Iraq

09 Nov 2020; MEMO: Iraqi Minister of Transport, Nasser Al-Shibli, said yesterday that Chinese companies have been providing services with regards to the implementation of the Al-Faw Grand Port project in the southern governorate of Basra.

“The ministry is continuing to negotiate with the South Korean Daewoo company regarding Al-Faw Grand Port project,” Al-Shibli said in a statement, adding that Daewoo has two contracts with the port which expire in 2021.

09 Nov 2020; MEMO: Hundreds of Iraqi civil servants yesterday held protests in the governorates of Karbala, Babil, Muthanna and Maysan demanding the government pay their delayed salaries, Anadolu reported.

Last month, the Iraqi government submitted a draft law to parliament to borrow 41 trillion dinars (about $34 billion) to finance the fiscal deficit.

The Iraqi government has not paid the employees’ salaries for October or September due to the stifling financial crisis.

BAGHDAD, Nov 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — Iraqi President Barham Salih approved the new parliamentary elections law despite his reservations on some of its articles, but stressed the need to fulfill the requirements of holding early elections.

“In compliance with my constitutional duty, I approved the election law, in preparation for holding early, fair, and just elections,” Salih said in a televised speech after signing the law.

04 Nov 2020; MEMO: Iraqi security forces yesterday arrested Raad Al-Haris, adviser to Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and the country’s former deputy minister of electricity, over charges linked to corruption and mismanagement.

The Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq said in a statement that an arrest warrant had been issued against Raad Mohsen Ghazi Shabib Al-Haris based on a complaint filed against him by the permanent investigation committee.

BAGHDAD, Nov 1 (NNN-NINA) – Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, arrived in Baghdad on an official visit on Saturday, to hold talks with Iraqi leaders and sign a number of memorandums of understanding, to enhance cooperation between Baghdad and Cairo.

Madbouly, heading a high-level delegation, arrived in Baghdad around noon and was received by his Iraqi counterpart, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, according to a statement by al-Kadhimi’s media office.

BAGHDAD, Oct 28 (NNN-NINA) – The extremist Daesh militants, killed five family members and wounded two others, on Tuesday, in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, a local official said.

The incident took place at a village, near the town of al-Maqdadiyah, some 100 km north-east of Baghdad, when the militants shot dead a shepherd and planted a bomb under his body and another one on the road leading to the body, Hatem al-Tamimi, mayor of the town, said.

27 Oct 2020; MEMO: Iraq does not consider the Muslim Brotherhood a “terrorist organisation”, prime minister’s spokesperson Ahmed Mulla Talal said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD, Oct 26 (NNN-NINA) – Thousands of Iraqis demonstrated yesterday, in the capital Baghdad, and several provinces in central and south of the country, to mark the anniversary of the mass anti-government protests that demanded comprehensive corruption reforms.

Hundreds of protesters rallied in al-Tahrir Square in the morning, to demand reforms and accountability for those who killed hundreds of protesters in previous months.

24 Oct 2020; MEMO: Iraq’s Rasheed Bank has reportedly begun offering loans worth $8,400 (10 million dinars) to any male state employee who wishes to take a second wife.

The bank’s spokeswoman Amal Al-Shuwaili who was quoted by Rudaw yesterday stated “Due to an abundance of requests from people for loans to marry a second wife, Rasheed Bank decided to loan 10,000,000 dinars to any employee wanting to marry a second wife”

BAGHDAD (AP) — Long-time Iraqi civil servant Qusay Abdul-Amma panicked when his monthly salary was delayed. Days of waiting turned to weeks. He defaulted on rent and other bills.

A graphic designer for the Health Ministry, he uses about half his salary to pay his rent of nearly 450,000 Iraqi dinars a month, roughly $400. If he fails to pay twice in a row his landlord will evict him and his family, he fears.

“These delays affect my ability to survive,” Abdul-Amma said.