Iraq protest camps splinter over cleric's backing of new PM

BAGHDAD — Protest camps across Iraq began fracturing on Monday into separate clusters over whether to back premier-designate Mohammad Allawi, marking a pivotal point for the four-month-old movement. Allawi's nomination on February 1 has so far failed to quell the rallies sweeping Baghdad and the mainly-Shiite south, where young demonstrators have demanded nothing short of a total government overhaul. Most young protesters have rejected Allawi, who was twice communications minister, as too close to the ruling elite and a product of consensus among much-reviled parties. But powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr, who has backed the rallies and demanded reform,...