Iraq's parliament will convene today with few signs that a deadlock over the formation of a national government has ended after Shi'ite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari insisted he will not step down.
 
The parliamentary press office announcement came shortly after Jaafari's refusal to resign. Jaafari's nomination for a second term has held up efforts to form a unity government more than four months after elections.

"Stepping down is absolutely not in my consideration. I can't understand how resigning ... would benefit the national interest," Jaafari told a nationally televised news conference.

Efforts to form a unity government to avert a sectarian civil war have been stalled over Jaafari's refusal to step down.

Kurds, Sunni Arabs and even some Shi'ites have called on the Shi'ite Alliance bloc to drop Jaafari, who was nominated two months ago during an internal vote of Shi'ite legislators. Critics say Jaafari has failed to bring stability or prosperity to Iraq.

Saddam's signature authenticated

Handwriting experts authenticated Saddam Hussein's signature on memos approving death sentences for 148 Shi'ites and the confiscation of farmlands during a crackdown in the 1980s, the chief judge in the former Iraqi leader's trial said yesterday.

Saddam sat silently throughout the three-hour session, but several of his seven co-defendants disputed the experts' report, calling it biased and demanding an international panel examine the documents.

(China Daily April 20, 2006)