Tag

The news broke just hours after an Iraqi parliamentary panel called for former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and 30 other officials to face trial for their involvement in the fall of Mosul to the Islamic State group last summer.

Thursday’s blast at the Jameela market in the over-crowded Sadr City neighborhood also wounded 125 people.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region ─ Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday ordered a court-martial to investigate Iraqi military officials who are suspected of abandoning their positions when ISIS seized Ramadi. Baghdad-based analyst Jasim al-Bahadli said Abadi was wise to focus...

But that has made it harder to stamp his authority on a country enduring war with Islamic State, chronic corruption, Kurdish separatism, personal rivalry among political leaders and a financial crisis caused by collapsing prices for oil exports.

Iraq’s parliament voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s reform package, Speaker Saleem al-Jabouri said during a session broadcast live on state television.

Iraq’s Council of Ministers on Sunday approved a package of reforms proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ostensibly aimed at improving public services and rooting out widespread corruption.

Some of his proposals have already been approved by the council of ministers but still require the parliament’s approval, while others will require changes to the country’s constitution, meaning that swift action is unlikely.

The cabinet approved the reform plan on Sunday, Abadi’s office said, but changes such as abolishing the posts would apparently require the constitution to be amended, which would necessitate parliamentary action.

But a European source said it was not yet confirmed that the talks would begin Friday, adding that at most “only a few people” from the so-called troika of creditors would arrive before the weekend.

“This would have created a parallel banking system, which would have given us some breathing space, while the banks would have been shut due to the ECB’s aggressive policy”, Varoufakis was quoted as saying.

“We are satisfied with the smooth and constructive cooperation with the Greek authorities, and that should now allow us to progress as swiftly as possible”, Mina Andreeva, a European Commission spokeswoman, said in Brussels.

“It is necessary to secure that this “game” won’t happen again during coming discussions about the form of the third aid package for Greece”.

“Negotiations on a memorandum of understanding should now progress as swiftly as possible”.

On Monday, the Greek finance minister confirmed following the government council’s meeting on economic policy that the intense talks on technical issues will begin on Tuesday.

The third bailout for Greece that was agreed upon in the eurozone and euro summit agreements last week in Brussels- and approved by the Greek Parliament, call for €86 billion in new loans for Greece and assumes some of the financing from the worldwide Monetary Fund.