Iraqi parliament approves interior, defense ministers

Iraq's Parliament in a session held on Saturday approved Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi's nominees for the interior and defense remaining ministerial portfolios in a move to complete the cabinet's line-up formed last month. At least 197 out of 261 lawmakers approved Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, a member in al-Abadi's State of Law political bloc, as Minister of Interior. Roughly 173 lawmakers approved Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni lawmaker from the besieged city of Mosul and a former security advisor to Ninawa's governor until ISIL seized it, as Defense Minister.
Meanwhile, the post of Ministry of Tourism was Saturday given to Adel Fahd al-Shirshab and Kurdish lawmaker Bayan Nouri was selected as Minister of Women's Affairs.
In the same session, Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish politician and Iraq's long-serving Foreign Minister, was named as Minister of Finance. Zebari was selected last month as Deputy Prime Minister.