A Shiite alliance won a slim majority in Iraq's new National Assembly, according to certified election returns announced Thursday, but it may take weeks to form a government. Meanwhile, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi cautioned against excluding all Saddam Hussein's supporters. Allawi told The Associated Press that the alliance must change its platform of purging Sunnis who were members of Saddam's Baath Party from government positions if it wants national unity. (Salt Lake Tribune)

K Gajendra Singh: Iraqi Kurds Flex Muscles, Rice Was No Turkish Delight (Al Jazeera)

The Nation: Disharmony in Kurdistan

(recap) Iraq's Shiite Alliance Forms Majority (AP via The Moscow Times)