Run, walk or cheer for the children of Iraq
The Iraqi Children Foundation run three mobile schools called the Hope Buses. These deliver tutoring, healthcare and social support to orphans, street kids and displaced children living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods across Baghdad. In September, Hani Kampoori is running the London ‘Big Half’ marathon to support the Iraqi Children Foundation; an organis…
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One Iraqi mechanic’s revival of a bygone era
In Babylon’s Alexandria, mechanic Jaafar Abu Mohammed revives Iraq’s past by restoring vintage cars into pristine condition. As Kamaran Aziz reports for Kurdistan 24, his family-run workshop preserves national heritage on wheels, despite bureaucratic hurdles, offering Iraqis a nostalgic drive through history. Amid the dust and din of Iraq's Babylon pro…
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Iraq retrieves ancient artefacts from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art
For decades, three prized items told stories of ancient Mesopotamia from behind museum glass in foreign lands. As Sinan Mahmoud reports, they are now heading home to Iraq as part of a global push to retrieve antiquities that were looted and sold around the world over the centuries. The Iraqi embassy in Washington announced it has recovered three rare arte…
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Spectacular find as monumental images discovered at Nineveh
2,700 years ago, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire. Researchers from the University of Heidelberg have made a spectacular discovery in the palace of King Assurbanipal. As Christoph Debets reports, during excavations, they came across the first large-format depictions of two important Assyrian deities. German archaeologists have made a spectac…
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Love for the script: Iraqi calligrapher's personal quest
In Iraq’s Al-Anbar province, where artistic activity has diminished, calligrapher Abdulhamid Nazem al-Dhibban is working to preserve the Arabic script through personal dedication and formal instruction. Born on September 26, 1992, al-Dhibban left formal education after middle school but pursued calligraphy alongside his studies, driven by natural talent an…
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We will never forget Pope Francis
In 2014, Iraq’s religious minorities suffered a devastating wave of attacks launched by Islamic State group fighters, who seized Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh Plains. In 2021, Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit Iraq in a historic apostolic journey. We will never forget the love that Pope Francis showed to the people of Iraq.
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What lessons can we learn from Pope Francis?
Pope Francis was born in Buenos Aires in 1936, the son of Italian migrants, the first of five children born in the working-class barrio of Flores, Jorge Mario Bergoglio qualified as a chemical technician, graduated in philosophy in 1963, and became a priest in 1969. The wish of Pope Francis was for HOPE , on which he had been working for six years, to be p…
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Pope Francis 'was one of us'
For the Rev. Father Fadie Gorgies of the St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in Troy, Pope Francis leaves behind a legacy of care and compassion for those on the margins of society, as Nushrat Rahman explains for the Detroit Free Press . Gorgies, an assistant priest, said the Pope inspired him to become a chaplain at the Oakland County Jail. Pope Francis&#…
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Run, walk or cheer for the children of Iraq
The Iraqi Children Foundation run three mobile schools called the Hope Buses. These deliver tutoring, healthcare and social support to orphans, street kids and displaced children living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods across Baghdad. In September, Hani Kampoori is running the London ‘Big Half’ marathon to support the Iraqi Children Foundation; an organis…
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Baghdad’s forgotten church is kept open by one Iraqi Christian’s dedication
In a Baghdad neighbourhood famous for a Shia Muslim pilgrimage, there stands a tiny whitewashed Catholic church, lovingly brought back to life from dereliction by a lone Iraqi Christian committed to preserving faith and history, as Tom Westcott reports for the Catholic Herald . Illuminated by fairy lights along its walls, visitors often come in the evening…
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New documentary chronicles Iraq’s Christian history
Marking 10 years since ISIS swept into Mosul and the towns of the Nineveh Plain, EWTN News has released a documentary delving into the roots of Christianity in Iraq, its history dating back nearly 2,000 years, and how Iraqi Christians have survived despite attempts to erase their presence.
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Heritage and Healing: A decade on from the destruction of the Mosul Museum
Mosul’s residents overwhelmingly support heritage restoration, seeing it as a path to peace and reconciliation. However, international efforts must balance historical authenticity with modern functionality and prioritise local leadership, reports the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Ten years ago, in February 2015, the so-called “Islamic Stat…
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Iraq's Mesopotamian heritage: Reclaimed and restored
Iraq has successfully recovered a collection of ancient artifacts from Japan and Switzerland, the country’s Foreign and Culture Ministries announced on Tuesday. Shafaq News Agency captured the ceremony of restitution, where the two ministers signed the handover documents, accompanied by a series of photos showcasing the recovered artifacts. “The artifacts…
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Mosul's al-Nuri mosque and al-Hadba minaret rise again
The leaning minaret of Mosul in northern Iraq has been restored using its original brickwork, years after it was reduced to rubble under Islamic State group rule. France 24's James André was in Mosul in 2017, just after the Islamic State group had fallen. He tells us more.
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Unesco chief says Mosul is a ‘beacon of hope’ for Iraq
A UN project to rebuild some of Iraq’s most famous religious sites has restored cultural vitality and social fabric to the city of Mosul, says Unesco chief Audrey Azoulay, describing the work as the agency's most “ambitious and impactful”. As Mina Aldroubi writes, reconstruction of the city's landmark Al Nuri Mosque and its Al Hadba minaret began e…
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A new skate park in Baghdad is the safe space Iraqi youth have longed for
Car bombs and militant attacks are no longer a daily concern in the streets of Baghdad as they were in the chaotic years after the fall of Saddam Hussein or at the height of the battle to push back the Islamic State group. But as Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Stella Martany explain, while violence has decreased, many young Iraqis say their opportunities remain li…
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The influence of and connection to Islamic art
Aloma Treister doesn’t remember much of her childhood. She recalls being taught Arabic at school and the fact that her family’s social life revolved around their immediate family. “Our closest friends were our cousins,” she told The Australian Jewish News . It was how many Jewish families in the Middle East grew up – all related to each other and all frien…
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Pope: ‘We cannot imagine Iraq without Christians’
Pope Francis pens the preface to the book " The Christian Heritage in Iraq " by German journalist and theologian Matthias Kopp, spokesperson for the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) and consultor for the Dicastery for Communication. The book, published by Herder and currently available in German, traces the history of Christianity in Iraq, wi…
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Iraqi war survivor visits Mestalla
At the beginning of January, during the week of the match against Real Madrid CF, two Valencia CF fans were able to meet the squad and accompany the players at Mestalla. In 2017, Abboud Salaam lost his home and his family disappeared under bombing in Iraq. He was left alone and seriously injured. Manhal Al-Qaisi came to rescue him and care for him. In the …
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ISIS member charged in German court
A high-ranking Islamic State (IS) member has been charged in Germany with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including aiding in the genocide of the Yazidi community, prosecutors announced Wednesday. As the Media Line reports, the suspect, identified as Ossama A., is a Syrian national accused of significant involvement in IS operations in Syria. Pros…
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