Iraq leans on Korea in arms shift from U.S., Russia

Published: 24 Oct. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 24 Oct. 2025, 13:47 LIG Nex1's medium-range surface-to-air missiles (M-SAM), also known as Skybolts, are being fired during a military exercise in Korea in 2024. [LIG NEX1] [NEWS ANALYSIS] After purchasing...

Iraq’s 2025 elections: Shiite blocs launch largest post-2003 power contest

2025-10-23T08:30:18+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News – Baghdad Iraq’s Shiite political parties and movements are heading into the November 11 parliamentary elections with some of the largest candidate lists since 2003, marking an...

Iraq security brief: Kidnapped girl rescued, soldier arrested for arson

2025-10-23T21:11:02+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News Below is a summary of key judicial and security developments reported across Iraq on October 23, 2025. Murder Case (Dhi Qar): A local court sentenced a man to 15 years in...

Iraq may turn to Korean weapons amid simmering Israel-Iran tensions

Published: 24 Oct. 2025, 07:00 LIG Nex1's medium-range surface-to-air missiles (M-SAM) ? also known as Skybolts ? are being fired during a military exercise in Korea in 2024. [LIG NEX1] [NEWS ANALYSIS] After purchasing Korean missiles and fighter...

Kurdish statehood suppressed through regional coordination

2025-10-29T16:13:06+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News – Erbil The Kurdish people have been systematically denied statehood for over a century through coordinated policies by Turkiye, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, according to a report by...

Baghdad denies utility bill requirement for citizens’ paperwork

2025-10-23T11:04:05+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News - Baghdad The Iraqi government on Thursday rejected reports that citizens must settle unpaid water and electricity bills to process official paperwork, calling them “inaccurate...

Factory fire in Iraq’s Kirkuk injures five, two critically

2025-10-25T17:05:02+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News – Kirkuk A fire tore through a building materials factory in Kirkuk on Saturday, injuring five people, two of them critically, according to a Civil Defense source. The source...

Sumer, the Cradle of Civilization, May Have Risen Because of the Tides

Cuneiform writing from Sumer. Credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons The world’s first urban civilization may have owed its rise not only to rivers but also to the tides. A new study led by Liviu Giosan...

Iraqi Delegation Visits Agricultural Credit Corporation

Ammon News - An official delegation from the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture visited the Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC) on Wednesday to enhance cooperation and exchange expertise in supporting and developing the agricultural sector. ACC...

1.6 Billion Dinars in Annual Production Capacity for the Pharmaceutical and Medical Supplies Sector

Jordan’s pharmaceutical and medical supplies sector enjoys a high production capacity reaching 1.6 billion dinars annually, making it a safety valve for the country under all circumstances.اضافة اعلان The sector’s locally manufactured products...

US sanctions on Russian oil firms unlikely to impact Iraq, analyst says

2025-10-25T13:02:43+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News – Baghdad Fresh US sanctions on Russia’s oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil will have little to no effect on Iraq’s energy sector, oil analyst Hamza al-Jawahiri told Shafaq News on...

Chris Hedges gives the Edward Said memorial lecture: 'Requiem for Gaza'

Chris Hedges recently gave the Edward Said memorial lecture to a sold-out audience at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. THE GAZA, the one that existed on the morning of October 7, is gone, decimated by months of saturation bombing,...

Whitney Webb, Chris Hedges – The Rise of the Thielverse and the Construction of the Surveillance State

Whitney Webb traces the Thielverse’s rise and the bipartisan construction of the modern surveillance state that Trump and his benefactors are deploying against dissidents and immigrants today Cross-posted from the Chris Hedges Report The descent...

Saves $10B: Iraq unveils Basra refinery to end fuel imports

2025-10-25T11:18:42+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News – Basra (updated at 15:14) Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani inaugurated on Saturday the new Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit at the South Refineries Company in Basra....

Iraqi farmers face crisis as salinity rises

Iraqi farmer Umm Ali has watched her poultry die as salinity levels in the country's south hit record highs, rendering already scarce water unfit for human consumption and killing livestock. "We used to drink, wash and cook with water from the...

FCC Project to End Iraq's Imports of High-Octane Petrol

By John Lee. Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul Ghani Al-Sawad has announced that the launch of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) project at the South Refineries Company (SRC) in Basra will enable Iraq to...

Iraq shortlists three firms for Grand Faw port operations

Eleven international companies were invited to bid for the contract Become a MEED subscriber for unlimited access to: Exclusive news, comment and analysis on the MENA region An unrivalled 20-year old archive Exclusive announcements on project...

How Russia Sanctions Could Affect India

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief. The highlights this week: New U.S. and EU sanctions on Russian oil companies have knock-on effects for India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn’t make an in-person appearance at the ASEAN...

Iraq's government criticized over failure to address water crisis

2025-10-22T22:30:12+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News – Baghdad Iraq’s government has failed to confront the country’s worsening water crisis, two parliamentary committees said on Wednesday, urging the declaration of a national...

Iraq security sweep: cross-border drug busts, executions, and fatal incidents

2025-10-22T21:19:11+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News Below is a summary of key security and crime-related incidents reported across Iraq on October 22, 2025. - Cross-Border Drug Operation (Iraq–Syria) Iraq’s Interior Ministry...