Iraqi Kurdish president in Baghdad for talks

BAGHDAD, Nov 13 (AFP): The president of Iraqi Kurdistan travelled to Baghdad on Wednesday for talks with senior officials just hours ahead of a special parliament session to discuss weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations.

The head of the United Nations' mission in Iraq (UNAMI) was expected to attend the legislative meeting in the afternoon as diplomatic pressure on Baghdad intensifies.

Protests demanding a new leadership have rocked Iraq's capital and Shiite-majority south for weeks, the demonstrators undeterred by government pledges of reform or the deaths of more than 300 people.

On Wednesday morning, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region (KRI) Nechirvan Barzani met with Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi in Baghdad.

The two leaders are believed to have good personal ties, and the KRI capital Arbil has backed the current government.

Barzani was also scheduled to meet President Barham Saleh and Speaker Mohammed Halbussi, who will chair an afternoon parliament session attended by UNAMI chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

She will address the main political blocs and brief lawmakers on her recent meeting with the country's top Shiite religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.