Kurdistan Financial News

strikes in Syria and Iraq, Iran has sought to «flex its muscles» in the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war without provoking a confrontation with the United States, analysts said. In neighbouring Iraq, the strikes by Iran's Revolutionary Guards targeted an alleged Israeli «spy headquarters» in the autonomous Kurdish region in response to the assassination of Iranian and pro-Iranian commanders in recent weeks. In Syria, the strikes targeted the Islamic State jihadist group in response to twin suicide bombings that killed around 90 people at an official memorial event in southern Iran earlier this month.

died. The number of children among them, more than 3,000, exceeds the annual death toll for children in all wars in each of the preceding three years. The Economist estimates, from satellite imagery, that over a tenth of Gaza’s housing stock has been destroyed, leaving more than 280,000 people without homes to which they can return.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Hungary’s capital next month

Oil prices inched up on Tuesday after an OPEC report said market fundamentals remained strong and due to concerns supplies might be disrupted as the U.S. cracks down on Russian oil exports. Brent crude futures rose 33 cents, or 0.4%, to $82.85 a barrel by 0113 GMT. U.S.

Here is an outline of the pipeline dispute: WHAT IS THE LATEST? On a visit to Erbil on Sunday, Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said he expects to reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign oil companies to resume oil production from the Kurdish region's oilfields within three days, signalling a potential restart soon. Turkey had said last month the pipeline was ready to begin operations, but Iraq maintained it had received no official notification over the pipeline and a senior energy adviser told Reuters Baghdad was waiting to iron out «lingering financial and technical issues» ahead of any restart. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? While Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, exports about 85% of its crude via ports in the south, the northern route via Turkey still accounts for about 0.5% of global oil supply. WHAT PROMPTED THE SHUTDOWN? Supplies of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) were halted on March 25 after an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration ruling. The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of about $1.5 billion for unauthorised exports by the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018. KRG exports flow through a KRG pipeline to Fish-Khabur on the northern Iraqi border, where the oil enters Turkey and is pumped to the port of Ceyhan on its Mediterranean coast. Iraq's federal government says state-owned marketer SOMO is the only party authorised to manage crude exports via Ceyhan.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has submitted a protocol for Sweden's admission into NATO to Turkey's parliament for ratification, his office said Monday. Erdogan had been delaying ratification of Sweden's membership, accusing Stockholm of being too soft on Kurdish militants and other groups he considers to be security threats. Turkey also was angered by a series of Quran-burning protests in Sweden.

DUBAI (Reuters) -An Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced two journalists to years in prison for their coverage of the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini last year, state media reported on Sunday.

women journalists over their coverage of the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini last year, state media reported on Sunday. The death of 22-year-old Amini last September while in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code unleashed months of mass protests across Iran, marking the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in decades. Iran's state news agency IRNA said Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison respectively on charges, including collaboration with the U.S. government and acting against national security. Lawyers for the two journalists have rejected the charges. «They received seven years and six years each respectively for collaborating with the hostile U.S.

Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Norwegian author Jon Fosse "This prize is first and foremost a recognition of the very important work of a whole movement in Iran with with its undisputed leader, Nargis Mohammadi," said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who announced the prize in Oslo. Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels. Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights! Click here! "The impact of the prize is not for the Nobel committee to decide upon.

Turkey's National Intelligence Agency carried out strikes in Syria against Kurdish militant targets after a bomb attack in Ankara last weekend, a Turkish security source said on Thursday. On Thursday night, Turkish military air strikes destroyed 30 Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria, including an oil well, a storage facility and shelters, and "neutralised" many militants, the Turkish defence ministry said. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Turkish drones had been seen carrying out airstrikes in Hasakah, Syria, on Thursday morning about 1 km away from U.S.

Pakistan: Second suicide bombing reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, death toll surges to 57 There was no immediate information on the assailants. Kurdish and far-left militant groups as well as the Islamic State group have carried out deadly attacks throughout the country in the past. (Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channel. Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights! Click here!) Erdogan was set to speak during the opening of this parliamentary session, which must validate Sweden's entry into the NATO alliance.

Hamdaniya district in Iraq's Nineveh province that left civil defence searching the charred skeleton of a building for survivors into the early hours of Wednesday. Nineveh Deputy Governor Hassan al-Allaq told Reuters that 113 people had been confirmed dead, with state media putting the death toll at at least 100, with 150 people injured. The fire ripped through a large events hall in the north-eastern region after fireworks were lit during the celebration, local civil defence said, according to state media. «We saw the fire pulsating, coming out of the hall. Those who managed got out and those who didn't got stuck.

DUBAI (Reuters) — Sporadic protests continued in Iran on Sunday amid a widespread crackdown by security forces a year after a young Kurdish woman's death in custody set off some of the worst political unrest in four decades.

(Reuters) -Iranian security forces briefly detained the father of Mahsa Amini on Saturday and spread across mainly Kurdish areas of the country, a year after her death in police custody set off some of the biggest protests since the fall of the Shah in 1979.

The Swedish government wants to increase the country's defense budget by 28% as it prepares to join the NATO alliance

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) -Iraqi security forces deployed in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk on Sunday to prevent further violence as the death toll in clashes between ethnic groups the previous day rose to four, police and security sources said.

Kirkuk, a northern Iraqi city, following violent confrontations between rival demonstrations by Kurdish and Arab residents. The clashes have prompted Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to order extensive security operations in the affected areas.

Al Jazeera reported as quoted by ANI. Iraq's Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani ordered a curfew in Kirkuk and “extensive security operations in the areas affected by the riots", a statement from his office said on Saturday. A local official said that one civilian was killed and eight were injured, after days of brewing tensions in Kirkuk, which has historically been disputed between the federal government in Baghdad and the authorities in the autonomous Kurdish region in the north.

Iraq has declared a curfew in the ethnically-mixed city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq after clashes involving Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, who also leads the Iraqi armed forces, on Saturday ordered the curfew in Kirkuk province and initiated search operations in the areas that had witnessed riots, Xinhua news agency reported. Al-Sudani stressed that the security forces «must be firm in arresting anyone who dares to tamper with the security of Kirkuk, from any party, and not allow the carrying of weapons at all, except for the security services,» according to a statement released by the Iraqi armed forces. The disturbance erupted on Saturday when Arabs and Turkmens protesting the planned return of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to its old headquarters in the city of Kirkuk, nearly 250 km north of Baghdad, clashed with Kurds at the site.

By Natalie Grover

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Iraq's oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara to discuss several issues including the resumption of oil exports through the Ceyhan oil terminal, a source in the minister's office told Reuters on Monday.