The Islamic State group’s deliberate destruction of agriculture in northern Iraq has hindered the return of hundreds of thousands of residents, Amnesty International said in a report released Thursday. Continue reading →
{FD} Nobel laureate returns to Iraq, pledges to work for peace
Iraqi activist Nadia Murad met her country’s president in Baghdad on Wednesday after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy on behalf of victims of wartime sexual violence. Continue reading →
{FD} Iraq marks anniversary of victory over Islamic State
Iraq on Monday celebrated the anniversary of its costly victory over the Islamic State group, which has lost virtually all the territory it once held but still carries out sporadic attacks. Continue reading →
{FD} Iraq’s president takes office, independent tapped as PM
A veteran Kurdish politician assumed office on Wednesday as Iraq’s new president after tapping an independent Shiite politician for the post of prime minister, ending nearly five months of political deadlock. Continue reading →
{FD} Iraqi cleric calls for parliament session on Basra clashes
Iraq’s popular Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday called for an urgent parliamentary session to discuss the situation in the southern city of Basra, where protests against poor public services and joblessness have turned violent, prompting autho… Continue reading →
{FD} Water crisis salts the earth in Iraq’s long-neglected south
Qassim Sabaan Ali has spent the past 15 years tending to orchards in southern Iraq, only to see them wither or die as saltwater has seeped into the once-lush soil. Continue reading →
{FD} Iraqi PM suspends electricity minister over poor service
Iraq’s prime minister on Sunday suspended the country’s electricity minister over a power crisis amid mushrooming protests in the country’s Shiite heartland demanding better services and jobs. Continue reading →
{FD} Soaring unemployment fuels protests in southern Iraq
For more than three years after graduation, Karar Alaa Abdul-Wahid tried to get a stable job in the Iraqi government and in the private sector — to no avail. Continue reading →
{FD} Rights group calls on Iraq to declare detention centers
Human Rights Watch on Sunday called on Iraq’s government to declare the number of detention facilities it maintains and not to hold suspects without informing their families. Continue reading →
{FD} Southern Iraq’s woes to continue, renewed protests possible
Iraq’s government may have muddled its way through violent street protests in the country’s oil-rich south with promises of jobs and better services, but the root causes of this month’s unrest remain almost intact and it could be just a matter of time … Continue reading →
{FD} Activists: Iraqi police arresting protesters in the south
Iraqi security forces in the southern oil-rich province of Basra have started arresting protesters who took part in the week-long demonstrations there to demand more jobs and better services, activists said Monday. Continue reading →
{FD} Protesters in southern Iraq demand better services, jobs
Iraqis demanding better public services and jobs took to the streets again on Sunday in the southern oil-rich province of Basra, as authorities put security forces on high alert and blocked internet on the sixth day of protests in the country’s Shiite … Continue reading →
{FD} For a Yazidi woman abducted by IS, a tearful homecoming
Farida Khalaf somehow kept her composure as she returned to her devastated home village in northern Iraq for the first time in four years — until she entered the schoolhouse. Continue reading →
{FD} Iraq begins hand recount of May ballots from city of Kirkuk
Iraqi officials began a hand recount of ballots from May’s parliamentary elections on Tuesday, starting in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, state television said, a move expected to further prolong the process of forming a new government. Continue reading →
{FD} Iraqi politicians start election campaigns in earnest
In the aftermath of a destructive three-year war to defeat the Islamic State group, Iraqi politicians are promising citizens a better future, employing social media, online videos and traditional billboards. Continue reading →
{FD} Drug use, sales soar in Iraq’s Basra amid nationwide spike
The rows of self-harm scars that course upward on the teenager’s forearms from her wrists nearly to her elbows are reminders of dark times. Continue reading →
{FD} AP Interview: Iraq patriarch looks to life after war with IS
The head of Iraq’s Chaldean Church says that battling extremist “mentality” is key to peaceful coexistence among Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups as the nation emerges from more than three years of war with Islamic State militants. Continue reading →
{FD} Clashes erupt in Iraqi city of Kirkuk over Kurdish vote
Iraq’s ethnically-mixed and contested city of Kirkuk was on a nighttime curfew on Tuesday after clashes erupted there the previous night between Kurds and Turkmen amid preparations for the controversial Kurdish independence referendum next week, a loca… Continue reading →
