Iraq’s political parties continued to wrangle over the formation of a new government Tuesday, as the ruling coalition of Shiite religious parties tried to delay the first meeting of parliament, scheduled for Sunday, to have more time to line up support for its nominee for prime minister. President Jalal Talabani announced on Monday that the new National Assembly would have its first meeting on March 12, the deadline set by the constitution. But leaders of the Shiites’ United Iraqi Alliance, who have the largest bloc in the 275-member parliament elected in December, said they were lobbying Talabani to postpone the first session for perhaps a week. No decision had been made, they said. Full Story