"On Wednesday, May 24, Qubad Talabani called him and congratulated him for his brave stand to save the lives of 30 people and told him that we are proud of him as a Kurd," Mahmoud said.

"I was very happy that the Deputy Prime Minister called me and congratulated me. Such positions are an encouragement to all Kurds abroad in various ways to enhance the name and reputation of the Kurds among other countries," Mahmoud said.

Sarwar Mahmoud, a 39-year-old British citizen from Kalar. He saved the lives of 30 people when he saw a building on fire due to an electrical short circuit on last Wednesday. He is known in the British media as the brave boy and is widely praised for his attitude.

Jeanine Hennis, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, said in a tweet, "ongoing political infighting in KRI is very disturbing."

"Once again, we call on all parties to work in the interest of all peoples and find common ground on outstanding electoral issues soonest," she wrote on Twitter.

She also said, "timely, credible elections are a democratic essential."

 

Nearly 100 other people have been infected by Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Iraq, where the disease claimed many more victims last year.

In 2022, at least 212 people were infected while 27 died, according to ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr.

Most of those who have been infected are livestock breeders from the rural southern province of Dhi Qar, as well as workers in abattoirs.

According to the World Health Organization, CCHF is a "viral tick-borne disease that is transmitted to humans by bites of infected ticks, and by direct contact with blood or tissues from infected humans and livestock".

It was first diagnosed in 1979 in Iraq, where decades of war and conflict have devastated government services including the health infrastructure.

Sophie the Duchess of Edinburgh delivered King Charles III's written message for President Rashid from Britain’s monarch.

In the message, Britain's King Charles III expressed gratitude to His Excellency for attending the coronation ceremony taking place at Westminster Abbey in London earlier this month.

King Charles emphasized that" The relationship between the UK and Iraq is long and historic, and unique." " I hope that during my reign our countries will build on our historical links to create a modern partnership through which we can work together to address challenges that matter to us all, including climate change, international security and human rights." He added.

Britain's Monarch said that" My thoughts and prayers have been with the people of Iraq who have endured so much, most recently at the hands of Daesh and other terrorist groups," while noting that " Your effort to support those populations which have been so drastically affected is greatly appreciated."

"The UK stands beside Iraq as a friend and ally in order to support the peace, prosperity and security of all Iraqi people," King Charles affirmed.

His Excellency President Rashid and Iraq's First Lady, Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed asked the Duchess of Edinburgh, Her Royal Highness Sophie to convey their greetings to King Charles III, and extended a message to the British, wishing them further progress and prosperity, and welcomed Her Royal Highness's visit to Iraq, wishing her a blessed visit.

While speaking about the close relationships between Iraq and the UK, President Rashid emphasized how best it is to promote these ties in various areas of common concern, which would be in both nations' interests.

Iraq's cities are experiencing peace and stability, and the security situation is looking up, Iraq's Abdullatif Jamal Rashid went on to note that plans have been set in motion by the government through an ambitious program, to build schools and hospitals, rehabilitate the country's basic infrastructure as well as improve the standards of living and raise the level of services. Efforts are made to pass the federal budget as soon as possible and implement the government program, HE, added.

His Excellency spoke about the situation of internally displaced persons, and the humanitarian sufferings that they faced, and there is limited access to health, education and essential services, and it is therefore, they have had rough days. In addition, he underlined that the issue of displaced people should be addressed once and for all, and they must be allowed to return to their homes after their villages, towns and cities are rehabilitated in addition to implementing the Sinjar agreement. Meanwhile, he asserted the importance of rendering better public services for all Iraqi citizens, expressing hope that the UN, which is in charge of the file of displacement, will make further efforts that are aligned with the scale of the tragedy of the displaced people.

First Lady Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed spoke about childhood, and she said that there are children, who are residents of the displaced camps, and they have had rough days, and have no family, relatives, or their private habitats, where most of these children are from the Yazidi people.

Although the UN has set programs to rehabilitate displaced families and children, unfortunately, these were hindered by bureaucratic procedures.

Her Royal Highness, Sophie the Duchess of Edinburgh thanked President Rashid and the First Lady for the warm welcome during her visit.

It is therefore, she was delighted to visit Iraq, and she affirmed her readiness to underpin the bonds of friendship and bilateral cooperation between Iraq and the UK.

President Rashid's leadership and wisdom are paramount in addressing the issue of displacement and allowing the displaced people to return home after housing construction would be made for them, the Duchess of Edinburgh said.

on the other hand, she hailed the efforts made by His Excellency President Rashid to recover loaned ancient artifacts previously taken by Britain for study.

Meanwhile, His Excellency President Rashid invited the Duchess to visit the national museum.

The President and the First Lady gave Her Royal Highness a gift for her efforts to promote relations between Iraq and the UK, and so she expressed thanks and appreciation for this generous initiative.

The text of King Charles III's message follows:

Buckingham Palace
  May 18, 2023

Dear Mr. President,

I would like to extend my warmest greetings to you and the people of Iraq. I am most grateful to you for your kind letter on the occasion of Noruz celebrations and for representing Iraq at my Coronation in London earlier this month. The relationship between the UK and Iraq is long and historic and unique in the region. I hope that during my reign our countries will build on our historical links to create a modern partnership through which we can work together to address challenges that matter to us all, including climate change, international security and human rights. My thoughts and prayers have been with the people of Iraq who have endured so much, most recently at the hands of Daesh and other terrorist groups. Your effort to support those populations which have been so drastically affected is greatly appreciated and I do hope that they will be able to access meaningful justice, having suffered so terribly.

I have long been eager to see us work towards freedom of religion or belief for everyone, everywhere. The UK stands beside Iraq as a friend and ally in order to support the peace, prosperity and security of all Iraqi people. I look forward to our two countries working together to achieve this.

 Most sincerely,
Charles R

Latif Nerwayi, a member of the leadership and head of the coordination and monitoring board of the PUK election agency, told KurdsatNews that the PUK and KDP will meet in Erbil tomorrow to discuss the amendments to the electoral law.

He added that the PUK hopes that the meetings will end with positive results and the Kurdistan region will move towards a clean and democratic election.

Luqman Wardi, deputy chairman of the PUK faction in the Kurdistan Parliament, told KurdsatNews that the meeting will be held in the Kurdistan Parliament building.

The parliament speaker, Rewaz Fayaq and some other parliament officials are expected to attend the meeting.

The meeting comes at a time when the PUK and KDP have previously met on the amendment of the electoral law, the final seats and the reactivation of the election commission, but they have not reached a final agreement.

On November 16, the political bureaus of PUK and KDP met in Sulaimani and stressed the need to urgently take legal and political steps to hold parliamentary elections on schedule this year.

DNA testing was used to identify the remains of hundreds of people slain by ISIS after their discovery in 2017 at the grave site on the outskirts of Mosul, in the country's north.

The Sunni Muslim extremists seized a large chunk of Iraq's territory and proclaimed a "caliphate" in 2014, carrying out abductions, beheadings, ethnic cleansing, mass killings and rapes.

In June that year, ISIS members attacked Badush prison and freed Sunni inmates before forcing around 600 mostly Shiite prisoners into a truck, driving them to a ravine and shooting them dead.

Seventy-eight of them were laid to rest on Tuesday in Baghdad and in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, in central Iraq, AFP journalists reported.

"We feel pain and sorrow, but at least we got his remains," Khaled Jabbar said during the funeral procession in Najaf for his cousin, who was among those killed.

In front of Baghdad's Martyr Monument, coffins draped in Iraqi flags were carried on army vehicles and accompanied by a military band.

"About 1,000 prisoners, mostly Shiites, were executed by ISIS militants inside the prison and at other sites," according to UN investigators.

The killings were described as "crimes against humanity" by UNITAD, the UN body set up to investigate ISIS crimes in Iraq.

The 78 victims buried on Tuesday were from a group of 605 missing people, said the Iraqi health ministry's forensic director Zaid Ali Abbas.

The first mass grave containing victims from Badush prison was discovered in 2017, with dozens of remains exhumed from it in 2021.

The slow and laborious process of taking DNA samples from victims and families of the missing continues.

IS's seizure of Mosul in 2014 helped it to briefly hold roughly one-third of Iraqi territory, and for a time there were real fears of a major attack on the capital Baghdad.

Baghdad declared victory over the jihadists in December 2017, and work to uncover their crimes is still ongoing.

The United Nations estimates ISIS left behind more than 200 mass graves which could contain up to 12,000 bodies.

Authorities in Iraq frequently announce the discovery of mass graves, including some containing ISIS militants themselves and others dating from the regime of Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown during the US-led invasion of 2003.

The museum closed its doors in 2003, amid the chaos following the US-led invasion of Iraq, and was later ransacked by Islamic State after they seized the city in 2014.

"We are celebrating today, in the city of two springs, the launch of the Mosul Museum's rehabilitation project," the director of Iraq's antiquities authority, Laith Majid, said at a press conference.

"This museum, an icon of museums in Iraq, was targeted by a blind barbarian assault," Majid said, referring to the destruction by ISIS.

The militants used sledgehammers and power tools to deface ancient statues and pre-Islamic treasures housed in the museum, releasing an infamous video showing the destruction in 2015.

A gaping hole remains in the floor of the museum's famed Assyrian gallery, caused by a bomb explosion.

"Part of this cavity will be preserved, as a witness throughout history to what has been perpetrated," said Khair al-Din Ahmed Nasser, head of antiquities in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.

A new display was inaugurated, showcasing the museum's history, collection and current restoration plans, as part of efforts supported by France's Louvre Museum, the Smithsonian Institute and the World Monument Fund.

It comes within the "second and final phase" of the "total reconstruction and rehabilitation of the museum building" and should be completed within two or three years, said Nasser.

Among the pieces defaced by IS and under restoration at the museum are treasures from the ancient Assyrian site of Nimrud, including a winged lion, two imposing "lamassu" -- winged bulls with human heads -- and the throne base of the ninth century BC King Ashurnasirpal II.

"Out of five works, there are three that are extremely advanced," said Barbara Couturaud from the Louvre. 

The artefacts are being revived with financing from the International Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH).

"The pieces have been identified... now they have to be assembled. These are sculptures that weigh several tonnes, requiring extremely complicated handling," she said, adding she hoped they would be ready for the planned full reopening in summer 2026. 

An unprecedented 71.1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) were registered in 2022 -- up 20 percent from a year earlier -- amid mass displacement for Russia's war in Ukraine, as well as by the monsoon floods that drenched Pakistan.

A full 60.9 million new internal displacements were meanwhile reported in 2022, with some people forced to flee multiple times during the year, according to a joint report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

That marks an all-time high for new internal displacements, and an increase of 60 percent compared to the some 38 million fresh displacements seen in 2021.
That number is "extremely high", IDMC chief Alexandra Bilak told AFP.

"Much of the increase is caused, of course, by the war in Ukraine, but also by floods in Pakistan, by new and ongoing conflicts across the world, and by a number of sudden and slow onset disasters that we've seen from the Americas all the way to the Pacific."


- 'Very volatile' -


Last year, new internal displacements from conflict surged to 28.3 million -- nearly doubling from a year earlier and three times higher than the annual average over the past decade.
Beyond the 17 million displacements inside Ukraine last year, eight million were forced from their homes by Pakistan's monster floods.

Sub-Saharan Africa saw around 16.5 million displacements -- more than half of them due to conflict, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Ethiopia.

The global internal displacement figures are only expected to grow this year, driven in part by fresh conflicts like the violence ravaging Sudan forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.

More than 700,000 people have already become internally displaced by the fighting that erupted on April 15, while another 150,000 people have fled the country, according to UN numbers.

"Since the start of the... most recent conflict in April, we've already recorded the same number of displacements as we did for the whole year in 2022," Bilak said.

"Clearly, it's a very volatile situation on the ground," she said, pointing out that those being newly displaced by the fighting were joining the ranks of more than three million people already displaced across Sudan.


- 'Food security crisis' -

While internal displacement is a global phenomenon, nearly three quarters of the world's IDPs live in just 10 countries: Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.

Many of them remain displaced due to unresolved conflicts that have dragged on for years and continued to force people to flee their homes last year.

And even as conflict-related displacement surged, natural disasters continued to account for most new internal displacement, spurring 32.6 million such movements in 2022 -- up 40 percent from a year earlier.

NRC chief Jan Egeland described the overlapping crises spurring ever more displacement around the world as a "perfect storm".

"Conflict and disasters combined last year to aggravate people's pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities, triggering displacement on a scale never seen before," he said in a statement.

"The war in Ukraine also fuelled a global food security crisis that hit the internally displaced hardest," he said.

"This perfect storm has undermined years of progress made in reducing global hunger and malnutrition."

In the meeting held in Erbil on May 10, 2023 and attended by Daban Shadala, Deputy Head of the Foreign Relations Office and Bayani Sami Abdulrahman, Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government in the United States, Qubad Talabani expressed the Kurdistan region's desire to strengthen trade relations.

"All kinds of facilities will be provided to US companies and investors who want to invest in Kurdistan," Qubad Talabani said.

The US-Kurdistan Business Council delegation explained the purpose of their visit to Kurdistan and expressed their readiness to participate efficiently in investment in various fields and said they want to contribute to the recovery and economic development of the Kurdistan region through investment and development of trade relations.

In another part of the meeting, the political situation in the Kurdistan region was discussed. In this regard, the Deputy Prime Minister said that there are serious efforts to resolve the internal problems and a good understanding has been formed among the political parties that without unity we cannot face all the challenges facing the Kurdistan region.

Regarding the relations between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad, Qubad Talabani said that they want to resolve issues with Baghdad in a radical and fundamental way. "We will work to pass both the budget law and the oil and gas law as soon as possible."

Today, Iraqi President Dr. Latif Rashid announced the return of 6,000 artifacts from the UK to Iraq in Baghdad, in a televised press conference.

The Iraqi president said the return of the artifacts was the result of joint efforts of the office of the presidency, the Ministries of Culture, Tourism, Archeology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They will continue their efforts to return other archaeological remains abroad.

The president thanked Britain for keeping its promises and handing over the artifacts safely after 100 years. He also added the artefacts were held in the UK for scientific purposes and British researchers have used them to understand the history of Iraq.

I am hopeful that we would put the artefacts into good use in all fields, the president concluded his remarks.

Iraq is home to thousands of archeological sites and many of it are still unearthed. As one of the cradles of civilization Iraq is one of the most important places to understand the inception of civilization, according to historians.

 

Sunday's presidential and parliamentary ballot will pass judgement on Turkey's longest-serving leader and the social transformation spearheaded by his Islamic-rooted AKP party.

The vote is Turkey's most consequential in generations and the toughest of the 69-year-old's tectonic career.

Polls show Erdogan locked in a tight battle with secular rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu and his powerful alliance of six parties that span Turkey's cultural and political divide.

The first votes were cast by Turks who moved from poorer provinces to Western Europe under job schemes aimed at combating the continent's labour shortage in the wake of World War II.

Such voters comprise 3.4 million of Turkey's 64.1 million registered electorate and tend to support more conservative candidates.

Official turnout on the morning of the last day of overseas voting on Tuesday exceeded 51 percent -- a touch higher than in the last general election that Erdogan won in 2018.

Kilicdaroglu's CHP has been trying to eat into Erdogan's traditional base of support by organizing daily buses to take voters to the Turkish consulate in Berlin.

Germany accounts for nearly half of Turkey's diaspora vote.

"It's not just a presidential election," opposition supporter Katresu Ergez said while waiting for a CHP bus.

"It's about voting for the future of the country, whether democracy will be restored or whether it will go further towards dictatorship," the 29-year-old said. 

Sulaimani police arrested the suspect in collaboration with the Erbil crime prevention department.

A citizen, who was robbed of money and gold, filed a complaint against the suspect.

The suspect, a 25-year-old Kurd, confessed to the crime and was detained under Article 443, Sulaimani police said.

During the arrest, the security forces confiscated 300 million dinars, some gold and "several pieces of valuables," Sulaimani police said.

Turkish warplanes bombed the heights of Guharze village in eastern Amedi district of Duhok province this morning, KurdsatNews reporter said.

He said the bombing caused fear among the residents of the area, especially the residents of the villages of Nheli.

The Turkish warplanes have been bombing the mountain ranges of Matina and Gara in the border of Amedi district for several days.

“This meeting will certainly serve as a good starting point to come up with constructive solutions for many pending issues,” Cho Kijoun, Consul General of Korea said.

Qubad Talabani described his meeting with Masrour Barzani, which took place on May 8, as a “productive.”

Consul General of Korea said, “I wish sincerely that the good momentum be maintained and productive measures be set up through dialogue.”

In a tweet, Qubad Talabani said, “Together, we are united in the belief that we can overcome our challenges, work towards better serving our citizens, and remain strong in the face of the many threats facing the Kurdistan Region.”

While visiting London to attend King Charles III's Coronation, President Rashid decided to return back the ancient artifacts to Baghdad and hand them over to the Iraqi museum.

The ceremony of handover of Iraqi artifacts was attended by the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani alongside the Iraqi Ambassador to London, Mohammed Jaafar Al-Sadr, the Director-General of British Museums and Chair of London Museum and several Journalists, relevant experts and archaeologists from Iraq and Britain. 

The meeting in the Egyptian capital took place ahead of the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19, following a rapid rapprochement with regional governments since February.

It also took place days after regional top diplomats met in Jordan to discuss a roadmap to return Syria to the Arab fold as the conflict continues to deescalate.

Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended 12 years ago early in the uprising-turned-conflict, which has killed nearly a half million people since March 2011 and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

The body usually attempts to make decisions by consensus, but decisions otherwise could pass with a simple majority vote.