Bid to end Iraq stalemate as politician killed

GUNMEN assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament yesterday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

Iraq’s prime minister-designate presented his proposal for a cabinet to the presidential council yesterday, drawing in the country’s main ethnic and religious groups, in a step toward ending a crippling political stalemate.

The list will be presented in the 275-member National Assembly today, Ibrahim al-Jaafari said.