Iraq parliament elects new interim president

Iraq’s newly-elected parliament chose Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as its new interim president today, reaching out to the nation’s long-repressed Kurdish minority and taking one of the final steps toward forming Iraq’s first democratically elected government in 50 years.

In a largely symbolic, secret election, politicians elected Talabani, with Shiite Adel Abdul-Mahdi and interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, as his vice presidents.