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In a press conference following the voting, the speaker of the Sulaimani Provincial Council, Azad Hama Amin, said from now on, Sulaimani municipality will be responsible for collecting taxes and public fees.
According to the speaker, the 12 percent share given to privatized businesses collecting taxes and other government fees would return to Sulaimani public coffers.
The council speaker also called on the KRG to fund about 70 necessary employees for the Sulaimani municipality to collect public fees.
Today, Wednesday, President Dr. Latif Jamal Rashid arrived in Iraq’s northernmost city of Duhok. He met with Ivan Faiq Jabro, Iraqi Minister of Migration and Refugees, and top Duhok officials to discuss the situation of refugees living in Duhok refugee camps.
President Rashid said there is a national consensus to prioritize the refugee issue. The President stressed providing the refugees with necessary supplies as winter approaches. The President praised the efforts of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to monitor the camps, emphasizing the need to mobilize the actions of the relevant parties in the central government to support the region in this regard.
He also stressed the need to end their suffering by reconstructing and restoring their cities to facilitate their return to their homeland.
Many refugees who live in Duhok refuse to return to their homes for security reasons. Duhok governorate has taken many refugees, especially Yazidis, as they lived in Duhok and its neighboring Mosul province.
The Sulaimani mayorship would monitor buses and taxis taking students to school from now on, the Sulaimani mayor's office said. Most students board buses and taxis to go to school as other means of transport as absent in the city.
The authorities also issued other instructions for drivers that take students to school. The Committee to Monitor Student Transport Asks bus and taxi drivers to obey traffic regulations and drive safely. Their vehicles must meet safety requirements and have working heating and cooling systems. The drivers privately own many buses and taxis transporting students to schools. Students usually complain about conditions within buses as they lack a functioning heating or cooling system.
The committee also said that it has set up a unit to "constantly" monitor transport vehicles and collect documents from the drivers.
"Transportation fees are determined according to geographical area, distance and location traits," the committee said in an attempt to regulate commuting fees. The price of student transport is usually determined by the deal made between the drivers and the students.
The committee also published a hotline for parents to reach out to whenever they come across any violations.
Over half of the population in the Kurdistan region's 6.5 million people are below 25 years of age, and most are busy studying at schools. An increasing number of students rely on buses and taxis to commute to schools, which is largely unregulated.
“The campaign aims to reduce the impacts of draught,” Hamad added. For two consecutive years, many areas of the Kurdistan region have been facing draught and very little has been done to fight it.
The General Director thanked PUK President Bafel Jalal Talabani as the first politician to promise to plant trees. The PUK president has begun a campaign of planting one million trees in the Kurdistan region. “We hope that environmentally friendly politicians work better to preserve nature rather than just doing politics,” noted Hamad.
Just over 1 per cent of Iraq is forested and decreasing at an alarming rate, per the Sixth National Report of Iraq to The Convention on Biological Diversity, a state-funded report.
In a televised press conference today, Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) Minister of Municipalities and Tourism Sasan Aouni said, "we have arranged three meetings with over 80 businesses that want to invest in the Kurdistan region.
Today, Kurdish and Japanese firms met in Erbil to debate possible joint investment and cooperation in the Kurdistan region. KRG officials mediated the gathering and called on more Japanese firms to move into the region.
KRG Minister of Municipalities and Tourism Sasan Aouni said the Kurdistan region is a good place for foreign firms to operate.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan External Trade Organization (JETO), other Japanese corporations, and Kurdish businesses attended the meeting and discussed ways to work in the region. The participants presented their views on ways to develop the region's economy.
Aouni noted, "they had arranged the meeting between Japanese and Kurdish businesses three times, the first two times online, but now the Japanese are here [Kurdistan region]."
There are a substantial number of foreign companies, but their assets in the region only account for a small portion of the region's economy.
Japanese NGOs like JICA have a visible footprint in the country and now help Japanese businesses to invest in the Kurdistan region, which needs jobs for its ever-growing labor market.
Many animals in the streets are abused and lack enough nutrition. Images of cats and dogs published online show desperate animals maltreated and seeking food. A Sulaimani-based commentator wrote on Facebook,” we studied all these years, but we were never taught to behave with animals.”
The bill was first debated in the assembly in July and it's expected to be passed into law soon.
Health sector employees who have served during the coronavirus will be contracted, and their contracts will be renewed annually.
Ministry of Health undersecretary Rahel Faraidoon told Kurdsat English that the ministry would employ 500 university graduates who had served in the coronavirus outbreak when their contracts, previously updated every six months, are now over.
The Council of Ministers has decided to renew their contracts. From now on, their contracts will be renewed annually, that is, every year according to the needs of hospitals, Faraidoon noted.
The undersecretary explained that the Ministry of Health had sent a directive to the health departments in the Kurdistan region to list the name of healthcare staff that served during the pandemic to finish the administrative procedures.
Lebanese security forces extradited a descendant of Saddam Hussein's nephew to Iraq on charges of membership in ISIS and involvement in the Camp Spieker massacre. Many former Baathist leaders that Baghdad wants have taken to Jordan and Lebanon to hide from persecution.
A Lebanese judicial source said Sabawi "was detained on June 11" following an Interpol notice calling for his arrest over his alleged involvement in the massacre. The Sabawi family had rejected the charges and claimed that he was in Yemen when the killings happened, a claim that KurdSat English could not verify.
Abdullah Yasser, born in 1994, was arrested in Lebanon on June 11 on charges of participating in the Spiker massacre and committing war crimes in Iraq.
Abdullah Yasser Sabawi wanted in connection with the Spiker massacre, has been arrested in Lebanon and will be returned to Iraq, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.
On June 12, 2014, ISIS killed about 1,700 cadets at the Spyker military base in Tikrit, the capital of Saladin province. The cadets were gathered and shot one by one on the banks of the Tigris River, per a video released by ISIS. The Spieker mass murder perpetrators are either on the loose or unknown, though Iraq has executed several terrorists in connection with the massacre.
Iranian border guards went to Sardasht’s Bewrani village to take hold of border courier belongings and traders in Bewrani village of Sardasht city. The villagers resisted the border guards, and the guards opened fire, killing a wholesaler named "Hemin Hamza." According to Hengaw Human Rights Organization, Hemin was hit in the chest and later died of his injuries. He was the father of two.
Many villagers rely on smuggling goods across the border to the Kurdistan region to put food on the table; border couriers move most of the goods across the border on their backs and are usually confronted with rounds from Iran border guards.
Frustrated with the killing of the man, the villagers took to the streets to protest the killing, they blocked the way into Zardasht and gathered in front of the Zardasht Mayorship, and the security forces fired over the protesters to disperse them; a sister of the killed man was injured in the shooting.
However, they were dispersed by the security forces, and two people, one of whom was the trader's sister, were injured.
Many people attended the funeral and chanted slogans against the government.
The killed businessman was buried in a mass funeral, and people cried anti-government slogans.
The number of border couriers killed yearly is not officially known since some incidents are not reported; however, Human Rights groups put the number at around tens of victims every month.
He noted that the decision also covers officers of the two military colleges in the Kurdistan region that fall under the jurisdiction of the Defense Ministry. The Kurdistan region is home to two military colleges, one in Sulaimani’s Qalachwalan region and the other in Zakho in Duhok.
Ministry of Defense will send several other military trainers to the colleges to train the students of the military courses to replace the college’s trainers as they would have to go on weight tests and probably weight-loss training. It helps the military colleges in the Kurdistan region to continue their classes. The weight loss regulation would not cover recruits as they have filled the criteria before admission.
Obesity among the military ranks in the Kurdistan region and Iraq has become one of the defining features of Iraqi defense forces.
The mall is located on the Erbil-Kasnazan thoroughfare and was just opened last week, a KurdSat English reporter in Erbil said. The reporter mirrored the mayor's words and said the song was played unintentionally. "He is not from the Kurdistan region but a Kurd from Turkey," the reporter added. Most Kurds from Turkey do not speak Arabic, as education in the country does not include Arabic. The mall has been closed for the last three days and is closed for a week, per officials familiar with the matter. The lyrics to the song praise the former dictator and praise him as a benevolent leader rather than a tyrant.
Mayor Abdulhamid noted, "the owner of the mall is not an Arab, but from Turkey, and investigation had revealed that the song was played on YouTube and unintentionally played the song [apparently the mall had Autoplay on], the music was complimenting Saddam Hussein.
In July 2021, a hotel also played a song complimenting the late Baathist dictator Saddam Hussein has been; the hotel was shut for playing a piece of music flattering about Saddam Hussein.
In an interview with Sabah paper, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh said, "no changes have been made in the government-paid salaries since 2008, 14 years ago."
The advisor noted that the salaries of Iraqi employees make up 42 percent of government spending, which is a massive burden on the country's economy, and there is a vast difference in the employee salaries of different ministries that need to change."
The prime minister's financial adviser said the new government led by Mohammed Shia Sudani would try to support the poor and those with the lowest government salaries, which is left to the House of Representatives to fix in the budget bill.
A directive signed by Sulaimani's top doctor asks the governor's office to seize the lasers in the medals, pencils and children's toys.
Citing health reasons, the top doctor says that if such lasers are pointed at the eye, they can burn the visual center and sometimes cause loss of sight.
Hawrami advised the Sulaimani administration to take legal action against negligence and violators. Many markets in the city sell such products as children find them amusing and entertaining.
A member of the high committee of the Sulaimani mayorship told KurdSat English that, following the Sulaimani health department's advice, they had started a campaign of joint committees to search shops, markets and places that sell lasers.
Lasers are not as widely used as they once were, but recently, many laser pointers have entered the market. Health experts warn that exposure to laser light could cause permanent vision loss or damage sensitive eye parts.
The protests in Mahabad, which continued until this morning, erupted after the funeral of a citizen of the city, who died after he was seriously injured yesterday.
Meanwhile, people from several areas of Bokan took to the streets in support of the people of Mahabad. They blocked streets and cried anti-government protests.
According to the latest figure of the Hrana Human Rights Groups, 328 people, including 50 children and minor, have been killed in unrest in Iranian Kurdistan and Iran.
38 security officer have been killed in the clashes with 137 cities and 136 universities joining the protests so far.
Penjwen Mayor Zana Abdulrahman told Kurdsat English that they had refused to receive fuel at 103,000 Iraqi Dinars (IQD) and asked [government] to reduce the price, but they were told that the price would not be reduced." Many people in the mountainous regions of the Kurdistan region complain of the high prices for one barrel of oil and have resorted to firewood to heat their homes in the winter.
Despite the high price, the mayor noted that they have requested to be supplied with fuel and may receive loads in the next 20 days. The mayor said it is up to the people to decide whether to buy the fuel. Abdulrahman explained that Penjwen needs 2.6 million to 3 million liters of white kerosene.
People of the neighboring Saidsadiq district also refused to accept the government-subsidized fuel at 103,000 IQD. Despite the people’s frustration with the pricing, they have asked the Sulaimani Oil and Minerals Directorate to provide them with oil for the winter, per Said Sadiq mayor Diyari Rafiq. The Saidsaqid mayor told KurdSat English that trucks of white kerosene might reach the district next week and have eligible 22,000 families to receive the subsided fuel.
Only one barrel is provided to families, while most families burn over four barrels of kerosene in winter, according to unofficial figures.
The fuel price has increased almost fourfold since previous years. In 2020 one barrel of government-subsidized white kerosine was 30,000 IQD, while now it stands at 103,000 IQD. Although the fuel is subsidized, its prices make it unattractive as people in rural regions of the Kurdistan region live primarily on agriculture and have less per capita income compared to the urban areas.
In a tweet written in Arabic, Syrian Democratic Forces General Commander Mazloum Abdi, popularly known as Mazloum Kobane said, "Political instability, economic crisis and Turkey's continuous attacks are victimizing the population and refugees in Rojava every day and called on the international community to take responsibility and help them improve the lives of the people in Rojava."
"It is a tragedy and the self-governing administration calls for more efforts for a better future for the people of the region," Abdi said. Although, the US and other western nations back the SDF, they are unable to withstand Turkish pressure and their only hopes lies with normalizing ties with the Syrian regime.
He said they are doing everything possible to prevent such incidents from happening again and to investigate human trafficking networks.
Kobane called on the trapped Syrians [waiting for asylum in Europe] to return and promised to provide all facilities and assistance to guarantee their return.
Turkey had conducted many military operations in Rojava and has invaded large swathes of territory. In 2018, Turkish military and Turkish-backed Syrian extremist groups the Kurdish city of Afrin. Soon, Ankara began changing its demography by replacing Kurds with Arabs and other minorities.