Good news…and bad news
From NY Times’s Iraq Passes Provincial Elections Law: “After months of bitter negotiation, Iraq’s Parliament passed a law on Wednesday clearing the way for provincial elections crucial in helping to heal the country’s deep political and religious fissures…But in passing the bill, the lawmakers simply delayed dealing with the two most divisive issues they faced: how to resolve a quarrel among ethnic groups over the control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the north and how best to achieve political representation for Iraq’s Christians and other minorities.”