Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been appointed as Prime Minister by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to form a new government in Iraq. He was appointed during Parliament session held on Thursday night in Baghdad, where Kurdish party leader, Jalal Talabani was re-elected by MPs as President.Iraq lawmakers also approved Osama al-Nujaifi as Parliament Speaker as a first step of the process of formation of new government in the country. Al-Nujaifi who belongs to Iraqiya coalition has strong backing among his community in the Sunni areas in north. Apart from this, Iraqiya's Iyad Allawi is expected to lead a newly created council with authority over security. The strategic council is intended to serve as a check on the prime minister's power.But government formation process was overshadowed by a dispute that prompted Iraqia bloc to storm out of the chamber. The Iraqiya bloc complained that a deal they had signed was not being honoured. It had called for three of its top members, barred for their alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath party, to be reinstated before voting for a president.Iraq was without a government since march parliamentary elections setting a world record for a country being without a government for longest period.The US President Barack Obama has welcomed the agreement of the political parties in Iraq on the formation of a new government, eight months after the general elections there. Speaking at the G-20 summit in South Korea, Obama said the power sharing deal was an important moment for Iraq. He said the agreement marks another milestone in the history of modern Iraq.