Iraq

02 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iraqi protesters, on Thursday, closed three oil facilities in Dhi Qar governorate (south) to protest against the omission of clauses relating to job opportunities in the recently approved federal budget.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament approved the annual general budget with total expenditures amounting to 129 trillion Iraqi dinars (about $88 billion).

BAGHDAD, Apr 1 (NNN-NINA) – The Iraqi parliament yesterday endorsed a bill for the 2021 budget, with about 89 billion U.S. dollars, and a deficit of about 19 billion dollars, after months of delay due to political differences.

A statement by the media office of parliament said, 215 lawmakers attended a session chaired by Speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi, and passed the budget for 2021.

18 Mar 2021; MEMO: An Iraqi security source announced on Thursday that a convoy of trucks carrying logistical equipment for the international coalition forces in southern Iraq was targeted with explosives.

A lieutenant in the Diwaniyah police department told Anadolu Agency: "An explosive device exploded on the highway as a convoy of civilian trucks carrying logistical equipment belonging to the coalition forces passed by."

16 Mar 2021; MEMO: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said yesterday that his government has succeeded in reducing foreign forces in the country by 60 per cent, Anadolu news agency reported.

08 Mar 2021; MEMO: An Iraqi army captain was killed in an armed attack on a military patrol in Tarmiyah district, north of the capital Baghdad, yesterday Anadolu news agency reported.

The agency quoted Baghdad police Captain Hatem Al-Jabri as saying that an armed group opened fire on an army patrol in Tarmiyah district and killed an army captain before fleeing the scene.

Al-Jabri said the army is looking for Daesh members who are believed to be behind the attack.

06 Mar 2021; MEMO: Pope Francis held a historic meeting today with Iraq's top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani in the southern Najaf city, Anadolu Agency reports.

The meeting came as part of the pontiff's current visit to Iraq, which started on Friday.

BAGHDAD, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday called for enhancing security and stability of the region.

A statement by al-Kadhimi media office said al-Kadhimi received a phone call from Rouhani, in which they discussed means to develop bilateral relations at various levels and praised the efforts to enhance security and stability of the region.

The two leaders called on "all actors in the region to enhance calm through wisdom in dealing with regional crises and challenges," the statement said.

(AP) --- The scenes are seared in the memory of the Rev. Ammar Altony Yako: A church that for decades has been the pride of the town of Qaraqosh, a center for Christian life in Iraq, stood badly scarred.

Yako saw it in 2016 when Qaraqosh was liberated from more than two years of Islamic State group rule. Scrawled on a wall was the proclamation, the “Islamic State will remain.” Strewn amid the rubble in a courtyard were bullet-riddled mannequins and other telltale signs of a militants’ makeshift firing range for target practice.

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — After his historic meeting with Pope Francis on Saturday, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric affirmed that religious authorities have a role in protecting Iraq’s Christians and said they should live in peace and enjoy the same rights as other Iraqis.

For its part, the Vatican said Francis thanked Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and the Shiite people for having “raised his voice in defense of the weakest and most persecuted” during some of the most violent times in Iraq’s recent history.

04 Mar 2021; MEMO: Even as demands of an autonomous status for the oil-rich Basra region in southern Iraq are getting shriller, a cross-section of people in the capital Baghdad opposed any move to trifurcate their country, Anadolu Agency reports.

In 2006, current US President Joe Biden had proposed to split Iraq into three independent parts: Kurdish, Shia, and Sunni regions. The demands for granting autonomous status to the Basra region are also being raised from time to time.