Iraq could soon have its first Kurdish president, following behind the scenes talks between leading Shi’ite and Iraqi government figures and Kurdish officials. The two main Kurdish leaders, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, said on Sunday that they would demand one of the two top offices of state, prime minister or president.

Higher than expected numbers of Sunni Muslim voters appear to have turned out at the polls on Sunday in the regions of Iraq that have been worst affected by the insurgency. ”The numbers were very good, in contrast to our expectations,” said Adil al-Lami, the chief Iraqi electoral officer.

The queues snaking through Najaf’s dusty, broken streets were long and getting longer but no one complained: centuries of waiting were coming to an end. Iraq’s Shi’ites have at various times tried the sword and the gun to win the political power they saw as their birthright.

Penelope Thloloe waves her hand towards the tightly packed houses and congested streets of Johannesburg’s Alexandra township. This is where the 24-year-old grew up, and this is where, somewhat incongruously, she sees the future of her profession.

The Israeli government has quietly seized thousands of hectares of Palestinian-owned land in and around east Jerusalem after a secret Cabinet decision to use a 55-year-old law against Arabs separated from farms and orchards by the vast ”security barrier”.

At The Bovine Head Cookers’ Market, sheep heads, which arrive frozen in municipal plastic bags, are deftly skinned and chopped with cleavers. The meat is then boiled in big pots, each straddling three paraffin stoves. It’s a messy business. But the market is clean and orderly — the result of a joint effort between iTrump, the municipal agency charged with regenerating Thekwini’s inner city, and traders.

With the opening of his long-awaited trial just a day away, Michael Jackson on Sunday released a video statement rebutting the child molestation charges against him and condemning court transcript leaks outlining the prosecution case. He predicted in the statement that he would be acquitted in the trial, which is expected to last five months.

Millions of Iraqis defied a surge of bombings and suicide attacks on Sunday to go to the polls in greater than expected numbers for the first democratic elections for 50 years. The electoral commission’s provisional estimate of turnout was 57%.

Ferial Haffajee speaks to François Beukmann, chairperson of the standing committee of public accounts (Scopa). Among the questions she asks is whether or not he would revisit the issue of the arms deal, his reaction to media reports and what Scopa can do to repair the damage of the reputation of the Office of the Auditor General.