Page 5 - Iraq

Fire at wedding hall in northern Iraq kills at least 100, injures 150

A fire at a wedding hall in northern Iraq killed at least 100 people and injured 150 others, authorities said Wednesday. The fire happened in Iraq's Nineveh province in its Hamdaniya area, they said. That's just outside of the northern city of Mosul, some 335 kilometres northwest of the capital, Baghdad. There was no immediate word on the cause of the blaze. Television footage showed charred debris inside of the wedding hall as an man shouted at firefighters. Health authorities gave the casualty figure via the state-run Iraqi News Agency.

India's crude oil imports from Russia down 24% MoM, lowest in 7 months

Indian refiners also cut shipments from Iraq, another top supplier, by 10% on the month in August to 848,000 barrels a day

India likely to discuss crude oil discounts with Iraq and UAE soon

Refiners seek fixed commitment from middle-eastern suppliers akin to Russia

IS claims responsibility for attack that killed 20 Syrian soldiers

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an ambush in eastern Syria that killed at least 20 government soldiers and wounded others, warning that such attacks will continue. IS sleeper cells still carry deadly attacks despite their defeat in Syria in 2019. The group once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq where they declared a caliphate in 2014. The Friday night statement said IS fighters ambushed two army trucks in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour using different kinds of weapons. IS claimed that 40 members of the Syrian military were killed and 10 were wounded. Syrian opposition activists said the Thursday night attack on a bus carrying soldiers near the town of Mayadeen killed at least 20 soldiers and wounded others. State media said several soldiers were killed and wounded, without giving a breakdown. Let the whole world know that our allegiance to our leaders is practiced with deeds and not words and our Jihad is going on until Doomsday, IS said. Last w

WHO issues alert over another India-made syrup, flags' substandard' quality

Deaths due to toxic cough syrups first made headlines in October when the WHO issued a global alert for four such medicines manufactured in India

WHO raises alert on 'contaminated' India-made cough syrup in Iraq

WHO referred to one batch of substandard or contaminated syrup - Cold Out (Paracetamol and Chlorpheniramine Maleate) - in Iraq which was reported to the WHO on July 10

India-made cold syrup sent to Iraq tainted with toxic chemicals, shows test

A bottle of Cold Out purchased at a pharmacy in Baghdad in March contains 2.1 per cent ethylene glycol, according to Valisure LLC, an independent US laboratory

Protesters try to storm Baghdad Green Zone over burning of Quran in Denmark

Hundreds of protesters attempted to storm Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and the seat of Iraq's government, early Saturday following reports of the burning of a Quran carried out by a ultranationalist group in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Copenhagen. They were pushed back by security forces, who blocked the Jumhuriya bridge leading to the Green Zone, preventing them from reaching the Danish Embassy. The protest came two days after people angered by the planned burning of the Islamic holy book in Sweden stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad. Protesters occupied the diplomatic post for several hours, waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, and setting a small fire. The embassy staff had been evacuated a day earlier. Hours later, Iraq's prime minister cut diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Quran. An Iraqi asylum-seeker who burned a copy of the Qura

Iraq signs $27 billion energy deal with TotalEnergies, says report

TotalEnergies took a 45 per cent stake and QatarEnergy holds the remaining 25 per cent

Iraq president ratifies record $152 bn budget, IMF says 'too rosy'

Iraq's president on Wednesday approved a record USD 152 billion budget that the parliament voted on earlier this month and which adds about half a million public sector jobs. Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid ratified the budget, which has a projected deficit of USD 48 billion. Parliament last week voted on the draft, six months into the fiscal year and after months of negotiations. The main sticking point during the talks was the distribution of oil revenue between the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region in the north. The approved draft consolidates Baghdad's authority over the oil sector and allocates 12.6 per cent of the revenue to the Kurdish region. The Iraqi Kurdish local government will be allowed to sell its own oil but will have to deposit the revenue first in a bank account that officials from the central government can monitor. Baghdad will then deduct that amount from its monthly allocation to the Kurdish regional government and ..

India aims to expand its annual oil purchases from Iraq: Hardeep Puri

India aims to expand its annual oil purchases from Iraq from 1 bn barrels currently, Oil Minister Hardeep Puri said on Twitter after meeting his Iraqi counterpart Hayan Abdel-Ghani in New Delhi

US' Antony Blinken announces $150M aid for Syria, Iraq at Saudi conference

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the U.S. would provide nearly USD 150 million in aid for areas in Syria and Iraq that were liberated from the Isamic State extremist group. He spoke at a ministerial conference hosted by Saudi Arabia on combatting the group, which no longer controls any territory but whose affiliates still carry out attacks across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS includes more than 80 countries and continues to coordinate action against the extremist group, which at its height controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq. Blinken said the U.S. pledge is part of new funding amounting to more than USD 600 million. Poor security and humanitarian conditions. Lack of economic opportunity. These are the fuel for the kind of desperation on which ISIS feeds and recruits, he said, using a common acronym for the extremist group. So we have to stay committed to our stabilisation goals. Blinken co-hosted the conference as pa

Jordan renews crude supply deal with Iraq, will import 10,000 barrels a day

Jordan suspended its oil imports from Iraqi after the previous extension expired on March 31

'Dramatic decrease' in Islamic State activities in Iraq and Syria: US

This past Ramazan, normally a time when IS ramps up its attacks and activities, was "one of the most peaceful in years," said US Major General Matthew McFarlane

Cost of Iraqi oil to India drops as competition from Russia bites

The price of crude from Iraq averaged $76.19 a barrel, compared with $78.92 in January, according to data published by India's ministry of commerce and industry

State-run QatarEnergy to acquire 25% stake in major gas project in Iraq

QatarEnergy, the Gulf country's state-run petroleum firm, said Wednesday it has agreed to buy a 25 per cent stake in a massive gas project in Iraq, marking the rare entry of a major producer into a market that Western firms have pulled back from in recent years. The Gas Growth Integrated Project, launched by French oil giant Total in 2021, aims to develop facilities to recover natural gas from several oil fields in southern Iraq. That's where it is currently being flared when the natural gas released through oil production is burned and released into the atmosphere. The project also aims to treat seawater for injection into oil reservoirs to boost production. Total maintains a 45 per cent share of the project, while Iraq's Basra Oil Company owns 30 per cent. QatarEnergies said the total investment in the project would be around USD 10 billion. We are pleased to be part of this significant development, which is important for Iraq's energy sector, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister

Iraqi Parliament approves amendments to election law despite objections

The latest amendments to the election law reduced the number of electoral districts from 83 countrywide in the previous 2021 elections to one electoral district for each of Iraq's 18 provinces

NSAs of India, Iraq agree to enhance cooperation, counter-terror efforts

The National Security Advisors of India and Iraq have agreed to enhance defence cooperation and counter-terrorism efforts and strengthen security linkages between the two countries, officials said on Friday. National Security Adviser of Iraq Qasem Al-Araji is visiting India between March 22 and 25 at the invitation of NSA Ajit Doval. The visit of the Iraqi NSA is the first cabinet minister-level visit from Iraq to India in the last seven years, the officials pointed out. Qasem Al-Araji was earlier the minister of interior from 2016 to 2018. He has been the NSA since July 2020. During the visit, both the NSAs had extensive dialogue on a vast area of mutual interest. Both sides discussed various aspects of ongoing bilateral cooperation. They agreed to enhance defence cooperation, counter-terrorism efforts and strengthen security linkages. They also exchanged views on the recent developments in their respective regions, the officials said. During the visit, the Iraqi NSA visited Bha

US Senate takes step in repealing Iraq War authorisations to end authority

The Senate took a first step Thursday toward repealing two measures that give open-ended approval for military action in Iraq, pushing to end that authority as the United States marks the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War. Senators voted 68-27 to move forward on legislation that would repeal the 2002 measure that greenlighted the March 2003 invasion of Iraq and also a 1991 measure that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait. Nineteen Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the repeal. The bipartisan effort comes as lawmakers in both parties are increasingly seeking to claw back congressional powers over U.S. military strikes and deployments, arguing that the war authorizations are no longer necessary and subject to misuse if they are left on the books. President Joe Biden has backed the push, and the White House issued a statement Thursday in support. "Repeal of these authorizations would have no impact on current U.S. military .

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