Duhok journalists, activists 'must be immediately and unconditionally released': Amnesty International
The US dollar to the Iraqi dinar (IQD) exchange rates was stable on the Kurdistan Region’s currency markets on Saturday (February 27).
Calling the charges trumped-up, Amnesty International on Friday (February 26) urged the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to release five journalists and activists from Duhok governorate who were sentenced ten days earlier to six years in prison in a case that has brought widespread outage.
Four anti-government protesters were killed Friday (February 26) in clashes with Iraqi security forces in Nasiriyah, medics said, the deadliest day in a week of violence in the southern city.
Crude oil prices were down on Saturday (February 27) compared with the previous day.
Nearly six years since Iraq's Sinjar region was recaptured from jihadists, a tangled web of geopolitical tensions risks sparking a new conflict that could prolong the dire situation of minority Ezidis.
The United States on Friday (February 26) for the first time publicly accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of approving the gruesome murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but stopped short of targeting the powerful heir apparent.
Council of Representatives lawmaker Ghalb Muhammed was wounded in an attack in front of his home in Sulaimani on Friday (February 26).
Turkish prosecutors are seeking three-year jail terms for seven students over a poster depicting Islam's holiest site with LGBT imagery, local media reported on Friday (February 26).
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Health announced on Friday (February 26) it had officially recorded 202 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours.
Head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) caucus in the Kurdistan Parliament Zana Mullah Khalid said on Thursday (February 25) that using “Badinan” to refer to the imprisoned journalists and activists who were arrested in Duhok last year politicizes their cases.
A fire broke out at Shawkat Sheikh Yazdin dormitory in Erbil city on Friday (February 26).
The wife of imprisoned journalist Sherwan Sherwani said on Friday (February 26) that she does not know whether her husband and the other defendants remain on hunger strike because she has not had contact with him since he was sentenced except for one short phone call.
Turkey has slammed as "null and void" a motion passed by the Dutch parliament urging the government to recognise the World War I era killings of Armenians as genocide.
Ethnic Turkmen in the Kurdistan Region marked the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the first Turkmen-language newspaper on Thursday (February 25) during an event attended by government officials and Turkish diplomats.
Iraq’s Ministry of Health said on Friday (February 26) it recorded 4,336 new coronavirus infections and fourteen deaths in the country over the past 24 hours.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Thursday (February 25) appointed Ari Harsin as a member of the party’s Leadership Council in Sulaimani and Halabja governorates.
Sulaimani Asayish Directorate said on Thursday (February 26) that it has arrested of a group of eight suspects accused of stealing nearly $100,000.
The US dollars to the Iraqi dinar (IQD) exchange rates was stable on the Kurdistan Region’s currency markets on Friday (February 26).
Spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Agriculture Hussein Hama Karim said on Thursday (February 25) that 171 on-bond veterinarians have been given permanent contracts.
Bureaucracy is a fact of life in the Kurdistan Region, a burden on all who need to obtain permits, register property, or build a house. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) frequently promises that it will enact reforms to reduce what it calls “administrative routine,” by streamlining and digitizing many procedures.
Iraq’s foreign minister Fuad Hussein said on Thursday (February 25) that the federal government has not requested any international supervision for its early parliamentary elections, currently scheduled for October.
Britain's highest court on Friday rejected a bid by a woman who was stripped of her UK citizenship for joining the Islamic State (ISIS) group to return to challenge the decision.
Member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) General Leadership Council Ata Sarawi said on Thursday (February 25) that Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Masrour Barzani works with a “dry, narrow, partisan mindset.”
Crude oil prices were down on Friday (February 26) compared with the previous day.
EU leaders warned Thursday (February 25) that tight travel restrictions must remain as the bloc battles to get its troubled coronavirus vaccine roll-out back on track.
Sharazur Asayish Directorate said on Thursday (February 25) that its forces arrested three suspects accused of printing and using counterfeit US dollars in Said Sadiq district.
President Joe Biden held a long-delayed first phone call Thursday (February 25) with Saudi King Salman ahead of an imminent US intelligence report expected to link the Arab kingdom's powerful crown prince to the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The US military struck facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran-backed armed groups Thursday (February 25), saying President Joe Biden's new administration was sending Tehran a message after recent rocket attacks on US troop locations in Iraq.
Syria will start giving coronavirus vaccines to its vital healthcare workers across the war-ravaged country from next week, a government minister said Thursday (February 25).
Surrounded by a whirl of tail-wagging activity, a small group of volunteers in Erbil works to protect and treat stray and injured dogs at a shelter in the governorate.
Member of the Council of Representatives Blesa Jabar Farman said on Thursday (February 25) that Iraq is facing many crises and has a huge budget shortfall, but argued that they can be surmounted by instituting reforms.
At the opening ceremony for a section of the new 150 meter highway in Erbil, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Thursday (February 25) alleged that many people are working to put obstacles in front of the government’s reform program, but did not say what those obstacles were or who was erecting them.
Iraq’s Ministry of Health said on Thursday (February 25) it recorded 4,074 new coronavirus infections and 27 deaths in the country over the past 24 hours.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Health announced on Thursday (February 25) it had officially recorded 199 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours.
Hangaw Organization for Human Rights reported on Thursday (February 25) that two ethnic Kurds were killed the previous day when the Iranian security forces opened fire on their truck in Piranshahr.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday (February 25) denounced "an attempted military coup" and called on supporters to take to the streets, after the country's top brass demanded his resignation.
Defense lawyers representing five journalists and activists sentenced to six years in prison said on Thursday (February 25) that the verdict issued by the court was “illegal” and designed to oppress their clients.
The US dollars to the Iraqi dinar (IQD) exchange rates was down on the Kurdistan Region’s currency markets on Thursday (February 25).
Vice President of the Kurdistan Region Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa said on Thursday (February 25) that the decision to disburse three months’ worth of salary to fourteen Peshmerga brigades under the control of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs occurred because of pressure from the “Americans.”
Erbil Municipality removed several stands at a produce market in the Kurdistan Region’s capital with a front-end loader on Wednesday (February 24), destroying them in the process.
Crude oil prices were up on Thursday (February 25) compared with the previous day.
US President Joe Biden said Wednesday (February 24) he has already seen a soon-to-be released intelligence report detailing the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Ghana on Wednesday (February 24) became the first country to receive vaccines from Covax, a global scheme to procure and distribute Covid inoculations for free for poorer countries.
Iran will vote in June for a successor to President Hassan Rouhani and his moderate-reformist government, but politics in the country is dominated by the nuclear issue and no frontrunner has emerged.
A little more than a week after Erbil was hit with rockets that killed two people, US Ambassador to Iraq Matthew Tueller visited the Kurdistan Region’s capital for meetings with senior officials.
A German court on Wednesday (February 23) convicted a former Syrian intelligence service agent for complicity in crimes against humanity, in the first court case worldwide over state-sponsored torture by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Deputy Head of the Kurdistan Parliament’s Integrity Committee Saeed Harki said on Wednesday (February 24) that the committee thinks that the reform process at the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs is being performed “feebly.”
Police in Australia and Canada arrested four people accused of trying to extort a senior Iraqi politician, after what was described Wednesday (February 24) as a year-long campaign of intimidation.
Renewed rocket attacks on US targets in Iraq show Iran-aligned factions are heaping pressure on the government while Tehran may be seeking leverage over America's new administration, analysts say.
Turkish police on Wednesday (February 24) arrested two suspected members of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group in Ankara and released a seven-year-old girl from Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, media reports said.
An expected trip to Baghdad by a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) negotiating delegation was scrapped on Wednesday (February 24) because neither side appeared willing to compromise about their budget demands.
Iraq’s Ministry of Health said on Wednesday (February 24) it recorded 4,306 new coronavirus infections and thirteen deaths in the country over the past 24 hours.
The Turkish parliament will examine lifting some opposition lawmakers' immunity, its speaker said on Wednesday (February 24), as the pro-Kurdish party comes under renewed pressure from the government.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday (February 24) it had officially recorded 176 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours.
The US dollars to the Iraqi dinar (IQD) exchange rates was down on the Kurdistan Region’s currency markets on Wednesday (February 24).
Turkish warplanes hit targets in Qupi Sardaran near Warte sub-district and the Qandil Mountains on Wednesday (February 24).
Following an investigative report by NRT about illegal activities at restaurants and bars in the Kurdistan Region, Sulaimani Municipality said on Wednesday (February 24) that is closing down thirteen premises in the city’s Sarchinar neighborhood for violating tourism and health regulations.
Members of the First Regiment of the 12th Brigade of the Peshmerga Forces in Duhok’s Shekhan district protested on Wednesday (February 24), demanding that they also be paid three months’ worth of salaries in full like other units controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs.
Crude oil prices were down on Wednesday (February 24) compared with the previous day.
Countries are making progress towards greater gender equality, but women around the world continue to face regulations that limit their economic opportunities -- and the pandemic has created new challenges, the World Bank said Tuesday (February 23).
