Iraqi-born Ayatollah bans attacks on Iraq oil sector…

Lebanon's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah has issued a religious edict banning attacks on Iraq's oil industry and other public infrastructure, Naharnet reports. Fadlallah also urged Iraqis on Monday to solve their problems through dialogue.

Royal Dutch Shell is ready to help Iraq boost oil production once that country's government finalizes a petroleum law covering big energy projects, the head of the oil giant said on Tuesday, Reuters reports. "We are very much prepared to go back to Iraq," Shell chief executive officer Jeroen van der Veer said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.