Israel’s president Shimon Peres has asked Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to form a new government in the wake of the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over a corruption scandal. Livni said she aims to build a broad coalition of national unity.

Tzipi Livni: “During the talks I’ve had and in those I will hold, I’m calling on the parties to join a government headed by myself. I also call on the leader of the Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, to join a unity government led by myself in order to jointly deal with the urgent issues that he also knows we face.”