Electing the Iraqi President has sparked much controversy, and the parties still have different views on Thursday's meeting. Speaking for the State and Law Coalition, lawmaker Mohannad Khazraj said the presidential candidate would be voted into office after the political factions reach an agreement. He said the Kurdish parties' agreement on a candidate for the post is a matter for themselves.

"Everyone realizes that the president must be elected, otherwise the situation in Iraq cannot tolerate further delays and will lead to more complications," he said.

Coordination Framework leader Fazel Mawat Kasar said the Sadr movement was unlikely to react to the parliamentary session to appoint the President.

According to Kasar, "the Coordination Framework is not afraid of the reaction of the Sadr movement because the meeting is constitutional and the country needs a government urgently; otherwise, it will fall into further stagnation and crisis.

"It is impossible for the Kurdish forces to participate in the session with a common candidate," said Hassan Faddam, a Coordination Framework leader.

Other Coordination Frameworks believe that "if the Sadr movement does not agree to negotiate by tomorrow, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani would be sworn in as prime minister. If the Sadr movement agrees to negotiate before the Parliament meeting, Al-Sudani would be the first victim."

Iraqi Council of Representative's Thursday session will begin at 11:00 AM, meeting only to elect a President. Thirty-three people are running for the post of the President of the Republic.

For the House of Representatives to appoint the President requires two-thirds of the MPs to be present, or 220 out of 329 MPs. Many observers believe that a minimum number of MPs is needed in the house to hold its session. The required number might not be present in tomorrow's session. 

"The President of the Republic is the Head of the State and a symbol of unity of the country and represents the sovereignty of the country," Article 67 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution states. The President has no executive powers and is responsible for signing republican decrees, submitting bills, and representing Iraq internationally, in addition to appointing the candidate for the premiership. 

In September 2020, the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Governments, in coordination with the UN mission in Iraq, announced an agreement to normalize the situation in Sinjar. 

The UN mission hailed the deal as a “turning page,” and a “first and important step in the right direction”. The Sinjar deal came together after “months of hard work and negotiations” between Erbil and Baghdad, according to KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

Baghdad and Erbil have appointed their administrations that have ruled over Nineva’s Sinjar district. The region is crowded with armed forces vying for influence, including the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Sinjar Resistance Units, locally called YBS, and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), as well as federal authorities and Kurdish peshmerga forces. 
 
The agreement aims to expel the different armed groups from the Sinjar region and ease the return of refugees, 80 per cent of whom are still displaced and refuse to return.

According to some local officials in Sinjar and the Iraqi government, there is no hope for implementing the agreement. 

According to Duhok Migration and Refugee Bureau numbers, ISIS terrorist onslaught in 2014 displaced over 360,000 Yazidis. Three hundred thirty-one thousand two hundred Yazidis live inside and outside the camps in Duhok, some of whom migrated abroad, while thousands of women and children remain missing.

There is little media attention on the agreement. Authorities of the region and the international community have largely forgotten the deal. 

The Sinjar region offers strategic importance for all actors in the region. It is a region that would make it easier to control Northern Iraq and an easily navigated gate way into Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. 

Saddam Hussein fired close to 40 Scud Missiles at different Israeli cities in 1991 from Sinjar, as the region gives one the upper hand in case of a clash in the broader region. Turkey also eyes the region with great ambition as it has bases close to Sinjar to prevent the PKK from penetrating its southern borders. 

The PKK maintains its presence in the area to keep its connection with its offshoot in Rojava, the YPJ. The Peshmerga forces in the area help secure KRG’s western borders as its borders. 

"A hundred and fifty domestic and international firms from 12 countries take part in the exhibition, the firms work in food, investment, construction and automotives and other industries," Sulaimani Expo Speaker Ziryan Muhammad told KurdSat English.

"The Expo lasts for six days, and is open from 10:00 AM to 7 in the evening," Muhammad added. The Expo is placed at Sulaimani’s northern entrance to ease travel to the exhibition. 

KurdSat Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) is taking media sponsorship for International Expo, airing most of its events and helping to promote the corporations' products in the Expo. 

The speaker said of the Expo’s importance, "the Expo helps the companies to introduce their new products to the people, and people who get to know more about their products."

Sulaimani has quite a rich market for automobiles, relatively luxury cars, and up-to-date tools such as mobile phones. 

The Expo Speaker also mentioned the economic importance of opening such exhibitions in Sulaimani as it would bring tourists and business people to the city.

PUK Politburo Chief Executive Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed visited the Expo, hailed the importance of such moves in developing Sulaimani, and said, "Building skyscrapers and residential complexes would not suffice to address Sulaimani's economic woes, but we need to build factories to create jobs for the people of the city.  Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakir and city officials visited the Expo and expressed their content with the Expo's works. 

Domestic and international corporations present their products in Sulaimani International Expo 

The Crimean Bridge attack triggered a wave of attacks on Ukraine's major cities; the Crimea Bridge is a symbol of Russian pride and engineering; at 19KM, the longest bridge in Europe was severely damaged by what Russia said was a Ukrainian truck bomb. Although traffic resumed on the undamaged lane of the bridge. 

Today, Russia has continued to launch long-range missiles at Ukraine's energy and military infrastructure. " We achieved striking the intended targets; all the targeted facilities were hit," the Defense Ministry said.

Russian-launched missiles struck critical infrastructure in the city, leaving many areas without electricity, Lviv Mayor Andrei Sadovy said. 
"As a result of the missile strike, 30% of Lviv will remain without electricity for a temporary period," Sadovy wrote on Telegram. He added that two of the city's neighborhoods were also cut off water supplies. Russian missile strikes also caused a blackout in the Lviv region on Monday.

Ukrainian media reported that the outskirts of Kyiv witnessed several explosions where the air defense system worked. Videos spread on social media show missiles that struck inside Ukrainian cities. 

Sirens were sounded in several regions of the country this morning, including Kyiv, amid reports of new explosions in Kremenchuk, Poltava, Sumy, and Kirovograd. The Ukrainian emergency said that more than 300 residential areas in 5 regions of Ukraine are still without electricity, adding that the death toll from the Russian strikes on Ukraine on Monday rose to 19, and multiple injuries.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is saying today that entering into a direct conflict with the United States and NATO is not in Moscow's interest but that Russia will respond to the West's increasing interference in the Ukrainian conflict, according to the Russian Information Agency. 
"We warn and hope that they realize the danger of uncontrolled escalation in Washington and other Western capitals," Ryabkov was quoted saying.

The Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, were met on Monday with a wave of condemning and threatening Western reactions, while China called for a "stop escalation."

The Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces had achieved the targets for their massive strikes in Ukraine yesterday, confirming that all the target sites had been hit. Its intelligence claims to have planned the attacks since early October.  

The US President will hold a virtual meeting with the leaders of the G7 countries today to support Ukraine. Biden pledged to continue supporting Ukraine to defend itself and to provide it with advanced air defense systems. The US President also stressed his continued participation with allies and partners to continue imposing sanctions on Russia and holding it accountable for what he described as "war crimes and atrocities" it is committing in Ukraine.

The European Union, in turn, said that the Russian attacks showed Moscow's choice of the indiscriminate method of bombing civilians.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry called for a halt to the escalation in Ukraine after explosions rocked several cities in what appeared to be "Russian retaliatory" strikes following the explosion of a Crimea Bridge explosion. "We hope to stop the escalation soon," ministry spokesman Mao Ning told a news briefing.

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said, "A bullet used by security forces during demonstrations in Sanandaj city pierced two-sided glass, and a 20-centimeter wall," Hengaw Human Rights Organization (HOHR) reported. Yesterday night, the situation in Sanandaj escalated as hundreds poured into the streets and confronted the security forces. Iran security forces appear firing over people in Sanandaj in a video circulated on social media.

"Security forces direct fire killed a 9-year-old child on Saturday night in Sanandaj; the child died while in his mother's hug," Hengaw reported. Iran has severely restricted internet and communications, making it difficult for activists and human rights groups to pass updates on Iran's situation. 

Local sources claimed that Iran lost control of some Sanandaj streets and deployed drones to surveil the city as its forces were prevented from going into the city's neighborhoods. A drone was hovering over Sanandaj on Monday night. According to Hengaw, reinforcements were sent to Sanandaj to regain Iran's control. It posted on Facebook that "special forces were dispatched to the city on 15 buses."  

Amnesty International in Iran tweeted a video that showed different rounds used against civilians in Sanandaj and said," it had received several reports of increased use of weapons, tear gas and shooting against demonstrators in Sanandaj, including tear gas fired into peoples' homes.

"The countries around the world should immediately raise their level of protest with Iranian ambassadors and ask them to immediately end the suppression of protests and respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly," the human rights watchdog said. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kazemi called on all political parties to resort to rational, peaceful and constructive dialogue on the occasion after a year passed since the 2021 early parliamentary elections.

Today, Monday, Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa Kadhimi tweeted," on this day, last year, October 10, we implemented the most significant obligation in our government by holding early parliamentary elections."

A year has passed, and Iraq is still without a government, given the 2010 elections in which the country took a record 289 days to form a government. The country is still divided over forming a government. 

"Last year's early elections were held fairly and professionally in the presence of the United Nations and all observers," Kadhimi added.

The PM noted, "after a year, the experience proved that resorting to the ballot box must be consistent with the beliefs of the political forces involved and the practice of political action per cultural and democratic frameworks."

Kadhimi was referring to political parties engaged in extra-legal political activities that have brought Baghdad and much of Iraq into chaos.

"Over the past two years, despite the unscrupulous attacks, we have worked calmly and rationally on a different path to resort to dialogue and joint cooperation with all different political forces for stability and peace," Kadhimi explained. The "unscrupulous attacks," is a reference to the Kamikaze drones that hit Kadhimi's official residence in Baghdad and injured several people from his security detail.

The PM once again called on all political parties to resort to the logic of rational, peaceful and constructive dialogue to resolve the political impasse and promote a comprehensive national solution that will strengthen their "infant democracy" and support the pillars of stability and prosperity for Iraq.

A year has passed since Iraq held its early elections to form a new government following the Tishreen Protests that demanded a new government as soon as possible. With Muqtada al-Sadr, which controls much of the streets of Iraq, boycotting the normal political process, a prospect for a new government soon is far from possible.

The United Nations Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) released a statement on the anniversary of the country’s early elections in 2021, which UNAMI called “Hard earned-elections” and said, “a year ago, the Iraqis went to the polls with the hope of charting a new future for their country.”

The country has seen multiple rounds of negotiations that not only failed to form a government but also brought the country to the brink of a clash. 

“It was a hard-earned election brought about by public pressure from nationwide protests in which several hundred of young Iraqi protests lost their lives and were injured,” UNAMI noted. 

The 2019–2021 Iraqi protests, also known as Tishreen Protests, were a series of protests and sit-ins in Iraq that resulted in thousands of casualties and close to 8000 people were killed. 

The United Nations mission in Iraq asked all parties to dialogue without “preconditions”. It said, “through compromise, they must collectively agree on key outcomes that reaffirm their publicly stated objective, which is to serve the needs of the Iraqi people and establish a fully empowered and effective government. The time to act is now.” 

The UNAMI and Special Representative of Secretary-General for UNAMI Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert have an obvious role in Iraqi politics. Plasschaert has cultivated close relations with all Iraqi leaders. She has organized summits and meetings to bring the Iraqi leaders together to the long overdue government. 

Today, Monday, a source with the Juridical Council who did not want to be named told KurdSat English that the Council decided to make Kurdish the sole language of court decisions in the Kurdistan region.

Today, the Judicial Council of the Kurdistan region issued a decree signed by Judicial Council Chief Justice Abduljabar Aziz Hassan that aims to regulate the language of the courts in the Kurdistan region. The decree is effective immediately according to the directive. "Arabic is used only as necessary," the directive declares. 

"Some lawyers don't speak good Kurdish, and the decision aims to unite court language because now half of the courts write in Kurdish while the other half of the courts issue decisions in Arabic, and we want to regulate that," the source told KurdSat English.

"Would compile a single legal dictionary for legal terms to help in the process because sometimes there are multiple words [Kurdish] for a single legal term, and the dictionary helps to avoid that," the source added.

The dictionary might also pose some challenges as both Kurdish Kurmanji and Sorani are spoken in the Kurdistan region, where speakers of both languages sometimes need help understanding each other. 

The decision of the Judicial Council came after a series of joint meetings between the Judicial Council, Parliament, the Prosecutor's Office and the Kurdish Academy, the Judicial Council said.

The source also added, "the decision is per the Iraqi constitution that stipulates that the official languages of Iraq are Kurdish and Arabic."

Most Kurds in the Kurdistan region do not speak Arabic, and that is more so with the younger generations. Also, most university departments' education medium is English rather than Arabic or Kurdish. Such a decision might have a significant effect as most administrative paperwork in the Ministry of Justice, and other ministries of the Kurdistan region is done in Kurdish. Though it might help unify the official language of the courts and enrich Kurdish vocabulary. 

The Director General of Education of Kurdistan Province suddenly announced this morning that the schools in Sanandaj will be closed, citing Prophet Mohammad's birthday as the reason. Although such holidays are announced days before, Mawlid al-Nabawi is a holiday in Iran every year.  

Iranian local media reported that suspended all schools in the province of Sanandaj for today due to protests by teachers and students against the death of Zhina Amini.

Iran security forces have arrested Kurdish artists and singers for expressing their support for women's rights in Iran. The protests that have covered all of Iran initially sparked in Iranian Kurdish cities that protested against the death of Zhina Amini in the custody of Iran's morality police. Kurds in Iran took to the streets and demanded justice.   

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the country guarantees that the European Union freezes the assets of those responsible for the violent suppression of Iranian protests and prevents them from entering the Union.

According to Deutsche Welle, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Sunday she would ensure the European Union imposes entry bans on individuals who are responsible for cracking down on protesters in Iran. 

Speaking to "Bild am Sonntag" newspaper Baerbock said the EU would also freeze their assets in the bloc. Baerbock criticized Iranian authorities, saying, "anyone who beats up women and girls in the streets, abducts people who want nothing more to live freely … is on the wrong side of history."

On Saturday, Kurdish cities in Iran went on a general strike at the request of activists and civil society organizations. Demonstrations continue in the streets and universities of Rojhelat. More than 2,000 people, including over a hundred female activists, have been arrested in Kurdish cities since the protests began.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights wrote on October 8, that 185 people, including 19 children, were killed in the nationwide protests across Iran, and over a third of the killing was in Sistan and Baluchistan province. 

A German army commander warned that another war in Europe was possible. "We are preparing to face hybrid threats to our infrastructure," General Castrin Borer said in an interview with the German newspaper "Bild” today. NATO has also stressed the need to protect critical infrastructure after what it called acts of gas pipeline sabotage during the Russia-Ukraine war.

The head of the German Parliament's European Affairs Committee noted in an interview with the Funke media group that "perhaps in both cases it is a warning because we support Ukraine." He called for 20 billion euros to better protect critical infrastructure, strengthen police capabilities.

These statements came after a "sabotage" operation yesterday affecting wireless connection cables in two locations in Germany. The apparent cyberattack brought train travel to a standstill throughout northern Germany and the capital Berlin, before it was fixed a few hours later.

Since the launch of the Russian military operation on the territory of its western neighbor on February 24, tension has risen between Moscow and the West, especially the European countries that have delivered Ukraine billions worth of weaponry and ammunition.

Western intelligence warned of a "subversive" war of another kind, whether through electronic attacks or hacking and attacks on critical European facilities.

Earlier today, in a televised press conference in Kurdistan region's Raparin district, the CTG top commander in Raparin, Hemn Salam, said, "our forces in Raparin could seize a truck that carried 85 kilos of crystal and arrest and arrest three criminals involved in the case, and investigations into the case continue."

Salam added, "we assure the people of Kurdistan that we continue our duties to enforce the law." 

Kurdistan Region Government Coordinator for International Advocacy Dindar Zebari told KurdSat English, "3000 people have landed in jails for substance abuse, and there needs to be a center to help with their problems."

Drug trafficking is increasing in the Kurdistan region, and the region's security forces have put tens of drug dealers and smugglers behind bars. The number of drug abusers is on the rise as well. 

According to the Kurdistan Region's Anti-narcotics Department, in 2021, Kurdistan region security forces arrested 1,943 people on drug-related charges, including dealing, using, and promoting substance use.

According to a United Nations report, the Kurdistan region had no drug use or trafficking cases in 1990 and continued to be so until 2003; drug abuse and trafficking are on the rise. 

CTG members in Raparin with the criminals they captured

On Prophet Muhammad's birthday, Iraqi Hezbollah commander Abu Ali al-Askari tweeted, "the brigades [Hezbollah] will work to throw Kazemi treachery behind the bars of justice after handing over the government's duties to a new prime minister."

In a statement, the Shiite armed group Iraqi Hezbollah said that Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi has done nothing but waste public resources and sign worthless contracts with companies and countries in various fields that have not benefited Iraq. He has done nothing else, and all his work has been for show.

There have been numerous assassination attempts on Khadim's life in the past two years; some attributed to pro-Iran Shiite armed groups for Khadimi's policies downplaying Shiite militia. 

On 7 November 2021, several Kamikaze drones hit Mustafa al-Kadhimi's official residence in Baghdad's Green Zone, the most heavily guarded place in Iraq. Kadhimi survived, while several members of his security detail were injured.

The group added that it had made all preparations to arrest Kadhimi immediately following the formation of the new Iraqi government. It would legally remove him from power and be punished him for setting an example for the coming prime minister not to copy him.

A coordination Framework leader recently announced that they had decided to bar state officials from travelling after their official duties are over until they are proven clean of corruption, and specifically mentioned Khadimi. 

President of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Bafel Jalal Talabani congratulated Muslims on the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (peace Protecting sacred values.

The president said, “on the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUP), I warmly congratulate Muslims in Kurdistan, Iraq and the world.

President Talabani hoped the holiday would encourage unity and coexistence among all nations and communities, spread tolerance, and preserve sacred values.

“Respecting differences and cultivating a culture of tolerance with different voices and colors is a sign of a progressive and peaceful society. I hope that we will all fight for this and that peace and brotherhood will be the goal of all,” President Talabani added.

People of the Kurdistan region celebrate Mawlid yearly by sacrificing cattle and livestock and organizing events reminding them of the Prophet’s teachings and ways.