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Nine Syrian refugees, including eight children, a mother, six children and two relatives, were killed in a fire in a four-story building in the Gazi Osman neighborhood of Bursa province late last night, Turkish media reported. The victims were six siblings aged between 1 and 10, their 31-year-old mother, and two cousins aged 10 and 11.
Their father, returning home when the fire broke out, tried to rescue his family but smoke knocked him and he was hospitalized, according to Bursa governor, Yakup Canbolat.
Several others were injured and taken to hospital. The incident caused large property damage. At least 3.7 million Syrian refugees officially live in Turkey, most of them crossed to Turkey following the Syrian civil war.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said today, in a press conference that, the constitution shall be the base for addressing the issues between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad in regards to hydrocarbon reserves and federal spending. The “eternal constitution” could serve to solve the troubles and help reach a deal that satisfies both ends, al-Sudani added.
The seventh Iraqi PM after the fall of Saddam Hussein is not the first premier to work on stabilizing Baghdad-Erbil relations, although the task is difficult as it has gone through episodes of tumult and even short military clashes in 2017.
The PM also noted that before the parliament could moot the oil and gas bill in the House, Erbil and Baghdad shall come to an understanding on the issue. Years of talks between the Erbil and Baghdad had not yielded substantial
Since the drafting of the 2005 Iraqi constitution many gaps between the federal government and Erbil have developed. The most pressing disputes are Kurdistan region’s budget share in Baghdad and Erbil’s handling of the region’s hydrocarbon reserves.
“PUK is also worried about freedom of expression in the Kurdistan region and made it clear to the foreign envoys that people should be safe when expressing their opinions,” the report said. The KDP usually has a vague policy towards freedom of expression as it publicly supports it. It has put tens of journalists and activists behind bars on various charges; journalists were charged with conspiring with foreign powers, including the US and Germany. Badinan Detainees is a case in point; several journalists and activists were detained by Erbil security forces in 2020 in their homes and kept in custody for a year without trial. Some of them were sentenced to over five years in prison.
Erbil and Duhok have developed better than Sulaimani. Because Erbil discriminates against the PUK Stronghold Sulaimani, PUK supporters and people of Sulaimani say on social media.
The PUK has made its position clear to the public and foreign consulates and ambassadors about its disapproval of how the Kurdistan region is governed. To protest Ebril’s discrimination against Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani has boycotted the Kurdistan region council of minister meetings twice and continues to do so.
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.
Ali Jamal Qaduri, a spokesperson f Garmian police, told Kurdsat English, "A man born in 1996 was arrested on three charges."
Garmian police noted that the 26-year-old man had admitted to going bankrupt. The spokesperson added, “the young man took $180,000 from citizens and told them he would invest it in cryptocurrency and then pay them back.” According to complainers, he did not pay them back and failed to make any profit when he invested the money he collected from people.
"Others might sue him, because so far only three victims have taken to the police, and many others have given him money, according to the people engaged with him, he has collected close to a million US dollars," KurdSat English reporter noted.
In the past few years, many people claiming to raise funds have convinced the masses to grant them their money in exchange for a significant profit in the short term. Notably, Sleman Halsho from Raparin district raised over US $15 million from the people of the region and two years later admitted going bankrupt.
Bashar Fayeq, 21, was a sophomore medical student at a university in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province, a KurdSat English reporter said. On November 3, four bullies stabbed him near his university, the reporter said. He was from the Kurdistan region, and had left for Iran to follow his studies.
Bashar's father, Fayeq Ahmad, said, "his son was hospitalized for four days and died at 6:00 am today after four major surgeries." Fayeq added that he was beaten by two men in a park in Ahvaz four days ago, and then five others came and stabbed him seven times."
According to his brother, "Bashar left his dorm for the market and was confronted by a bunch of thieves who asked him to hand over his phone and wallet but he refused and was stabbed by the thieves."
Bashar's family has asked the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) to help them return his body to his hometown in Duhok's Bardarash district.
Trudeau's comments came after a report by the "Global News" about Beijing funding a "secret network" of candidates in Canada's recent elections and days after the authorities opened an investigation into illegal Chinese "police stations" in the Toronto area to track Chinese dissidents and opponents.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) believes the Chinese Consulate in Toronto was behind a large financial transaction to at least 11 federal election candidates and Chinese government-affiliated operatives who worked as campaign staffers – C$250,000 (US$185,000) was allegedly transferred through a provincial Ontario lawmaker, and the staffers to a federal election candidate.
"We have taken significant measures to strengthen the integrity of our electoral processes and systems, and we will continue to make efforts to combat election interference and foreign interference in our democracies and institutions," Trudeau told reporters.
"Unfortunately, we see countries and international players from all over the world, whether China or others, continue to play hostile games with our institutions and democracies," he added. His comments followed the federal police force statement about the active investigation of a secret network of illegal Chinese "police stations" in Toronto.
Citing unnamed sources, Global News reported that Canadian intelligence services told Trudeau's government that China is seeking to influence or sabotage the country's democratic process.
The media report claimed that Beijing transferred money through an Ontario representative and others to at least 11 candidates and Chinese agents who worked as activists in their election campaigns. It added that Beijing has sought to appoint agents in the offices of members of parliament as well as other places to influence policies.
Last month, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced that it was looking into reports of "criminal activity related to so-called police stations." According to the Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders, Chinese police have used these police stations to carry out operations on foreign soil and pressure Chinese nationals to return to China to face criminal charges.
China has denied accusations of illegal activities by these centers, saying that these sites provide services such as renewing driving licenses for Chinese citizens abroad. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press conference Tuesday that China "has no interest" in interfering in Canada's internal affairs.
"Relations between countries can only be based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," he said. "Sino-Canadian relations are no exception. Canada should stop making statements that harm Sino-Canadian relations," he added.
As a popular system, democracies are vulnerable to outside intervention as opposed to a non-democratic system where the circle of ruling excludes the masses.
The president explained that the economic turmoil impacted Iraq and its people in the past, especially during the war against the ISIS criminal group, but the insistence of Iraqis to achieve peace and prosperity pushed the country in the right direction. ”Iraq’s economy is strong, which enables it to realize projects that will serve its descendants,” the president added.
For his part, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Affairs praised Iraq and its people, pointing to the importance of close relations between the two countries and the need to expand cooperation in various fields that have affected all the nations of the world. Especially those related to combating climate change and environmental protection because this phenomenon has affected all countries.
After a failed kidnap attempt, a US citizen, living in Baghdad's Karada neighborhood since May 2021, was killed on Monday in central Baghdad, Iraqi police sources said. A police source said the victim's ID showed his job as an English teacher. A Security official said armed men in a vehicle opened fire at an SUV carrying the victim and shot him dead.
The mid-aged American citizen has frequently visited Baghdad and lived in Baghdad's Karada thoroughfare since May 2021. According to his Twitter, he spoke Arabic and was married with three children.
US state department spokesperson Ned Price said they were aware of an American citizen killed in Baghdad and are looking into it, but was not sure of his identity yet. Two security officials confirmed a United States citizen who worked for an international aid organization had been killed without giving his name.
The Canadian Military announced the death of a Canadian military officer in a "non-operational" on Saturday in Central Baghdad. The Canadian Military disclosing his identity, said, "He was working in Baghdad, Iraq, as an Executive Officer to the Directorate of Strategic Communications for Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve."
Iraqi Security Media cell said today that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had directed Interior Minister Abdul Amir Shamari to set up an intra-agency inquiry committee to investigate the killing of the US citizen.
Attacks against foreign individuals in Iraq have been since the defeat of ISIS in the country in 2018, but at times, rockets are fired towards American bases and representative offices in the country.
In March 2021, a US contractor died of a heart attack while sheltering from a rocket attack on an Iraqi base in Kirkuk, hosting troops from the US-led coalition fighting ISIS.
Two months into the incident, a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport assassinated Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
PUK President Talabani met with the deputy commander and regiment commanders of the KCF. President Talabani praised the role of KCF commander Akam Omar and wished him full and soon recovery. Commander Omar was severely injured in an explosion Sulaimani’s Garmian district and is in hospital since then.
President Talabani also said that building a strong and organized force such as commandos that have played a significant role in the fight against ISIS terrorists and stability of the Kurdistan region. “Now they [KCF] continues to fight corruption and corrupt people and defend the rights of the people and public property, which we all take pride in.”
In a meeting with many KCF commanders and peshmerga President Talabani advised them to continue their military duty with a responsibly.
Greek-based journalist Ranj Pishdari, told KurdSat English that one of the survivors of the yacht that sank five days ago in Greek waters, a Kurdish boy, had told him today, authorities in Greece has put him behind bars.
On November 2, a yacht sailing illegally from Turkey to Greece, with 73 passengers on board, sank between Evia and Andros islands, as it waited for help following engine failure. Only 12 survived, 26 bodies were recovered while the fate of the rest remains unknown.
The PUK politburo congratulated its counterpart body, the newly elected KDP central committee. "On behalf of the PUK, we commend you on the success of the Fourth Congress of your party and the election of the new leadership for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
In its fourth Congress, around a thousand KDP members elected 41 party officials to the central committee.
"We hope that the recommendations and decisions of the congress have been in the interest of the success of our people's unity and better governance and worthy of the Kurdish region citizens."
The members of the KDP's Politburo and Leadership will also join the Congress without a vote. Moreover, 25 percent of the members of Congress must be women.
Around a thousand people are expected to participate in the 14th Congress of the KDP.
The last KDP Congress was held in 2010. According to internal rules of the KDP, the Congress must be held every four years, but the 14th Congress was postponed due to the war against ISIS.
Moreover, the KDP Politburo Secretary Fadhil Mirani announced in February 2021 that his party would hold its 14th Congress the following May.
KDP congress elected Masoud Barzani as president of the KDP, and his son Masrour Barzani and his nephew Nechirvan Barzani as his deputies.
Kurdish revolutionaries in Iran founded the KDP on August 16, 1946, in Mahabad. Soon after its establishment, the party began to engage in armed struggle with various oppressive regimes over Kurdish rights for autonomy.
In a clash with the Sulaimani’s western security forces (Asaysh), two ISIS terrorists were killed and women with them injured in Kichan village in Sangaw subdistrict in Sulaimani, Sulaimani Western Security Directorate said in a statement. The two terrorists were killed after a 30-minute clash, per security officials.
Recently, a group of terrorists had sneaked into Chamchamal’s Sangaw subdistrict that had planned to commit terrorist acts in the region; following intelligence gathered by Asaysh and after receiving a court warranty for their arrest, an Asaysh unit was dispatched to arrest the terrorist, but the terrorists resisted and were killed in action, Sulaimani Western Security Directorate explained in the statement.
A woman married to one of the terrorists was killed in the fighting and was transferred to the hospital.
Many ISIS terrorists hiding in the Kurdistan region have been either captured or neutralized since the defeat of ISIS in late 2018. However, many of their remnants have moved into the cities of the Kurdistan region with hopes of terrorizing its population.
On September 21, Sulaimani security forces arrested an ISIS leader in Sulaimani who had been hiding in the city since 2020.
In spite of the State Duma's denials earlier today, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a famous Russian businessman and member of Putin's inner circle, confirmed Kremlin meddling in American elections.
CBC reports that Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted on Monday that he had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so in the future. This is the first admission from a figure formally implicated by Washington in Russia's efforts to influence American politics.
According to comments posted by his press office Concord catering firm on Russia's Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Prigozhin said: "We have interfered (in the U.S. elections), we are interfering, and we will continue to interfere. We have mastered it, so we will do it carefully, accurately, surgically, and in our own style.."
The comment of Prigozhin, who has been subjected to US and European sanctions, and has been accused for several years of interfering in US elections, particularly the 2016 presidential elections, came on the eve of the midterm elections, which will take place tomorrow. In addition to electing 30 state governors out of 50, Americans will elect members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate.
Earlier today, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin denied these rumors altogether, saying his country does not interfere in US elections or allow outside interference.
The charges are also being used as a preemptive justification by the Democratic Party for its defeat tomorrow in the Senate and House elections, after the mistakes of Joe Biden's administration.
US papers reported yesterday that fake accounts started a campaign to influence the results of the elections, indicating that a Russian agency that interfered in the 2016 and 2020 elections is now repeating its practices, per the New York Times.
It also stated that those accounts launched a massive smear campaign against US President Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats in a flagrant manner.
Last month, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned of disinformation spreading through "web media, online magazines, messaging apps, scam websites, and emails", promoting false allegations of data breaches or voting results.
The US midterm elections will probably give the Republicans both the senate and the house, as many analysts suggest, giving the Biden administration a heavy headache in passing their bills and its foreign policy, both in Ukraine and the Middle East, as they strive to survive Trump's cancellation of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal.
"Our forces followed the terrorists' activities and were placed under close surveillance. After confirmation and obtaining the judge's approval, the arrest operation began. In a thirty-minute clash, both terrorists (K. S. M.) and (M. A. M.) were killed, and (S. N. A) was wounded, SWAD explained. SWAD disclosed the identity of the slain terrorists.
"Neutralized terrorist (K. S. M.) was born in 1975, a resident of the Raperin neighborhood in Chamchamal. He was married with three children," Sulaimani security said. KSM is one of the few elderly ISIS members in the Kurdistan region, as an overwhelming majority of those joining ISIS are below 20 years of age.
The SWAD also added that the injured woman, identified by her initials as (S. N. A), was married to 23-year-old (M. A. M.) from Chamchamal's Raperin neighborhood. He was killed on November 3 in an armed clash with Asaysh. Both terrorists planned to commit terrorism in the region, Asaysh noted. According to the statement, the terrorist had pledged allegiance to ISIS but did not explain when and how.
Last week, two ISIS terrorists were killed and one injured in a fight with SWAD in Sulaimani's Sangaw subdistrict. Many ISIS terrorists hiding in the Kurdistan region have been either captured or neutralized since the defeat of ISIS in late 2018. Though, many of their remnants have moved into the cities of the Kurdistan region with hopes of terrorizing its population. On September 21, Sulaimani security forces arrested an ISIS leader in Sulaimani who had been hiding in the city since 2020.
Greece based journalist, Ranj Pishdari told Kurdsat English that 26 migrants that lost their lives in the boat capsize, have been found so far. One of the bodies was identified by his relatives as a 41-year-old man named Zana Qadir, a resident of Piramagroon in Kurdistan region. Zana Qadir was married and left three children behind.
On the morning of November 3, 2022, a yacht with 72 passengers, sailing from Turkey to Greece sank between Evia and Andros islands, as it waited for help following engine failure. Turkish navy rescued 9 passengers after the boat went under water. So far, twelve migrants have been rescued and the bodies of 26 have been recovered. The fate of 32 others remains unknown.
More than 1,300 migrants have died in the Mediterranean and Northwest Africa since the beginning of 2022, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).