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Lawmakers put the finishing touches Tuesday on an agreement making Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani president and Shiite Adel Abdul-Mahdi and interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, his two vice presidents.

On Thursday, the 275 lawmakers elected Jan. 30 likely will name Shiite leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari prime minister, clearing the way for lawmakers to begin focusing their attention on writing a permanent constitution by their Aug. 15 deadline.

ABC's Peter Jennings has lung cancer

NEW YORK - Peter Jennings revealed Tuesday that he is suffering from lung cancer and plans to continue on "World News Tonight" as much as possible after beginning chemotherapy next week.

Jennings, ABC's chief anchorman since 1983, was replaced by Elizabeth Vargas on Tuesday but taped a message telling viewers about his diagnosis.

"I will continue to do the broadcast," he said. "On good days, my voice will not always be like this. Certainly, it's been a long time. And I hope it goes without saying that a journalist who doesn't value - deeply - the audience's loyalty should be in another line of work."

A former smoker who quit 20 years ago, Jennings resumed smoking briefly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Study: Talking to teens about suicide doesn't encourage the practice

CHICAGO - Asking teenagers about suicide won't make them more likely to contemplate it, as some parents and school officials fear, a study suggests.

In fact, the study found that simply asking troubled students about any suicidal impulses appears to ease their distress and might make some of them less likely to try killing themselves. The results confirm what many mental health experts already believe and should alleviate fears among some parents and schools that just mentioning suicide might plant the idea in teens' minds.

National data suggest that each year more than 3 million youngsters ages 15 to 19 think seriously about committing suicide. About 1.7 million try it, with more than half of the attempts requiring medical attention; and about 1,600 succeed.

"Without asking a kid directly, it's sometimes hard to pick up," Gould said.

Her study involved 2,342 students at six suburban New York high schools who answered two mental health questionnaires two days apart. Half the students - the experimental group - also received about 20 suicide-related questions on both surveys. The questions included whether they had considered suicide and whether they thought it would be better if they were dead. The other half got suicide-related questions only on the second survey.

The groups' scores on emotional distress measures were similar before and after the first survey. And roughly 4 percent in both groups said they had had suicidal ideas since the first survey.