BBC News with Nick Kelly

The newly re-elected Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has re-appointed the Shia leader Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister. The move is part of a power-sharing deal struck earlier, which was thrown into doubt after the main Sunni alliance led by Iyad Allawi

walked out of

parliament. They accused Mr Maliki of

reneging

on part of the agreement concerning four Sunni leaders who'd worked for Saddam Hussein's Baath party. From Baghdad, here is Jim Muir.

Mr Allawi's alliance angrily accused Mr Maliki, who's the incumbent prime minister and likely to

retain

the position, of breaking an agreement reached in the run-up to this parliamentary meeting.

They believe that before going on to elect the president of the republic, parliament should first pass a motion to remove the stigma of Baathism from four senior figures in Mr Allawi's coalition. The MPs who remained in parliament nonetheless went on to vote for the president. But the challenge now will be to win back the involvement of Mr Allawi and his mainly Sunni followers, which is seen as crucial to the balance and credibility of the new government.

At least 20 people have been killed, and many more injured following a powerful explosion at a police compound in the Pakistani port city of Karachi. The blast left a large crater. This report from our cor

respondent

Syed Shoaib Hasan.

The massive blast