The Iraqi parliament chose Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country's new interim president Wednesday, reaching out to the nation's Kurdish minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years. Shiite Adel Abdul-Mahdi and interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, were also chosen as Talabani's two vice presidents. After weeks of negotiations, the three were the only candidates and received a total of 227 votes. Thirty ballots were left blank.
