Iraq Parliament Session Delayed Over Impasse
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's acting parliament speaker says an expected parliament session this week will not take place after lawmakers failed to agree on who should form the next government.
The deadlock comes as frustration mounts over the inability of Iraqi lawmakers to reach an agreement on the country's leadership more than four months after national elections.
The new parliament held its opening session last month and had been due to meet again this week. But acting speaker Fouad Massoum says the heads of the major blocs were unable to overcome the impasse in a meeting on Monday.
He says the parliament session will be postponed for days and possibly weeks.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq has issued arrest warrants for 39 members of an Iranian opposition group who have lived in a camp northeast of Baghdad since Saddam Hussein's reign.
The development comes just days after American soldiers shut down their base near Camp Ashraf as part of U.S. troop drawdown.
The presence of the Iranian group, which fought alongside Saddam during his 1980s war with Iran, has long irritated Iraq's Shiite-led government.
A senior Iraqi judiciary official said on Monday that the wanted members of the group -- known as The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran -- are suspected of committing crimes while helping Saddam crush the 1991 Shiite revolt.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.