IRAQ
 
Anti-Maliki Protests Roil Investment Climate
 
Political risk for investors in Iraq’s oil sector has ratcheted up in the wake of the 23 December arrest of bodyguards belonging to Finance Minister Rafi al-‘Issawi.  The arrests prompted a wave of demonstrations against Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The protesters, who numbered as many as 160,000 on 26 December following Friday prayer and who hailed from Sunni-majority towns of Ramadi and Fallujah,...