Iraq president names ex-Najaf governor Al Zurfi as premier

Baghdad: Iraqi president Barham Saleh named former Najaf governor Adnan Zurfi as the country’s new prime minister Tuesday, the second attempt to find a head of government in recent months.

Lawmaker Zurfi - a former member of the Dawa party, a longtime opposition party to ex-dictator Saddam Hussain - has 30 days to form a cabinet which he must then put to a vote of confidence in Iraq’s divided parliament.