Libya parliament elects an independent lawmaker as its president

TOBRUK Libya (Reuters) - Libya's new House of Representatives on Monday elected Aguila Saleh Iissa, an independent lawmaker from the eastern town of al-Qobba as its president after its first formal meeting in the Mediterranean town of Tobruk. Elected in June, the House of Representatives replaces the General National Congress (GNC) in a country where rival militias have turned its two biggest cities to battlefields during three weeks of fighting. Saleh Iissa is seen as a legalist and had occupied many functions in the judicial sector at the time of the former ruler Muammar Gaddafi. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)