Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi lawmakers opened a parliamentary session in Baghdad's Green Zone on Saturday to approve a new Iraqi cabinet led by incoming Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

    Saturday's session came after over two hours delay as political leaders made their final wrangling over nominations of two key cabinet posts of interior and defense.

    Deputy parliament speaker Sheikh Khalid Al-Attiah told a news conference before the session opened that the two posts were not in the 37-ministerial cabinet line-up as Iraqi factions failed to reach an agreement on the them.

    Al-Maliki and deputy prime minister-designate Salam al-Zaubai,a Sunni Arab, will hold the Interior and Defense posts respectively for a week to give enough time for an agreement on permanent appointments, according to Attiah.

    Negotiations will continue after Saturday's session to find proper persons "who should be well known as independent, honest and not loyal to any militia" to fill the posts, said the deputy speaker.

    Maliki, from the dominant Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, was charged with forming a coalition within 30 days on April 22.The deadline falls on Monday.

    The cabinet, which is expected to be approved by the parliament,will be the first full-term government since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Enditem