BAGHDAD: Iraq's sharply divided parliament has elected a speaker in a step forward in the delayed government formation process, while a renewed push by Iraqi forces to recapture Tikrit from militants ended in retreat.
World powers and Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had piled pressure on MPs to set aside their differences in the face of a jihadist-led offensive that has overrun swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad.
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