Parliament reopens in strife-torn Iraq

The Parliament will discuss controversial question of whether to allow some of Iraq's provinces to merge into larger autonomous regions.

Iraq's Parliament reopened on Tuesday after a month-long recess marked by mounting sectarian violence, beginning a session, which will discuss breaking up the country into semi-independent regions.

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At the top of the agenda was the controversial question of whether to allow some of Iraq's provinces to merge into larger autonomous regions, a move which some Sunni lawmakers fear could lead to the country falling apart.

Other groups, however, strongly support an idea which would create virtually independent zones in the oil-rich Shiite south and Kurdish north, and leave the Sunnis economically isolated in the barren western desert.