Top Stories July 19, 2010

Azzaman (Iraq): Iraq's Kirkuk seeks U.S. investment - Kirkuk is an oil-rich province claimed by the Kurds (and disputed by Arabs and Turkmen). Officials say they are happy to have US companies come in and invest.

Haaretz (Israel): Shas Chair: Absence of conversion law poses danger to Jewish people - this is a bit messy, so I'm going to quote the article:

Under current practice, Israel recognizes only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis inside Israel, but people converted by non-Orthodox rabbis outside the country are automatically eligible for Israeli citizenship like other Jews. The proposed legislation would give Israel's chief rabbinate the legal power to decide whether any conversion is legitimate.

The group most likely to suffer would be immigrants who converted to Judaism abroad and could now be denied Israeli citizenship.

The whole thing is a mess, with both sides worried about their constituents and immigrants being able to convert.

Kuwait Times: MP: Iraq can do without Kuwait - All is not well between Iraq and Kuwait. Iraq wants the borders redrawn and claims that Kuwait has been looking for oil in Iraqi territory (this may have been a cause of the 1991 Gulf War too). And Iraq says it will do fine if Kuwait decides to sever political ties. Kuwait wants an apology for all of the above.

Turkish Daily News: Turkish protesters search for unrestricted Internet, blocked by judiciary - The Turkish people are really ticked off. The government banned YouTube and other websites, and the courts have upheld it. YouTube was banned because of videos that insulted Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey.