• Targeted assassinations, violent protest crackdowns keep Iraqi voters away from polls

    Targeted assassinations, violent protest crackdowns keep Iraqi voters away from polls

    Oct 14, 2021 10:30 PM EST

    ... Iraqis called to boycott the vote. Only 80 out of the 3, 200 candidates who ran in the election represented the protest movement. Turnout hit a record low at 41 percent, allowing established political parties to secure a comfortable victory. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Simona Foltyn in Iraq.

  • Early results show record low turnout in Iraq’s election

    Early results show record low turnout in Iraq’s election

    Oct 11, 2021 03:07 PM EST

    ... immune to reforms and that the election would only bring back the same faces and parties responsible for the corruption and mismanagement that has plagued Iraq for decades. The problems have left the country with crumbling infrastructure, growing poverty and rising unemployment rates. Under Iraq's laws, the party that ...

  • Iraq's parliamentary vote marred by boycott, voter apathy

    Iraq's parliamentary vote marred by boycott, voter apathy

    Oct 10, 2021 08:13 PM EST

    ... fanned out and deployed outside polling stations, some of which were ringed by barbed wire. Voters were patted down and searched. As a security precaution, Iraq closed its airspace and land border crossings and scrambled its air force from Saturday night until early Monday morning. In another first, Sunday’s ...

  • Iraqi protesters allege election corruption, vow to boycott polls

    Iraqi protesters allege election corruption, vow to boycott polls

    Oct 09, 2021 06:18 PM EST

    ... Hatem was shot twice in the right leg. The attack closely resembles 82 assassination attempts against activists and protesters, of which 35 were successful, that Iraq’s human rights commission has recorded over the past two years.  Azhar Hatem: Anybody opposing these corrupt parties, be it through actions or words ...

  • WATCH: Iraq president on 'national battle' against corruption

    WATCH: Iraq president on 'national battle' against corruption

    Sep 24, 2021 12:18 AM EST

    ... al-Kadhimi when he assumed office in 2020. He is seeking to appease anti-government protesters who rose up in October 2019 in Baghdad and Iraq's south. Tens of thousands of Iraqi youth took to the streets to decry rampant corruption, poor services and unemployment.Hundreds died as security ...

  • Stolen Mesopotamian tablet acquired by Hobby Lobby finally going back to Iraq

    Stolen Mesopotamian tablet acquired by Hobby Lobby finally going back to Iraq

    Sep 23, 2021 06:12 PM EST

    The sculpture, from 3000 B.C., was used for religious vows in Sumerian temples. Investigators believe it had been stolen from an archaeological site in southern Iraq, then passed off as part of a collection that had been discovered years earlier. Homeland Security Investigations teams, curious about the size of ...

  • Bill repealing Iraq war powers advances in Senate

    Bill repealing Iraq war powers advances in Senate

    Aug 04, 2021 06:33 PM EST

    ... members voted 14-8, with three Republicans voting with Democrats, to repeal the 1991 measure that sanctioned the U.S.-led Gulf War to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait, and the 2002 measure that greenlighted the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq. Sen. Tim Kaine, a ...

  • U.S., other countries return looted ancient artifacts to Iraq

    U.S., other countries return looted ancient artifacts to Iraq

    Aug 03, 2021 06:56 PM EST

    ... Hasan Nadhim. Nadhim said the recovery was "the largest in the history of Iraq" and the product of months of effort between the government and Iraq's Embassy in Washington. "There's still a lot of work ahead in this matter. There are still thousands of Iraqi artifacts smuggled outside ...

  • News Wrap: Biden to pull U.S. combat forces from Iraq by end of year

    News Wrap: Biden to pull U.S. combat forces from Iraq by end of year

    Jul 26, 2021 10:50 PM EST

    In our news wrap Monday, the White House announced that a U.S. combat mission in Iraq will wrap up by year’s end. The United Nations reports that more women and children have been killed in fighting in Afghanistan this year than in any similar period since 2009. Thomas ...

  • WATCH: Biden says U.S. combat mission in Iraq to conclude in 2021

    WATCH: Biden says U.S. combat mission in Iraq to conclude in 2021

    Jul 26, 2021 07:57 PM EST

    ... send troops back to Iraq. The move was made in response to the Islamic State group’s takeover of large portions of western and northern Iraq and a collapse of Iraqi security forces that appeared to threaten Baghdad. Obama had fully withdrawn U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, eight ...