At least 19 people were killed and 80 wounded when a suicide truck bomb ripped through the Iraqi Interior Ministry in the relatively peaceful Kurdish city of Irbil today.

Syria’s president promised to do what he could to ease tensions in neighbouring Iraq during a landmark visit by the country’s president Jalal Talabani, just days after US president George Bush accused Syria of backing Iraq’s uprising.

Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial resumed in Iraq today, four days after the chief judge told the ex-president that “you were not a dictator", sparking Kurdish demands he be replaced.

Bombs killed at least 40 people at markets in two Iraqi cities, hours after key MPs said seven Sunni Arab rebel groups had offered the government a conditional truce.

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.

IRAQI Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under intense pressure to give up plans for a second term, agreed yesterday to let Shi’ite lawmakers reconsider his nomination, a step that could mark a breakthrough in the months-long effort to form a new government.

SHI’ITE politicians failed yesterday to resolve the deadlock over their candidate for prime minister, which is blocking formation of a new government.

The Sunni Arab bloc in Iraq’s parliament remains opposed to a new term for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and will ask the Shiites to present new names for consideration for the top government post, a Sunni spokesman said today.

On the day of the first session of Iraq’s new parliament today, and within days of the third anniversary of the US-led invasion, the country lie under the shadow of a feared civil war and politicians report a stalemate over the next government.

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.

Prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari today cancelled a meeting with Iraq’s political leaders after they agreed to mount a campaign to deny him another term in a bid to jump-start stalled talks on a new national unity government.

Bombs and gunfire killed about 60 people as another daytime curfew failed to halt violence that has claimed nearly 200 lives since the destruction of a Shiite shrine set off a wave of retribution against Sunnis and pushed Iraq toward civil war.

Iraqi police and soldiers fanned out today to enforce an extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and three provinces in a bid to halt the wave of sectarian violence that has killed about 120 people since the bombing of one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines.

Shiite religious parties captured the biggest number of parliament seats in last month’s election but not enough to govern without partners, according to the first official returns.

Last-minute negotiations to address Sunni Arab objections to Iraq’s draft constitution resumed today, with only four days left before the charter is put to a nationwide vote that will determine the course of the country’s transition to democratic rule.

US and UN officials urged the Shiite-led government to reverse last-minute changes to voting rules for a referendum on Iraq’s new constitution and head off a threatened Sunni boycott.

The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (pictured) today called on his followers to end clashes with Shiite rivals so stalled talks on a new constitution can proceed.

The Iraqi parliament delayed a session today on whether to approve a new constitution hours before a deadline as faction leaders failed in last-minute talks to agree on a federated state and other divisive issues.

The Iraqi parliament session on whether to sign off on the new constitution was postponed today for two hours, Shiite member Mohammed Baqir al-Bahadli said.

Iraqi politicians are scrambling to reach a deal as today’s deadline to finish the country’s new constitution looms.

WITH the deadline for Iraq’s constitution rapidly approaching, the US ambassador to the country dismissed the suggestion yesterday that Iraqis may need a few more weeks to iron out differences.

One of the Sunni Arabs appointed to a committee to draft Iraq’s constitution was assassinated today in a drive-by shooting, an Iraqi official said.

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.

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.

A Shiite surgeon, who survived a Saddam Hussein ordered assassination attempt in London while in exile, tonight appears set to Iraq’s new prime minister.

Iyad Allawi, a Shiite Muslim doctor who spent years in exile, has been nominated by the Governing Council to become prime minister of the new Iraqi government, which takes power on June 30.

Gunmen today ambushed a convoy carrying a member of the Iraqi Governing Council as she was returning to Baghdad from mediation efforts in Najaf, an aide said.

ARAB TV stations led their newscasts yesterday with the CBS photographs of US military police humiliating Iraqi prisoners. One channel called the pictures evidence of the “immoral practices” of US forces.

The US is to bring members of Saddam Hussein’s disbanded Baath party in from the cold – allowing thousands of former army officers and teachers back in their jobs.

An Iranian envoy headed to the Iraqi holy city of Najaf today on a mission to end the American stand-off with a radical Shiite cleric.

A third round of negotiations aimed at ending fighting in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah will be held today, a US commander said.

Iraq’s constitution was in limbo today after Shi’ite leaders refused to sign it in a last-minute dispute that wrecked a planned ceremony and marred a landmark in US plans to hand over sovereignty.

Iraqi politicians agreed early today on an interim constitution with a wide ranging bill of rights and a single chief executive, bridging a gulf between several members over the role of Islam in the future government.

US administrator Paul Bremer says it could take more than 15 months to hold elections in Iraq – a much longer timeframe than the country’s Shi’ite Muslim clergy and some political leaders seem prepared to accept.

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.

Gunmen killed two American soldiers today while they were driving through the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and a crowd swarmed over the scene, looting the vehicle and pummelling the bodies, witnesses said.

A ROADSIDE bomb left two soldiers dead, while an Apache helicopter killed seven guerrillas thought to be preparing a rocket attack on an American base, the US military said yesterday.