BAGHDAD — Iraq's new president has charged the deputy speaker of parliament Haider al-Ibadi with forming a new government in the next 30 days.

Fouad Massoum said on television today that he hoped al-Ibadi would succeed in forming a government that would “protect the Iraqi people.”

The president's choice is a very public snubbing of incumbent Prime Minister Nouri el-Maliki who in an angry midnight speech all but demanded he be re-nominated for a third term.

Maliki has deployed his elite security forces in the streets of Baghdad, partially closed two main streets — popular spots for pro and anti-government rallies — as hundreds of his supporters took to the streets.

SYDNEY — The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said today.Previously, the U.S. had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks.The officials wouldn't say which U.S. agency is providing the arms or what weapons are being sent, but one official said it isn't the Pentagon. The CIA has historically done similar quiet arming operations.The move to directly aid the Kurds underscores the level of U.S. concern about the Islamic State militants' gains in the north, and reflects the persistent administration view that the Iraqis must take the necessary steps to solve their own security problems.

CAIRO — An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire halting the Gaza war held into this morning, allowing Palestinians to leave homes and shelters as negotiators agreed to resume talks in Cairo.The truce took effect just after midnight, preceded by heavy rocket fire toward Israel. In Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the cease-fire would allow humanitarian aid into battered Gaza neighborhoods and the reopening of indirect talks on a more lasting and comprehensive deal.This morning, high school students in Gaza filed the streets as they headed off to pick up their graduation certificates after the Education Ministry said they'd be ready. People waited to buy fuel for generators as power and communication workers struggled to fix cables damaged in the fighting. Long lines formed at ATMs.

MADRID — Spain has imported a U.S.-made experimental Ebola drug to treat a Spanish missionary priest evacuated from Liberia last week after testing positive for the virus.The Health Ministry announced that the ZMapp drug, made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical of San Diego, was obtained in Geneva this weekend and brought to Madrid to treat Miguel Pajares. The 75-year-old priest was placed in isolation Thursday at Madrid's Carlos III Hospital.There is no known cure or licensed treatment for Ebola, which has killed more than 1,000 people in the current outbreak in West Africa. Two Americans diagnosed with Ebola in Liberia and evacuated back to the U.S. have been treated with the drug.