A Sunni Arab coalition has submitted its list of candidates for the December election, joining other political factions in the race and signalling greater Sunni participation in the process.

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.

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.

IRAQIS defied violence that killed 44 people and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq's first free election in a half-century yesterday.

Iraqis defied violence and calls for a boycott to cast ballots in Iraq’s first free election in a half-century today.

LEADING Iraqi political parties called yesterday for elections scheduled for January 30 to be delayed because of Iraq’s widening violence.

The US and Saudi-educated head of Iraq’s Governing Council was named as president of the interim government today, after the Americans’ preferred candidate turned down the post.

Iraqi Governing Council President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer was named Iraq’s new president today – but only after former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi turned down the job.

Iraqi Governing Council members accused American officials of pressuring them to accept Washington’s choice for the country’s new president, delaying the announcement of a new government to take power on June 30.

Fighting raged in the Shiite holy city of Kufa early today, killing two US soldiers and further eroding a deal to halt clashes with followers of a radical Muslim cleric.

A Governing Council meeting to select a new Iraqi president has been postponed for 24 hours, wrecking hopes of announcing a new government by the end of this month.

Differences between the Iraqi Governing Council and US authorities over who should be the country’s new president stalled a final agreement on the make-up of an interim government to take power on June 30.

A Shiite Muslim nuclear scientist is among those being considered for Iraq’s prime minister, officials said today as UN and US envoys and Iraqi leaders poured over names to fill the 30 top spots in the next government.

Britain and the US are ready to present a key UN draft resolution that will detail the June 30 hand over of power to a new Iraqi government and outline how much say Iraqis will have over armed forces in their country.

US forces today regained control of a southern Iraqi city seized this week by a rebellious Shiite militia and resumed their offensive in Fallujah after a brief halt for talks.

An interim Iraqi constitution, put together after a stormy debate in Baghdad, established a bill of rights and struck compromises on the structure of a future presidency and the role of Islam.

American and British officials faced tough questions from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today about the transfer of power back to the Iraqi people.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was meeting coalition and Iraqi officials today, in top-level talks on a role for the UN as Iraq moves towards democracy.

Iraq’s US administrator, Paul Bremer has been recalled from Baghdad for brainstorming consultations at the White House and the United Nations, in a scramble to salvage a timetable for Iraqi self-rule.

TENS of thousands of Shi’ite Muslims shouting “No to America!” marched in Basra yesterday to back their spiritual leader’s call for early elections, a stand that could stymie a US blueprint for transferring power to a new Iraqi administration.

Iraq’s US-appointed Governing Council has met for the first time to look into ways of appointing judges to a new war crimes tribunal that could try Saddam Hussein.

Using sledgehammers, crowbars, explosives and armoured vehicles, US forces smashed down the gates of homes and the doors of workshops and junkyards in Samarra to attack the Iraqi resistance that has persisted despite the capture of Saddam Hussein.

THE massive blast when a petrol tanker exploded in a fireball after colliding with a bus in the centre of Baghdad yesterday, killing 17 Iraqis, was an accident, said US military investigators.

American officials say Iraqi leaders will have to curb their enthusiasm for a quick trial of Saddam Hussein – and a possible summer execution.

THE interim Iraqi government said it wants to try Saddam Hussein before a special tribunal but a human rights group has voiced deep concern about the legitimacy of the newly-established panel.

THREE American soldiers were killed yesterday when their convoy was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in northern Iraq, a military spokeswoman said.

GRAPHIC photos of the battered bodies of Saddam Hussein’s sons were released by the US yesterday in a bid to convince sceptical Iraqis that the feared brothers were dead.

The founding of a broadly representative governing council in Iraq has done little to stem the guerilla violence, as another US soldier was killed and six wounded when their convoy was ambushed today.

The first post-Saddam Hussein governing body of Iraqis will hold its inaugural meeting today, a watershed event on the nation’s path to democracy, said the top US administrator, promising the council will have “real political power”.