Kurdistan
Russia halted gas supplies via a major pipeline to Europe on Wednesday, raising the prospect of a recession, and energy rationing in some of the region's richest countries. And it is not the first time for Russia to withhold energy from Europe since the war in Ukraine.
The outage through Nord Stream 1 is for maintenance and means no gas flows into Germany between 01:00 GMT on August 31 and 01:00 GMT on September 3, according to Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Data from the pipeline operator's website showed flows dropped to zero between 02:0, and 03:00 GMT on Wednesday.
European governments fear Moscow will extend the halt in response to Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine, and have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using energy supplies as a "weapon of war". A claim Moscow continues to deny.
Increased restrictions on European gas supplies will exacerbate an energy crisis that has already sent wholesale gas prices up by over 400% since August last year, causing a painful cost-of-living crisis for consumers, increasing costs for companies and forcing governments to spend billions to ease the burden.
It has also emboldened right-wing parties to adopt more pro-Russian policies and calling for an end to their governments support to Ukraine.
Unlike the last month's 10-day maintenance of the pipeline, the new maintenance was announced just less than two weeks ago.
Moscow has already cut supplies via Nord Stream 1 to 40% in June, and 20% in July, blaming maintenance problems for sanctions on Moscow. It prevents equipment and installations from being returned, Moscow says.
Gazprom said the new shutdown is necessary to carry out maintenance on the pipeline's only remaining compressor.
Russia has completely cut off supplies to Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland and reduced flows through other pipelines since launching what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
In his message, Alawi congratulated the PUK "brothers" on the election of Bafel Jalal Talabani as the President of PUK, and hoped that the PUK would continue to strengthen the historical ties between the "sons" of Iraq.
President Bafel Jalal Talabani was elected as the president of the PUK by an overwhelming majority of the PUK leadership council, on Monday, August 29.
"The Kurdish revolutions against oppression and dictatorship were not only Kurdish revolutions but also Iraqi revolutions, and the unity of the Kurdish people is the key to the unity of all Iraqis," Allawi said in his message.
Allawi said he was confident that the PUK, led by Bafel Talabani, would continue to work with the national political forces to correct the political process.
The ministry also said that "the Ba'ath regime used chemical weapons against civilians in the Anfal process in Badinan." Although the Baathist regime did use chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians on many occasions, most notably starting with the Halabja Chemical Bombardment that killed 5000 thousand civilians, reports of the Baathist regime using chemical weapons in the Badinan region during the Anfal campaign is another crime revealed.
After 60 hearings and within the framework of international agreements, the Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized that the Anfal process was a genocide of the Kurdish people. However, the Anfal Campaign remains to be recognized by prominent states.
The Ministry of Martyrs stressed that they would continue their efforts to recognize the crime of Anfal as genocide internationally.
The Anfal Campaign was a genocidal plan against Iraqi Kurds carried out in eight different phases, each targeting a specific region of the Kurdistan region. the purpose was to eliminate the Kurdish revolutionaries fighting against Saddam Hussein's dictatorial regime. The Kurdish revolutionaries, generally known as the Peshmerga, depended on the villages of the Kurdistan region for their subsistence. The Baathist regime eradicated most of the hamlets, weakened the Peshmerga, and Arabized the Kurdistan region's strategic, oil-rich regions.
The seventh and last phases of Anfal were committed in the Badinan region, where hundreds of villages, communities and settlements were destroyed, and their populations moved to relocation camps in Sulaimani and Erbil. In the Anfal Genocide an estimated 182 civilains, including children, women, the elderly were buried alive, shot or went missing.
According to Kurdistan Genocide Writers Union, "not a single Anfal remain of the Badinan region Anfal genocide is repatriated." The Union asked the Kurdistan region government to ramp up its efforts to bring their remains and create monuments in Duhok, the location of the Anfal Campaign of Badinan.
Commenting on the occasion, the Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said, "we send our regards to the victim's relatives, and we bow to the innocent lives of the Anfal victims. Barzani also asked the Iraqi federal government to compensate the victims' acquaintances because Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal has recognized the atrocity as genocide.
All hotels, motels, cafes, restaurants, and tourist places that provide tourism services are obliged to make Kurdish the primary language for the menu and signs of their places, and the directive will be effective after fifteen days from issuing the decree.
According to the decree, written in seven points, all places with tourist licenses must use Kurdish as the primary language, followed by any other foreign language.
The decree instructed all general directorates and special committees to follow up on the implementation of the decision. The penalties for violators will be recorded starting with the closure of the place for three days, in case of repetition or more place for seven days.
Due to many foreign and Iraqi tourists to the Kurdistan Region, most tourist areas write signs and menus in other languages and are usually not followed by Kurdish.
The audit committee's report has been sent to Erbil Investigation Directorate to register the fraud as a criminal case under Article 19 of the Corruption Commission Law and submitted to the investigative judge of the Erbil Corruption Commission for investigation and resolution of the issue.
A source in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Corruption Commission told KurdSat English that "After noticing significant increases in the official's wealth, his file has been submitted to a court to investigate his financial records, and no further comments would be made until all investigations are over."
Nazim Abdullah, director of the poultry farmers association, told Kurdsat News that the owners of poultry farms are constantly losing money due to the increase in fodder prices.
"Since last Eid al-Adha, if chickens have been sold in 500 poultry houses and each house has lost 30 million dinars, a total of 15 billion dinars have been lost to poultry farms," Abdullah noted.
He explained that "they have been able to create large number of jobs in poultry farms, so the government and the Ministry of Agriculture should pay more attention to poultry farms to produce domestic poultry, because we scientifically prepare domestic chickens for the markets."
He added that "there are 38 fodder factories in the region, but these factories have not reduced the price of fodder and currently a ton of fodder is $700 in the market, while most of the supplies and food prices in the region have fallen."
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, grain prices increased globally as it did in the Kurdistan region, however after a while price of most commodities have jumped back to normal.
Hussein Hamasaleh, a representative of the Summit Foundation for Refugee Affairs in Greece, told Kurdsat English that about 60 migrants were trapped on the island of Caesarea in Greece, trying to go to Italy, and are currently are in the custody of police.
He said the migrants were from the Kurdistan Region, Iran and Afghanistan, and two Russians were arrested that are suspected of being smugglers.
“The migrants have been interrogated and all communication devices have been confiscated. They are likely to be sent back to closed camps around Athens,” Hama Saleh added.
Recently, Greece and Turkey have increased their efforts to detain, and prevent migrants from reaching their shores in an attempt to prevent them from migrate to Europe.
He also said that he discussed with Guterres the possible directions for the development of the Ukrainian grain export agreement, noting that during a meeting, they also dealt with what he described as Russian "nuclear blackmail" about the Zaporinha nuclear plant, which Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of the bombing.
"The United Nations must ensure the security of this strategic objective, its demilitarization and its complete liberation from Russian forces," Zelensky said.
For its part, Anadolu Agency reported that Turkey and Ukraine signed an agreement on the sidelines of Erdogan's visit to rebuild infrastructure.
Earlier today, Erdogan met Zelensky in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv after he arrived in the town in preparation for the tripartite meeting that brings them together with Guterres, according to Anadolu Agency.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian president considered his Turkish counterpart's visit to Lviv, in western Ukraine, a "strong message of support" for his country.
Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov signed a memorandum of understanding that would see Turkey involved in helping to rebuild Ukrainian infrastructure after the conflict.
"The visit of the President of Turkey to Ukraine is a strong message of support from such an important country," Zelensky wrote on Telegram, noting that he had discussed with his Turkish counterpart the issue of grain exports and the situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant.
Guterres, who arrived in Lviv on Wednesday afternoon, plans to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday, where grain exports have resumed under an UN-brokered deal to ease a worsening global food crisis.
Also, on Saturday, he will go to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which includes officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the United Nations who oversee the Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain and fertilizer.
For its part, Erdogan's office said he would discuss ways to increase grain exports and steps that could be taken to end the war between Ukraine and Russia through diplomatic means.
The office also added that Erdogan would discuss "all aspects" of bilateral relations between Ankara and Kyiv during his meeting with Zelensky.
It is noteworthy that Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement on July 22, brokered by Ankara and the United Nations for four months to re-export grains and fertilizers after stopping the conflict to ease the global food crisis.
The United Nations said it could help facilitate IAEA inspectors' visit to Zaporizhia from Kyiv, but Russia said any visit by inspectors could not take place through the Ukrainian capital because it was too dangerous.
For weeks, Moscow and Kyiv have exchanged accusations about launching attacks on the nuclear plant under Russian control, raising the international community's fears of a catastrophe that may appear in its head if the bombing continues in the vicinity of this site.
According to the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime figures, during 2019, 2020, and 2021, 33 crimes of human organ trafficking, nine crimes of sex trafficking, and 11 cases of trafficking of minors under 18 has been recorded.
One case involving child trafficking and 17 cases of forced labor were recorded by the directorate, along with seven cases of human trafficking and 10 cases involving using people as beggars in the Kurdistan Region.
The Directorate for Combating Human Trafficking was inaugurated in 2018. It has six branches divided over the major administrative divisions of the Kurdistan region.
Recent numbers suggest an increase in the number of human trafficking cases in the past decades. However, according to the KRG’s official website, the number of Human trafficking and organized crime is going down.
The head of the lawyer’s team of the Badinan prisoners said, "the strikers are in poor health, and the process of moving their cases forward is slow."
Bashdar Hassan, the head of the group of lawyers on behalf of the detainees in Badinan, told Kurdsat News that the prosecutor general had postponed his opinion on the fate of the detainees in Shiladze until Wednesday.
"Psychologist’s report on the detainees causes the delay is not sent to the prosecutor general, and their fingerprints have not been sent to the Criminal Evidence Directorate to determine whether the detainees are wanted elsewhere," Hassan added.
The prosecutor general was scheduled to give his opinion on the release or detention of the detainees, who have been on hunger strike for two weeks and are in poor health.
Iranian forces shot dead a border courier named Hazhar Faraji in Sardav Sooraw region of Bana in Iran, KolbarNews reported.
Iranian army arrested and tortured a border courier in Nodsha village of Marivan district, after the arrest of an environmental activist in Sanandaj and another activist in Marivan by Iranian security forces and their fate remains unknown.
A worsening economic situation in Iran has starved many people and obliged as young as 14 to work in back-breaking conditioning by carrying heavy goods over the steep and harsh mountains of the Kurdistan region.
When passing goods from the Kurdistan region of Iraq into Iran, the couriers are harassed by the Iranian security forces and sometimes shot.
President Bafel Jalal Talabani said, "on the anniversary of the occupation of Sinjar and the massacre of our Yezidi brothers and sisters, we pay tribute to the martyrs and commemorate the victims of this unforgettable tragedy."
Kurdish and Iraqi leaders, alongside journalists, activists and international figures, on Wednesday, commemorated the eighth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Shingal as over 2 thousand members of the ethnoreligious group remain in the captivity of the terror gang with their families holding out hope of their return.
“Today, eight years have passed since the tragedy and the signs of life in Sinjar are still not visible. Sinjar has become a victim of political conflict and efforts to return its residents and heal their wounds are weak. It is the duty of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Iraqi government to take serious and practical steps to resolve the issues and restore hope to the Yazidi brothers and sisters," Talabani added.
On October 9, 2020, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi federal government, under the auspices of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), signed a deal to secure Sinjar and stabilize the region once again since the ISIS onslaught in 2014 that demolished the region.
The agreement aims to end the suspended confrontation between the Peshmerga forces and the PMF, though its implementation is yet to be. Since the 2017 KRG independence referendum, the Peshmerga forces left the region for Popular Mobilization Forces. The region is home to various militia and armed groups that rival one another.
Eight years on from the genocide, and still, many Yazidis have not returned to their homes, fearing a renewed expulsion. As such, most of the Yazidi majority region remains in rubble, and the prospect of rebuilding the region is dim.
Bashdar Hassan, head of the lawyers of the detainees in Badinan, told reporters that they will meet with the judicial council, the prosecutor general and the human rights commission to conditionally release the detainees and they are awaiting positive results.
The Badinan political prisoners are a group of activists, journalists and writers imprisoned and charged with endangering the national security of the Kurdistan region and working with foreign agents. They were arrested by the Erbil security forces, and many of them were detained for a year without trail.
Although most of them have been releasing after serving their sentences, some of them are still in prison awaiting their release.
The vehicle was a Toyota Land Cruiser, two people on board were wounded, and their identities remain unknown. Also, the perpetrators remain unidentified, and no one has claimed responsibility.
Local sources bear responsibility on Turkey, given Ankara's systemic targeting of the region using drones and artillery.
The attack came after a Turkish military outpost in Bamarneh in Amedi was hit by several rockets earlier today. Since the beginning of this year, it has been the fifth time that the Turkish military base was targeted in the Bamarne district of Amedi, the KurdSat reporter explained.
Kurdsat reporter said that the military base was targeted by artillery, and the damage has not been revealed yet.
In response to Turkey's bombing and invasion of the Kurdistan region, the Turkish military bases in Bamarne district, Sirê district in Amedi, and Zelkan district in Mosul have been targeted several times this year.
Turkish UAVs conduct regular military operations within the Kurdistan region, usually with significant collateral damage.
The Kurdistan Green Party (KGP) claimed that over 300,000 stray dogs roam the streets of the Kurdistan Region. Although a shelter has been built in Sulaimani to accommodate stray dogs, their large number has made the problem more challenging to address.
When one walks through the streets of Sulaimani, it is not uncommon to spot a pack of stray dogs living on the city’s streets, parks, restaurants, and residential complexes. Many stray dogs have bothered the citizens of the town.
The Kurdistan Green Party (KGP) has announced a project to solve the problem of stray dogs. Their large number has made them hungrier as they have to compete over lesser food available. The dogs are also a threat to people, especially women and children. The stray dogs have caused multiple deaths and tens of injuries only in 2022.
Citizens often abuse stray dogs and have to move from one place to another. A sharp rise in the number of dogs in the Kurdistan region has also increased the risk to the population and the region’s ability to shelter and feed them. Animal rights advocates have proposed solutions to protect animal rights.
The unprecedented increase in the stray dog population could be traced to people’s tolerance of dogs and a new culture of loving animals. Also, people tend to through large amounts of food. According to unofficial figures, nearly 2610 tons of food are wasted daily in the Kurdistan region.
According to the figures published by KGP, there are more than 300,000 stray dogs in the Kurdistan region, 63,000 are in Erbil, 50,000 in Duhok, and 51,000 in Sulaimani, and the rest live in the other cities of the Kurdistan region.
Stray dogs have become a chronic problem for the Kurdistan region, and there seem to be no solutions for the time being.
The meeting was attended by David Hunt, British Consul General in Erbil. The Deputy Prime Minister said that Iraq can no longer tolerate unnecessary conflict over offices and privileges, and the parties in the process of forming the government should focus their discussions on crucial political issues and how to form a people-friendly government and a government working to resolve the disputes between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad.
Qubad Talabani stressed that at this stage, an agreement on the oil and gas and the adoption of the oil and gas law should be a priority in the negotiations to form the next Iraqi government because an agreement on this issue creates a favorable environment.
In another part of the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister referred to the environmental problems and threats to water resources in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region and said that the environmental challenges should be among the priorities of the next Iraqi government.
On his part, the British Ambassador praised the reform steps of the Kurdistan Regional Government and reaffirmed his country's readiness to assist the Kurdistan region in accelerating and further promoting the reform process in government institutions. He called on the KRG to organize a special meeting for the ambassadors and diplomatic envoys to discuss the reform process in the Kurdistan Region.
Qubad Talabani thanked the British Consul General for his visit to the Raperin region and asked him to visit other cities and towns to develop joint plans for investment in these regions and create job opportunities for the residents of the Kurdistan region.