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by Haydar Indhar Agence France-Presse DIWANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — With its neighbours activating new dams, Iraq’s historic twin rivers could run dry — unless new infrastructure projects and tense talks with Turkey and Iran bear fruit. Nowhere is the effect on the country more palpable than in Basra, Iraq’s only coastal province. Here, the Tigris and Euphrates — on which millions of Iraqis rely to farm — meet at the Shatt al-Arab waterway before spilling […]
AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — An Amman summit between Jordan, Iraq and Egypt will go ahead Tuesday, officials said, with extra precautions after Iraq’s telecommunications minister tested positive for COVID-19. Minister Arkan al-Shaybani and fellow Iraqi officials were tested upon landing in Amman on Friday and were put under confinement following the positive result, according to a statement by Jordan’s information minister Amjad al-Adayla. “This required implementing medical procedures put in place to protect the […]
by Asaad Niyazi with Ali Allaq in Kut Agence France-Presse AL-BADAA, Iraq (AFP) — The broad leaves and delicate purple flowers floating on the Euphrates look breathtaking — but they are suffocating the waterways of Iraq, celebrated as the “land of the two rivers”. The water hyacinth, nicknamed the “Nile flower” in Iraq, is an invasive plant native to South America’s Amazon basin that has ravaged ecosystems across the world, from Sri Lanka to Nigeria. The […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — One rocket hit near the US embassy in Baghdad early Tuesday morning, security sources told AFP, the first to land in the high-security zone in weeks. The blast could be heard across the Iraqi capital and triggered security sirens at the US embassy compound but did not cause casualties, the sources confirmed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. It follows more than two dozen similar attacks against American interests in […]
by Ammar Karim Agence France Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — “More morphine!” Malak’s mother cried, her 20-year-old daughter hospitalized after a marital dispute left her severely burned — the latest victim of domestic violence exacerbated by confinement in Iraq. The nationwide lockdown since mid-March is meant to keep coronavirus cases down in the country, but it has led to a spike in another sad statistic: domestic violence. The head of Iraq’s community police, Brigadier General […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — The Iraqi government said Thursday that it will extend a countrywide lockdown it imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic until April 11. Schools, universities, shopping centers, and other large gathering places will remain closed, as will the country’s international airports. Authorities have confirmed that at least 29 Iraqis have died from COVID-19 and nearly 350 others have contracted the disease. But there are fears the real number is much higher, […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq on Sunday imposed a total nationwide lockdown until March 28 to fight the novel coronavirus, as the number of cases grew and the death toll climbed to 20. Most of Iraq’s 18 provinces had so far imposed their own local curfews but the new measures would include the whole of the country, according to a new decision by the government’s crisis cell. Schools, universities and other gathering places would remain […]
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi health authorities announced on Wednesday the country’s first two deaths from the new coronavirus, one in the capital Baghdad and the other in the autonomous Kurdish region. A 70-year-old Muslim cleric died on Wednesday from the virus, the first death from the outbreak in a country where 31 people have been infected. The Iraqi preacher had been quarantined in the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah before his death, a spokesman for […]
by Sarah Benhaida BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Protest-torn Iraq on Monday faced more political gridlock after prime minister-designate Mohammed Allawi withdrew overnight, accusing lawmakers of obstructing his attempt to form a government. Oil-rich but poverty-stricken Iraq has for five months been rocked by the biggest wave of anti-government demonstrations since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein. The mostly youthful protesters demand the ouster of Iraq’s entire political elite, which they accuse of […]
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq on Monday confirmed its first novel coronavirus case in an elderly Iranian national living in the southern city of Najaf, according to health officials. Iraq had blocked travel to and from Iran days before announcing that the religious seminary student in Najaf is its first confirmed case. © Agence France-Presse
by Salam FARAJ BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi and Kuwaiti authorities were on high alert Friday after banning travel the previous day to and from Iran, where authorities say the death toll from the new coronavirus has hit four. Iran’s health ministry Friday reported two more deaths among 13 newly diagnosed cases of the COVID-19 virus, doubling the total number of deaths in the Islamic republic and taking the total number of diagnosed infections there […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Residents of Baghdad rushed to have snowball fights or take photographs Tuesday as the Iraqi capital woke carpeted in white by only its second snowfall in a century. The last recorded snowfall in the city was in 2008, but it was a quick and mostly slushy affair — and prior to that, it had been a century since Baghdad saw any flakes. Iraqis young and old said it was the first […]
