot box next month after weeklong crisis talks aimed at forming a coalition government collapsed Friday. The repeat election will probably take place June 17, senior government and party officials said. The breakdown came after socialist PASOK party leader Evangelos Venizelos failed to persuade Alexis Tsipras and his far-left Syriza party to team up in a coalition government after Sunday's elections gave no party overall control of Parliament.

Why are all those women carrying buckets of water on their heads? That was the first riddle that David Coltart, Zimbabwe's new education minister, faced last month as he walked into his high-rise headquarters. "The reason is that the whole of the Ministry of Education, 18 floors, has no water in it. So my first, immediate task was to get the pump repaired. If you walk down the stairwells you will gag, the stench is so bad on some floors," Coltart said in an interview in his new office.

JERUSALEM — The surprise unity government announced Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has many observers predicting that the reformed coalition will embark on a more moderate path, including reopening talks with Palestinians and softening rhetoric on attacking Iran. The addition of the centrist Kadima party to what has been called one of Israel's most right-wing coalition governments gives Netanyahu a comfortable 78% majority in the parliament, lessening the clout of small right-wing parties and factions.

After a months-long deadlock, Lebanon's rival political camps agreed to a unity government that includes both American-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim political party and militia that the United States considers a terrorist organization. Resolution of Lebanon's political crisis could ease regional tensions between U.S.-backed Sunni Arab states on the one hand and Iran and Syria, which back Hezbollah, on the other. But the question of Hezbollah's arsenal -- which is in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions -- will probably remain unresolved in the short term.

Greece's ruling socialists and opposition conservatives agreed to form a unity government Sunday, ending a week of political turmoil that threatened to push the country into bankruptcy and out of Europe's single currency. Under the agreement, beleaguered Prime Minister George Papandreou will step down and his successor will be decided in a second round of talks Monday. Former Bank of Greece Gov. Lucas Papademos, European ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros and independent deputy Elsa Papadimitriou are on the successor list, said a senior official who requested anonymity because of the talk's sensitivity.

The deep divide in Tunisia over the status and fate of the deposed dictator's ruling party threatened the fragile unity government on Tuesday just a day after it was announced. At least four former opposition figures quit the Cabinet, apparently under pressure from rank-and-file members opposed to the inclusion of six members of the previous regime in the transitional administration meant to pave the way for new elections. Rowdy demonstrators enraged over the participation in the government of members of former President Zine el Abidine ben Ali's ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally, or RCD, taunted baton-wielding police officers during cat-and-mouse clashes in the capital and other cities.

Greek political leaders agreed to form an all-party national unity government, ending a 16-day crisis since the inconclusive election this month. Former central bank governor Xenophon Zolotas, 85, will be the premier in the new government, which will serve until elections next April. The move to form an all-party government headed off a vote Dec. 17, which would have been the third time Greeks have gone to the polls this year.

Lebanon's year-old national unity government collapsed today in the face of what Prime Minister Rashid Karami called "a horrific nightmare"--a savage house-to-house battle between rival militias for control of Muslim West Beirut. At least 29 people were reported killed and 120 wounded in the worst fighting in Beirut in more than a year. The battle capped three weeks of factional combat, centered first in the southern port of Sidon, in which well over 100 people have died.

Embattled authorities held out hope Saturday of forming a government of national unity, and a rebel general said UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi had called off his forces on three main fronts. UNITA rebels have captured two provincial capitals and closed in on several others since fighting flared two weeks ago. They are less than 35 miles northeast of the capital, Luanda.

With no end to the bloodshed in Syria, the Arab League on Sunday called for President Bashar Assad to hand over power to his top deputy and sought the formation of a unity government to prepare for early elections. The league's demands seem certain to anger the Syrian government, which blames months of unrest on "foreign conspiracies" and has repeatedly rejected what it regards as attacks on its sovereignty. League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said the 22-member regional bloc would seek endorsement from the United Nations Security Council for its plan but did not say what it would do if Syria did not comply with its demands.

The stock-market ping-pong ball bounced up as investors cheered new moves by debt-hobbled European nations to tackle their fiscal woes. The passage of an austerity budget in Italy and further steps toward a unity government in Greece comforted investors who earlier in the week had feared the potential collapse of the continent's currency union. Better-than-expected U.S. consumer confidence data also stirred optimism that the domestic economy is faring reasonably well in the face of Europe's troubles.

Greece's ruling socialists and opposition conservatives agreed to form a unity government Sunday, ending a week of political turmoil that threatened to push the country into bankruptcy and out of Europe's single currency. Under the agreement, beleaguered Prime Minister George Papandreou will step down and his successor will be decided in a second round of talks Monday. Former Bank of Greece Gov. Lucas Papademos, European ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros and independent deputy Elsa Papadimitriou are on the successor list, said a senior official who requested anonymity because of the talk's sensitivity.

Tunisia's moderate Islamist party was seeking to form a unity government Tuesday amid indications that it would win more than 40% of the seats in an assembly that will write a new constitution and test the cooperation between Islamists and secularists in building a democracy. Tunisia, which inspired the so-called Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, is moving beyond decades of autocracy in an effort to put together a government based on the revolution that overthrew President Zine el Abidine ben Ali in January.

A meeting between the top leaders of the Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas to discuss forming a national unity government has been postponed until further notice, a Fatah official said Sunday. "The meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal scheduled Tuesday in Cairo has been delayed due to disagreements between both sides," Azzam Ahmed, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, told reporters in Ramallah, in the West Bank. The summit was meant to tackle serious issues, including naming a prime minister and other officials for a new unity government.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is back on the tightrope. The last time he tried a high-stakes balancing act with rival Hamas, he famously plunged off the wire. After the militant group won parliamentary elections in 2006 and was promptly boycotted by Israel, the U.S. and Europe, an attempt at a unity government unraveled into open warfare between the rival Palestinian factions. But in the wake of a May 4 reconciliation deal with the Islamist Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel label as a terrorist organization, he's gambling on a better safety net this time.

Australia said it would provide funding to Zimbabwe's new unity government, the first Western power to announce direct support for the new administration. Australia previously gave Zimbabwe humanitarian assistance through aid agencies but did not provide direct funding to the government headed by President Robert Mugabe. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai became prime minister in February. Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said Australia recognized that there were risks to the new policy and was "under no illusions about the fragility of the political situation in Zimbabwe."

The resignation of Somalia's embattled president Monday should clear the path for a new unity government, officials and diplomats said. Abdullahi Yusuf, a former warlord who had served as president of a transitional government since 2004, submitted his resignation to parliament and immediately returned to his native Puntland region in northern Somalia.

Six months after agreeing to form a national unity government, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his secular rival Iyad Allawi are again exchanging insults and cannot agree on such basic issues as who should run the nation's police and army. The rift, though unlikely to send Iraq back into sectarian violence, does have Iraqi and Western analysts concerned that the country will continue on a dysfunctional path as American troops move to complete their withdrawal by year's end, nearly nine years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Israel said Sunday that it was delaying the transfer of about $89 million in tax revenue belonging to the Palestinian Authority, the latest sign of souring relations in connection with a proposed unity government between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel was concerned that the money — including customs fees and taxes collected by Israel on behalf of Palestinians — could eventually be used to benefit Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, if the militant group announces a new joint government with Fatah as expected later this week.