Kurdistan Financial News

The United Nations’ human rights chief has warned that Iraq’s water crisis could affect other countries in the region

Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Chess player Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, better known as Sara Khadem received her citizenship from Spain. The Moral Police with the backing of the Iranian authorities were seen abck on streets, 10 months after the death of a woman in their custody sparked nationwide protests. Khadem had moved to Spain in January, 2023, after she competed without a hijab and had an arrest warrant issued against her.

By Patricia Zengerle

Iraq on Thursday, two Iraqi security sources said, adding there were no casualties. The helicopter crashed in Makhmour region, about 60 km (40 miles) southwest of the Kurdish capital of Erbil, the sources said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to send Sweden’s accession protocol for joining NATO to the Turkish Parliament “as soon as possible” and to help ensure that the assembly approves it. Stoltenberg made the announcement after talks with Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on the eve of a NATO summit in Lithuania. Sweden’s NATO accession has been held up by objections from Turkey since last year. “This is an historic day because we have a clear commitment by Turkey to submit the ratification documents to the Grand National Assembly, and to work also with the assembly to ensure ratification,” Stoltenberg told reporters. Earlier Monday, with NATO hoping to put on a public display of unity in its support for Ukraine more than 500 days into the war, Erdogan said that he would block Sweden’s path unless European members of the military organization “pave the way” for Turkey to join the world’s biggest trading bloc. His surprise announcement added new uncertainty to Sweden’s bid to become the alliance’s 32nd member. Turkey was already blocking its entry because Erdogan believes that Sweden has been too soft on Kurdish militants and other groups that he considers to be security threats.

Turkey has demands that NATO hopeful Sweden cannot -- and does not -- want to meet, said the Swedish Prime Minister on Sunday. 

Iran said it executed two men on Saturday, amid anti-government protests sparked by the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman. 

The man suspected of killing three people outside a Kurdish community centre in Paris told investigators that he wanted “to murder migrants”.

Skirmishes broke out between demonstrators and the police on the sidelines of a rally organised on Saturday in Paris to pay tribute to the three Kurds killed by a gunman in the French capital the previous day. 

There were protests in southeastern Iran on Friday, according to images shared by human rights groups. 

Finland's defence minister Antti Kaikkonen on Thursday expressed hope that Turkey would promptly ratify his country’s NATO membership, claiming that Helsinki would consider granting arms export permits to Ankara on a case-by-case basis.

Iran arrested a prominent former member of its national football team on Thursday over his criticism of the government.

Turkey's president again hinted at a possible new ground offensive in Syria against Kurdish militants on Tuesday, and it was Moscow that urged restraint and called on Ankara to avoid an escalation.

The conditions in Taliban-held Afghanistan will be worse in the year ahead, and more Afghans are bound to struggle for survival, a top Red Cross official said.

Germany has offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defence system to help it to secure its airspace, after a stray missile crashed in Poland last week, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht told a newspaper on Sunday.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, which is occupied by the Russian army.

Police have arrested a suspect who is believed to have planted the bomb that exploded on a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, Turkey’s interior minister said on Monday.

An explosion on Istanbul’s popular pedestrian Istiklal Avenue Sunday has left people dead and injured, a senior official said.

The fate of a Spanish man who was trekking from Madrid to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and reportedly went missing in Iran is still uncertain, with strong suggestions that he is being held in an Iranian detention centre.

Iran blacklisted several UK organisations and individuals on Wednesday, days after London slapped sanctions on Tehran in a tit-for-tat exchange.