This news from Iraq. Ibrahim al-Jaafari has been appointed as Iraq’s next interim prime minister by the country’s new presidential council. Most political analysts agree that this is the most powerful position within the current political structure. Jaafari said he would form a new government within one or two weeks. Officials said the previous interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, had formally resigned. The new prime minister was appointed by the new interim president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, and his two vice presidents, shortly after they were sworn in during a ceremony in the new national assembly in Baghdad. But the event did not go smoothly. After his inaugural speech, Talabani walked off the stage without announcing Jaafari’s appointment. By the time he returned to the stage and made the announcement, most television feeds of the event had already been cut off.