Talabani said Iraq's first parliament will now convene on March 19, a week beyond what is spelled out in the constitution. The delay will give political parties more time to agree on key posts, including the assembly's speaker.
Elsewhere, the U.S. military said it plans to move Iraqi detainees in U.S. custody out of the notorious Abu Ghurayb prison. A U.S. military spokesman said Abu Ghurayb's 4,500 inmates will be transferred to other jails in Iraq, including Camp Cropper, a new U.S. detention center being built near Baghdad airport.
Abu Ghurayb will be turned over to Iraqi authorities, who are not expected to use it as a prison.
State television, meanwhile, said Iraqi authorities executed 13 men in the north of the country for what Baghdad said were "insurgent crimes," including murder, rape, and bombings.
On March 9, two car bombs in Baghdad killed 11 people and wounded 15 others.
Also, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said a television presenter with Baghdad TV, Munsuf Abdallah al-Khaldi, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while driving from the Iraqi capital.
(compiled from agency reports)
