Iraq to name Shiite prime minister

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a prominent Shiite Arab, is expected to be named as Iraq’s prime minister today, taking the most powerful post in the country’s first democratically-elected government in 50 years and opening the way to picking a Cabinet.

Iraq’s new government finally began to take shape yesterday, two months after elections, when politicians elected as president a Kurdish leader who promised to represent all ethnic and religious groups.