New Afghan parliament to open on January 23

Afghan President Hamid Karzai plans to open his war-battered nation's parliament on January 23, one of his ministers said Sunday, after months of uncertainty due to disputes over election results.
"The president will inaugurate the parliament on January 23," Homayoun Azizi, Karzai's minister for parliamentary affairs, told AFP. Azizi did not give details but a Karzai spokesman, Siamak Herawi, separately told AFP that the inauguration date, initially pencilled in for January 20, had been delayed for three days due to a foreign visit by Karzai. If inaugurated, the new Afghan parliament will start work amid major disputes over the election results which are being examined by a special tribunal set up last month by Karzai.