Bomb leaves Baghdad residents homeless
A car bomb tore through the north Baghdad slum where Jihad Hussein and his wife lived, reducing their house to rubble and leaving them no choice but to take shelter in the yard of a Shiite shrine. "It is a very shocking situation," said Hussein, 28. "I became homeless in seconds, but thank God I did not lose my life or my wife in the explosion." Piles of concrete blocks, clothes and furniture are all that remain of many of the makeshift houses in Imam Ali slum after an explosives-packed car tore through the area on…
Iraq bomb attacks kill 21, wound scores
Bombings in and around Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded over 100 on Thursday, health and security sources said, the latest attacks in a bloody month that have stoked fears Iraq could return to broad sectarian fighting. Tensions have been high in the country since the last U.S. troops left in December, with ongoing political crises between Iraq's main Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions further aggravating concerns. In the deadliest incident, at least eight people were killed and 30 wounded when a bomb in a parked …
War deaths medically preventable
A new study finds that nearly a quarter of the 4,596 combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2011 were “potentially survivable,” meaning that under ideal conditions — and with the right equipment or latest medical techniques — the troops may have had a fighting chance. But the study also notes that 90 percent of the deaths occurred before the injured reached a medical facility: of the 4,090 troops who suffered mortal wounds on the battlefield, 1,391 died instantly and 2,699 succumbed before arriving at a treatment center. …
Ancient Babylon Is Facing Challenges
Nowadays it seems that Babylon just can’t catch a break. Once the center of the ancient world, it has been despoiled in modern times by Saddam Hussein’s fantasies of grandeur, invading armies and village sprawl. Now come two more setbacks for the city famous for its Hanging Gardens and Tower of Babel: Parts of its grounds have been torn up for an oil pipeline, and a diplomatic spat is hampering its bid for coveted UNESCO heritage status. The pipeline was laid in March by Iraq’s Oil Ministry, overriding outraged Iraqi archaeologist…
11 killed in 2 Iraq bombings
Two bomb blasts nearly 150 kilometers apart killed 11 people Monday night, officials said, as Iraq's death toll continued to climb in the second bloodiest month since U.S. troops withdrew late last year. Officials and experts fear the surge in violence may signal Iraq's potential descent into a failed state, despite its oil wealth, billions of dollars in foreign aid and years of security assistance from the U.S. "This is chaos," lamented Fadhil Mohammed, who was passing a youth football field in the city of Hilla…
Iraq backs off media outlets closure
Iraq has suspended orders to close 44 media operations in the country, including the BBC and Voice of America, after an outcry by press freedom advocates, an official said Tuesday. The Communications and Media Commission that regulates the news media in Iraq will give the targeted organizations more time to pay outstanding fees and renew lapsed licenses, deputy director Ali Nasir said. The commission denied that its previous order to close the agencies, most of them Iraqi, represented a crackdown on a free press. No media outlets …
Iraq tightens noose on media
Iraq's Communications and Media Commission has decided to place restrictions on 39 media outlets including the BBC and Voice of America over alleged licence problems, a CMC official said on Monday. But the Journalism Freedoms Observatory (JFO), an Iraqi media rights organisation, said that the CMC had in fact recommended banning 44 news outlets, and called for the move, which it said violated the constitution, to be reversed. "The commission published an announcement in all newspapers in February calling for them to take …
Iraq’s Journalists Under Attack
An Iraqi group monitoring violations against journalists warned of a new government decree that could force the shutting of 44 media agencies, including the BBC and Voice of America outlets. The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory obtained a document purportedly sent by the Communications and Media Commission to the Interior Ministry. The document listed 44 agencies, both domestic and foreign, the commission says lack the proper licenses to operate. However, some agencies claim they have the required licenses and operate well withi…
Iraq battles dust from marshes
Iraq is struggling to restore marshes which were deliberately dried out during Saddam Hussein's rule and continue to cause fierce sandstorms that pose serious health risks. Deputy Environment Minister Kamal Latif said that, despite efforts to restore the marshes, Iraq was likely to suffer from dusty weather for a majority of days over the next decade. At present almost no week passes without dusty days, with frequent sandstorms powerful enough to disrupt driving, cause car accidents, halt flights and fill hospitals with patients suff…
For Iraq, another enemy
Iraq’s government, already infamous for its lethargy and red tape that has snarled national progress, may soon shut down for much of the summertime. A proposed new law, which a parliamentary committee plans to discuss Sunday, aims to shorten workdays and help public employees avoid searing temperatures that commonly exceed 120 degrees and blanket the country during summer’s peak. It will also cut work hours during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that begins in late July, Younadam Kanna, chairman of parliament’s labor and social affai…
Blair prevented legal advice on Iraq
MPs demanded an emergency recall of the Chilcot inquiry last night after new revelations that Tony Blair blocked the Government's most senior lawyer from explaining to Cabinet the legality of the war in Iraq. According to the newly published full version of Alastair Campbell's diaries, the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wanted to "put the reality" to cabinet ministers that there was a case against, as well as for, military action in March 2003. But, according to his former spin doctor, the then Prime Minister feared…
Saudi to fund Syria rebel army
Saudi officials are preparing to pay the salaries of the Free Syria Army as a means of encouraging mass defections from the military and increasing pressure on the Assad regime, the Guardian has learned. The move, which has been discussed between Riyadh and senior officials in the US and Arab world, is believed to be gaining momentum as a recent flush of weapons sent to rebel forces by Saudi Arabia and Qatar starts to make an impact on battlefields in Syria. Officials in the Saudi capital embraced the idea when it was put to them by A…
Iraq fears spillover of Syria crisis
Syria's downing of a Turkish plane marks a serious escalation of the Syrian crisis, which risks spilling over into neighboring countries, Iraq's foreign minister said on Saturday. Syria shot down a Turkish jet over the Mediterranean on Friday and Ankara has said it will do whatever is necessary after the incident, which threatened to open a new international dimension in the 16-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "Our main concern is the spillover of the crisis into neighboring countries," Iraqi Fore…
France quizzes Iraq official on 'torture'
French police on Thursday held an Iraqi official for questioning after a member of the exiled Iranian opposition filed a complaint against him alleging torture and war crimes, a judicial source said. The Iraqi government said the allegations made by the member of the ex-rebel People's Mujahedeen, still blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist group, were a "deception" aimed at damaging relations between Paris and Baghdad. The official being questioned by French officials, Sadeq Mohammed Kazem, is in charge of the relocati…
When pregnancy is a death sentence
Joventa Kyasiimire is defiant. As we stand with hundreds of young women queuing in Uganda's midday sun outside Kanungu health centre, she is telling me how she fell pregnant unexpectedly in September 2010 aged 17, how her boyfriend fled a week after he found out she was expecting and how, just days later, she learnt she was HIV positive. Ostracised by many in her community, Kyasiimire left school to look after her son, Godias, now 11 months, giving up her dreams of becoming a teacher. Now selling home-grown vegetables in an attemp…
