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Middle East

Islamist to lead Egypt’s new parliament: A Muslim Brotherhood leader will be installed as speaker of Egypt’s newly elected parliament under a temporary agreement concluded Monday between the country’s political parties. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has nominated its party secretary-general, Mohamed Saad Katatni, for the position. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is expected to control as many as half the seats in the People’s Assembly. Under the power-sharing agreement, representatives of the ultraconservative Salafist Nour party and the liberal al-Wafd party would be deputy speakers. The Coptic Christian-led Egyptian Bloc is worried that the Islamists will dominate parliament, with one of its legislators saying a neutral person should have been selected as parliament speaker rather than the decision being made through a political deal. The bloc controls just 10 percent of seats, however, so it has little say. The parliament’s first session is scheduled for Monday.

ElBaradei pulls out of presidential race: A further indication of the direction Egypt is headed is the decision of Mohammad ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to drop out of the Egyptian presidential race. With ElBaradei’s announcement on January 14, the likelihood of an Islamist president greatly increases. Though ElBaradei said the reason for his decision was the continuing influence of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egyptian sources say his motive was more self-serving: He simply conceded defeat to the Islamists, given their overwhelming victory in the parliamentary elections.

Attacks in Iraq kills dozens: A suicide bomb attack targeting Shiite pilgrims in Basra last Saturday killed at least 53 people and wounded more than 135. The following day, at least 18 people died when insurgents launched a coordinated attack on a jail in Ramadi in order to free terror suspects. On Monday, car bombs exploded in Shiite areas of two Iraqi cities, Mosul and Hillah, killing at least 11 people. Sectarian violence in Iraq has surged since the last U.S. troops left the country last month, with at least 150 killed since the beginning of the year. A sectarian political crisis has also erupted, with the country’s Shiite-dominated government issuing an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. Sunnis fear being shut out of politics by the Shiite majority.