Fresh from her election as the head of Israel's governing Kadima party, Tzipi Livni yesterday set out to become the country's second woman prime minister and avert snap elections that could stall Middle East peacemaking.

The 50-year-old Livni narrowly won Wednesday's party leadership vote to replace scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is standing down to battle a number of corruption allegations.

Livni secured 43 percent of the vote and a lead of just one percentage point- over her main rival, Shaul Mofaz.

IAEA report

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the latest U.N. atomic watchdog report on Iran's disputed nuclear program confirmed its peaceful nature, Iran's state Press TV reported yesterday.

Press TV said Ahmadinejad told it in an interview that Iran had cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with "full transparency."

The Vienna-based U.N. agency said in Monday's report that Iranian stonewalling had brought to a standstill an agency inquiry to resolve whether Tehran had covertly researched ways to make a nuclear bomb.