Iraq

27 August 2022; MEMO: An Iraqi security source announced on Friday that vehicles belonging to the Australian embassy had been targeted by an explosive device in Baghdad, with no injuries occurring.

Alsumaria TV news channel quoted an unnamed source stating: "A locally-made explosive device placed on the road leading to the Green Zone went off as a vehicle belonging to the Australian embassy in Baghdad drove by."

25 August 2022; MEMO: An Iraqi court yesterday issued an arrest warrant against a leader in the Sadrist Movement on charges relating to threatening the judiciary.

The Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq said in a statement today that the Karkh First Inquiry Court in Baghdad issued an arrest warrant against Sabah Al-Saedi for the crime of threatening the judiciary.

BAGHDAD, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The number of people facing acute food insecurity worldwide has more than doubled to 345 million since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict and climate change, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.

Before the coronavirus crisis, 135 million suffered from acute hunger worldwide, said Corinne Fleischer, the WFP's regional director, told Reuters. The numbers have climbed since and are expected to soar further because of climate change and conflict.

22 August 2022; MEMO: An Iraqi member of parliament yesterday called on the country's auditing and anti-corruption bodies to take legal action to stop an alleged deal between the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and an Israeli company, Al-Sumaria News reported.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A landslide collapsed the ceiling of a Shiite shrine in central Iraq over the weekend and killed at least seven people, including a child, officials said Monday as rescuers continued to search for survivors.

The landslide struck Qattarat al-Imam Ali shrine near the holy city of Karbala, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, on Saturday.

KERBALA, Iraq, Aug 21 (Reuters) - At least four people were killed after a landslide demolished a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in the central Iraqi province of Kerbala, the health ministry said on Sunday.

Rescue workers pulled out six survivors from the rubble after the landslide, which occurred on Saturday, the statement said. The search and rescue operation was continuing in case more people remained buried under the rubble, it said.

The Qattarat al-Imam Ali shrine is located in the western desert, about 28 km (17 miles) from the centre of the holy city of Kerbala.

18 August 2022; MEMO: After meeting with political leaders, the leaders of three political institutions in Iraq yesterday called on followers of Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr to engage in national dialogue to resolve the political deadlock, news agencies reported.

BAGHDAD, Aug 17 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Minister of Finance, Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi, resigned yesterday, amid a rampant political row in the country, the government said.

Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, accepted the resignation and immediately assigned Oil Minister, Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, as acting finance minister, Hassan Nadhim, the government spokesman, told a televised press conference, after the cabinet meeting.

14 August 2022; MEMO: Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said Sunday it does not have the authority to dissolve the country's parliament, Anadolu Agency reports.

On Wednesday, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the council, Iraq's highest judicial authority, to dissolve the assembly amid a deep political crisis in the country.

The council said in a statement that it had discussed al-Sadr's request to dissolve the Parliament and found that it has no authority to disband it.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s top judicial body said Sunday it doesn’t have the authority to dissolve the country’s parliament, days after an influential Shiite cleric gave it one week to dismiss the legislature so that new elections can be held.

The decision by the Supreme Judicial Council is likely to increase tensions between followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and members of Iran-backed groups as Iraq sinks deeper into its political impasse, now in its 10th month. The impasse is the longest in the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion reset the political order.