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Iraq VP vetoes new election law

Arthur — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:04:23 +0000

One of Iraq’s two vice-presidents has vetoed part of the country’s new election law, putting the parliamentary polls scheduled for January in doubt.

Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, revoked Article 1 of the law and called for the representation in parliament of displaced people to increase to 15%.

Most Iraqis who have fled violence since 2003 are thought to be Sunni.

Electoral officials say they have suspended preparations for a January vote until an amended law is approved.

“As a result of the veto, we have decided to stop all our activities and work as we await a final law with a presidential decree that determines the exact date of the election,” Hamdiya al-Hussaini, of the Independent Electoral Commission, told the Reuters news agency.

The poll had been scheduled to be held between 18 and 23 January. Constitutionally, it must be held before the end of that month.

Car bomb kills 11 in Iraqi town of Amiriya

Arthur — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:02:26 +0000

Reporting from Baghdad and Ramadi, Iraq - A car bomb exploded Tuesday in a crowded residential area in the western Iraqi town of Amiriya, killing at least 11 people and wounding 31, medical personnel said.

Some politicians and security officials in Anbar province, where the town is located, described the attack as a harbinger of bloodier days in the countdown to national elections in January.

At least five police officers eating in a nearby restaurant were wounded in the bombing, which also set several cars ablaze.

Once the main base for Al Qaeda in Iraq, Anbar province became known as the first region where Sunni Muslims successfully turned against the hard-line Islamic group, starting in late 2006.

Though far quieter now, the province has still not rid itself of the fighters. The hard-liners aim to topple the government in Baghdad and view the sheiks who rebelled against them as traitors.

As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed

Arthur — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:48:10 +0000

Swarms of snakes are attacking people and cattle in southern Iraq as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers dry up and the reptiles lose their natural habitat among the reed beds.

“People are terrified and are leaving their homes,” says Jabar Mustafa, a medical administrator, who works in a hospital in the southern province of Dhi Qar. “We knew these snakes before, but now they are coming in huge numbers. They are attacking buffalo and cattle as well as people.” Doctors in the area say six people have been killed and 13 poisoned.

In Chabaysh, a town on the Euphrates close to the southern marshland of Hawr al-Hammar, farmers have set up an overnight operations room to prevent the snakes attacking their cattle.

At least five killed, 31 wounded in Iraq violence

Arthur — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 05:46:51 +0000

At least five people were killed Friday and 31 wounded in separate incidents around Iraq, media reports said.

In Mosul, some 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, four police officers were killed and 17 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency said.

The suicide bomber targeted a police station in the Ras al-Jada area of western Mosul in the early hours Friday.