Baghdad -- Top politicians are stepping up efforts to break a political deadlock and form a new Iraq government more than four months after national elections gave a narrow victory to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s main challenger.

Mr. Maliki met late Tuesday night in Baghdad with former premier Ayad Allawi, who leads the Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition that beat Maliki’s Shiite bloc by two seats in Iraq’s 325-seat parliament. Giving little away, delegate Mohammed Allawi said the talks were “positive" and aimed to form a government "in the next few days," though no top positions were discussed

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