Hawkar Abdullah Rasoul, known as Hawkar Jaff, was a colonel in the ranks of Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG), but was assassinated in 2021.

Jaff was killed in Erbil’s 32 Park neighborhood on October 7, 2021 after a sticky bomb, attached to his vehicle, detonated. 

His brtoher, Sirwan Jaff told a news conference on the grave of Hawkar Jaff on Wednesday (June 7), and said that they have undeniable evidence on the perpetrators behind the assassination of Hawkar Jaff and the names of those who are the real killers of his brother.

“Opportunists have not stopped after martyring Hawkar Jaff, they rub salt in our wounds and deal with his case seeking to obtain positions and ranks," Sirwan Jaff said.

He revealed that some people try to create divisions among his family, but they are forever members of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and consider themselves as the party fellows.

Hawkar Jaff's brother called on the consulates and representatives of foreign countries to come forward and investigate the case alongside an international committee.

On Sunday, a source from Greek police told the Associated Press that the migrants included 32 men, 25 women and 34 children.

The Greek prime minister's office confirmed the rescue in a statement, but said the number of the migrants was 80.

Murad Ismael, President & co-founder of Sinjar Academy, said "I have spoken to few sources in Greece and they reported that Greek authorities have taken the Yazidis from the islet to Greece. We are grateful to everyone who brought attention to this and appreciate Greece & the Greek people for their big heart and support."

According to Murad Ismail, the migrants number more than 80 people, all of them Kurdish Yazidis.

According to Kurdsat reporter in the area, today in the village of Shinaghai Sargaran, the Iraqi army has arrested 12 Kurdish farmers for farming in an are banned for farming by the Iraqi army.

According to the relatives of the detained farmers, they were kept in military vehicles and were sent to the regimental headquarters and police station for investigation and legal action, but were later released on bail.

Dilêr Ahmad, a farmer in the area, told Kurdsat that the farmers were engaged in agricultural work and planting wheat, and did not harm anyone. The Iraqi army told them to stop farming and not to do anything else on the land after the harvest.

 

The governors of Halabja and Kermanshah have agreed to open the Shushme border and it is scheduled to be officially opened to tourism and trade in the near future, the governor's press office said in a statement.

Halabja Governor Azad Tofiq met with Kermanshah Governor Tayeb Sahraei to discuss the opening of the Shushme-Tewela border located in Halabja. They called the opening of the border as important for tourism and trade, while stressed that they are in favor of opening the border as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Qader Qaderi, a preacher at the Great Mosque of Paveh, one of the oldest representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said in a Friday prayer that within the framework of an agreement between Kermanshah and Halabja provinces, the Shushme border is scheduled to be opened during Eid al-Adha.

In the message president Bafel Jalal Talabani said, he sends his respectful greetings to the late leader President Mam Jalal, the founders of the PUK and the engines of the revolution.

He emphasized the loyalty and commitment to the sacrifices of the martyrs and the unchanging principles of the PUK, which includes the consolidation of (peace, democracy, human rights and self-determination). The three slogans of the PUK.

President Talabani said that Kurdistan is going through a sensitive period and they have great challenges ahead of them. Therefore, they want dialogue and compromise to serve as the basis for resolving the issues and away from self-imposition, together to direct Kurdistan towards a brighter future.

He said the PUK has always taken the initiative for coordination and joint work to serve the people and must leave the conflicts in the past and move together towards a more stable future.

Three weeks have passed since the closure of the Semalka border crossing, the only economic and trade gateway in Rojava with the outside world, leaving six million people in a dire situation, according to western observers.

News agencies in Rojava report that prices of daily necessities have risen significantly due to the closure of the Semalka gate.

Construction materials and food have seen the biggest increase, double the price they were before the closure of the border.

Experts in the Europe say the continued closure of the border for those with limited incomes or live on daily wages is disastrous.

"We hope that the next five years of your presidency will be a new stage and opportunity for opening up and resolving issues and be a factor of peace and stability in Turkey and the region," the PUK Political Bureau told Erdogan.

Voting in the second round of the Turkish presidential election began on May 28.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory Sunday in a historic runoff vote that posed the biggest challenge to his 20 years of transformative but divisive rule.
Message of the Political Bureau of the PUK:

Mr. Sayin Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey

On the occasion of your re-election as President of Turkey, we extend our warmest congratulations to you and the people of neighboring and friendly Turkey, we hope that the next five years of your presidency will be a new stage and opportunity for opening up and resolving issues and be a factor of peace and stability in Turkey and the region. In particular, we as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) want a more friendly and effective relationship between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey.
Congratulations once again

Political Bureau
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)

Once completed, the $17 billion project known as the "Route of Development" would span the length of the country, stretching 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from the northern border with Turkey to the Gulf in the south.

Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani announced the project during a conference with transport ministry representatives from Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

"We see this project as a pillar of a sustainable non-oil economy, a link that serves Iraq's neighbors and the region, and a contribution to economic integration efforts," Sudani said.

While further discussions are required, any country that wishes "will be able to carry out part of the project", the Iraqi parliament's transport committee said, adding the project could be completed in "three to five years".

"The Route of Development will boost interdependence between the countries of the region," Turkey's ambassador to Baghdad Ali Riza Guney said, without elaborating on what role his country would play in the project.

War-ravaged and beset by rampant corruption, oil-rich Iraq suffers from dilapidated infrastructure.

Its roads, riddled with potholes and poorly maintained, are in terrible condition.

Those connecting Baghdad to the north cross areas where sporadic attacks are still carried out by remnants of the Islamic State group.

Sudani has prioritised the reconstruction of the country's road network, along with upgrading its failing electricity infrastructure.

Secular candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu alarmed his leftist Kurdish supporters by starting to court staunchly nationalist voters after losing to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the first round on May 14.

Kilicdaroglu put together the opposition's best performance of Erdogan's two-decade era in what is widely seen as Turkey's most consequential election of its post-Ottoman era.

But the 74-year-old still enters Turkey's first runoff vote Sunday trailing the conservative incumbent by nearly five points.

The pro-Kurdish HDP party and its green allies -- the third-largest voting bloc in the new parliament -- expressed particular alarm when Kilicdaroglu joined forces with a fringe far-right group this week.

Kilicdaroglu also unsuccessfully courted the endorsement of Sinan Ogan -- an ultra-nationalist who finished a distant third in the presidential ballot and threw his support behind Erdogan on Monday.

Turkish media reported that some HDP members wanted to call for a boycott of the second round in protest at Kilicdaroglu's tactics.

But HDP co-leader Pervin Buldan told reporters that staying away from the polls would only help Erdogan secure another five-year term.

"Erdogan is not an option for us," Buldan said.

"On May 28, we will complete the work that we left unfinished on May 14. In the face of those who try to prevent this demand for change, we will definitely go to the polls."

Western Sulaimani Security Services arrested a group of five people who call themselves “Grey Wolves," and all of whom have a tattoo of a wolf painted on their chests, the security service said in a statement.

The suspects have destroyed public property and government offices in Shorshi district of Chamchamal district.  The suspects have been detained under Article 405 of the Iraqi Penal Code, according to the statement.

There is no injustice in the composition of the Kirkuk branch of the Election Commission, said Biryar Shuani, a representative of the Kurdish parties in a press conference. However, there is a lot of injustice against the Kurds in government offices and the Northern Oil Company, and only 22 out of 109 directors are Kurds. There are no Kurds on the 12 boards of directors of the Northern Oil Company.

He said that in all elections, the Kurds had 55% of the votes in Kirkuk and Kurds should have held the majority of the posts, but for six years, the governor of Kirkuk, which is the legitimate right of the Kurds, is taken by an Arab.

The representative of the Kurdish parties in Kirkuk called on the branches of the federal government to redistribute the administrative posts according to elections results.

 

"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."

 

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.

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."