Kurdish leader says oil deals will stand despite Iraqi gov't opposition

The prime minister of Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region says oil deals the Kurds have signed unilaterally with foreign companies will stand despite opposition from the Iraqi central government. The Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad considers any deals signed by the Kurds illegal since the country has not yet finalized a new national oil law. But Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani says the more than 20 production-sharing contracts the Kurds have signed with international oil companies since they drafted their own oil and gas law in August 2007 are "irreversible."