Bowing to intense pressure, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari agreed to allow Shiite politicians to find someone else to head the new government, abandoning his claim on another term in the face of Sunni and Kurdish opposition.

Insurgents blew up a small Shiite mosque north-east of Baghdad today, while police reported the discovery of nearly 40 bodies in several neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital. The US military reported the death of three American soldiers.

A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army recruiting centre today in northern Iraq, killing at least 40 people and wounding 30 others, the Iraqi military said.

Gunmen wearing commando uniforms of the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry stormed an Iraqi security company that relied heavily on Sunni ex-military men from the Saddam Hussein regime and abducted 50 hostages.

Iraq’s president today said he would call the country’s new parliament into session for the first time on Sunday, starting the clock on a 60-day period during which the legislature must elect a new head of state and sign off on a prime minister and Cabinet.

SHI’ITE lawmakers yesterday chose Ibrahim al-Jaafari to be Iraq’s new prime minister, taking a key step in forming a government nearly two months after national elections, officials said.

Shiite lawmakers today chose Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to head the new government, selecting the incumbent by a one-vote margin over Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, Shiite officials said.

THE chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein has asked to resign.

THE Islamist Shi'ite Alliance bloc will fall short of retaining its parliamentary majority after last month's election, according to an almost final tally of seats.

Thousands of angry Shiites today rallied in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum against a spree of attacks that killed almost 200 people and to protest what they claim was American backing for Sunni Arabs politicians who have supported insurgent groups.

A SUICIDE bomber killed 32 mourners and injured dozens at a funeral for the nephew of a Shi'ite politician in Iraq yesterday.

A SUICIDE car bomber targeted a busload of police recruits north of Baghdad yesterday, killing seven people, and gunmen in the capital killed five workers, police said.

SUNNI Arab and secular groups refused yesterday to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc, leading in Iraq's parliamentary elections, until a full review of the contested results is carried out.

Sunni Arab and secular groups refused to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc leading in Iraq’s parliamentary elections until a full review of the contested results is carried out.

MUNICIPAL workers in the Shi’ite holy city of Karbala have found remains believed to be from a mass grave dating to 1991, when Saddam Hussein’s regime put down a Shi’ite uprising in the south.

GUERRILLAS killed 10 Iraqi policemen and soldiers in attacks north of Baghdad yesterday, while the capital itself was rocked by five major explosions that left at least eight dead.

Preliminary results released from ballots cast by expatriate Iraqis and an early vote carried out for soldiers, hospital patients and prisoners, showed a coalition of Kurdish parties and the main Shiite religious bloc each taking about a third of the vote.

Insurgents killed at least 10 people in attacks around Iraq today, including five police officers killed at a checkpoint.

The US military will not hand over jails or individual detainees to Iraqi authorities until they demonstrate higher standards of care, an American official said, two weeks after the discovery of 120 abused Iraqi prisoners.

Iraq’s leading Shiite religious bloc has said that it is ready to discuss Sunni Arab participation in a coalition government, while thousands of Sunni and secular Shiite demonstrators took to the streets claiming election fraud.

Sunni Arab and secular political groups joined forces today to decide whether to reject the results of last week’s parliamentary election and call for a revote.

Sunni Arabs and a key secular party charged that parliamentary elections were tainted by fraud, and demanded an inquiry into preliminary results showing the governing Shiite religious bloc with a larger than expected lead.

SUNNI ARABS alleged yesterday that last week's Iraqi parliamentary elections were fraudulent, especially in Baghdad province.

Iraq’s main Sunni Arab political coalition today challenged preliminary results from last week’s parliamentary elections and warned that any attempt to falsify the outcome could further destabilise the country.

IRAQ’S electoral commission released partial and preliminary results today from the last week’s elections that showed Shiite and Kurdish parties dominating in provinces where they are the predominant group.

Iraq’s electoral commission released partial and preliminary results today from the last week’s elections that showed Shiite and Kurdish parties dominating in provinces where they are the predominant group.

Iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election today, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas that had shunned the election last January.

FOUR US Army soldiers died in a roadside bombing, gunmen killed a Sunni Arab candidate for parliament, and militants tried to blow up a leading Shi’ite politician in separate attacks yesterday.

Many of Iraq’s major politicians held pre-election gatherings around the country today, the last day that campaigning is permitted.

A SUNNI Arab coalition yesterday submitted its list of candidates for the December elections, signalling the intention of many Sunnis to join the political process despite their failure to block ratification of the new constitution.

IRAQ’s ruling Shi’ite Islamist parties struck a last-minute deal to patch up differences yesterday and agreed to register as a united bloc for December 15 polls where they face a new Sunni Arab alliance.

IRAQ’S Kurdish president called on the country’s Shi’ite prime minister to step down, the spokesperson for the president’s party said Sunday, escalating a political split between the two factions that make up the government.

Approval of Iraq’s new constitution may end up out of the hands of politicians, after a third deadline for various factions to agree on a draft expired.

Iran’s foreign minister and Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric have met in the Iraqi city of Najaf amid worsening sectarian tensions fuelled by a three-week surge of violence that has killed hundreds.

AFTER nearly three months of political wrangling, Iraq’s interim National Assembly approved a partial cabinet yesterday, ushering in the country’s first elected government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The interim National Assembly approved by show of hands today a partial Cabinet, including 27 ministers and five acting ministers, ushering in Iraq’s first elected government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

SHI’ITES will get the largest share of ministries in Iraq in proposals for a new cabinet submitted yesterday to the president by Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

A car bomb exploded today in central Iraq, killing five people, including four police officers on patrol, while gunmen killed an education official in Baghdad.

SHOUTING from their seats, lawmakers failed to agree on a parliament speaker during their second-ever National Assembly meeting yesterday, as officials continued to haggle over the role of Sunni Arabs in the new government, a role officials hope will quell the Sunni-led insurgency.

Hours before the second-ever Iraq National Assembly session, politicians have yet to pick a parliament speaker, with wrangling over bringing in Sunni Arabs - a step seen as key to quelling the Sunni-led insurgency – prolonging negotiations to form a new government.

INSURGENTS gunned down a neighborhood police chief and set off a suicide bomb near a patrol guarding a holy shrine, part of a series of attacks yesterday targeting Iraqi security forces that left at least eight people dead, including four police officers.

Insurgents gunned down a neighbourhood police chief and set off a suicide bomb near a patrol guarding a holy shrine, part of a series of attacks today targeting Iraqi security forces and leaving at least eight people dead, including four police officers.

Insurgents targeted Iraqi security forces today in Baghdad, gunning down a neighbourhood police chief and hitting a patrol with a roadside bomb in attacks that left three people dead and at least five injured.