Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq's parliament adopted Wednesday a 2016 budget of $88.2 billion, based on projected oil prices of $45 per barrel, according to a copy received by AFP. The budget includes oil production the federal government does not now control and envisions a rise in oil prices, meaning revenue may fall short of projections. Parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi announced t
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KARBALA, Iraq — The once-mighty Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir is wasting away in the desert of Karbala. This great palace, which Abbasid Prince Isa ibn Musa built for his retirement from politics, is crumbling from lack of maintenance. Its internal and external structures collapsed as the strong wind in the desert washed away its extremities, and its foundations have weakened because
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Iraq is losing many of its minorities, and it’s on the brink of losing most of its cultural diversity. Despite this tragic situation, minorities are denied adequate protection and support by the Iraqi government, while the international community is failing to take any serious measures to protect them. They have been abandoned to their own fate in a country expelling its popula
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Iraq Energy Institute (IEI) conducted this exclusive interview with HE Thamir Al-Ghadhban, the Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iraq on Energy Affairs. Mr. Al-Ghadhban has decades’ of experience in the energy sector, working through the nationalization period of Iraq’s oil industry in the 1970s and 80s, and held various senior positions in Iraq’s Ministry of Oil during t
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On a recent episode of the popular Iraqi Kurdish talk show "With Ranj" produced in Sulaimaniyah, the four participants — all members of diverse political parties — debated the Kurdistan Region’s political and financial crises. The discussion was most notable for its tone and substance. Instead of talking about the need for an independent Kurdistan, a topic that has preoccupied
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