Iraq's Kirkuk row defused

IRAQ'S parliament yesterday passed a long-delayed election law paving the way for a national vote in January after overcoming a potentially explosive row over the disputed city of Kirkuk.

The parliamentary election next year is a crucial test for the world's 11th largest crude oil producer. Ethnic Kurds claim Kirkuk, sitting on vast oil resources, as their ancestral home and want the city wrapped into their semi-autonomous northern enclave.

In the end, a compromise that largely avoided making a decision now about Kirkuk's fate was approved by 141 of 196 MPs.