The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Iraq

  • Iraq reopens airspace to international traffic

    Iraq reopens airspace to international traffic

    The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) on Tuesday announced that it has reopened its airspace to international air traffic, citing improved security conditions following days of the Israel-Iran conflict.

    In a statement, the ICAA said the decision followed a comprehensive assessment of the security situation and coordination with relevant national and international authorities.

    The statement quoted ICAA President Bangin Rekani as saying that the decision was based on improved security conditions and Iraq’s ability to ensure the highest standards of safety and air traffic control for overflying aircraft.

    Read Also: NAPTIP rescues seven Iraq-bound victims in Abuja hotel

    He added that reopening Iraqi airspace will enhance Iraq’s strategic geographic position as an air corridor connecting East and West, and will help reduce flight time and fuel costs for global airlines.

    Iraq closed its airspace to international air traffic following the outbreak of the Israel-Iran conflict on June 13.

    (Xinhua/NAN)

  • IZU OMEGO: Why I moved to Al-Sinna SC in Iraq

    Youth international Prince Izu Omego is marking time with Al-Sinaa Sport Club of Baghdad as he cast his eyes on a move to Europe and playing for Super Eagles, reports MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN.

    Tough-tackling defender and youth international, Prince Izu Omego says he opted for Al-Sinaa Sport Club of Baghdad as a precursor for his professional football career away from the shores of Nigeria.

    Keen followers of the national youth teams would easily recalled Omego for his no-nonsense defensive style during his days with the Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles. He was on the U-17 side that won Silver at the U-17 AFCON held in Morocco in 2013 and was a major fulcrum in the Flying Eagles side that won the U-20 AFCON in 2015 en route to their  FIFA World Cup qualification in New Zealand.

    With nothing concrete in sight after his exploits in Senegal and New Zealand , the 18-year-old  said he opted for a short career  in Iraq as a stepping zone to greater things in the foreseeable future.

    “We are different people with different destiny, my former teammates are destined to start their professional football career  abroad  in Europe while I’m starting mine in Iraq,” Omego who would be 19 on 15th  August told The Nation. “I have a short six-month contract here; and life in Iraq  has been good so far.

    “  Just the  language that is a  barrier but I’m fast adapting to because this is really a good place with many good people who are ready to assist in their own ways.”

    Of course, Omego is not disillusioned about what lies ahead of him: “My short term plan  is to improve my games as fast as possible and impact lives around me.

    “My long term objective  is to play in one of  the biggest club in the world and to play for the senior team of my country before I retire from football.”

    Described as a ‘rock of Gibraltar’ by foremost sport journalist and current Chairman of Akwa Ibom United Etubom Paul Bassey after his imperious performance in the left-full back position when the  Golden Eaglets handed a 4-0 defeat to their counterparts from Niger in Niamey, Omego said playing under coach Manu Garba-led side was one of the major highlights of his career.

    “Playing under coach Manu  was a great privilege for me,” he explained.“ We won the U-20 Nations Cup in Senegal but unlucky against Germany in   New Zealand where we went out in the Second Round; but I got more exposure which has added valuable experience to my career.”

    Still, Omego is  nostalgic about his first international tournament in the green and while colours in Marrakech (Morocco) where the Golden Eaglets nearly won the U-17 AFCON only to lose  5-4 via penalty shootout to Cote d’Ivoire.

    Omego noted:  “I still have good memories on the U-17  Championship in Morocco because the experience  was so great and inspiring, I felt favoured by God to represent my country for the first time.

    “ But it was so painful the way we lost the  final match to Cote d’Ivoire.  Though I felt bad,  we have to accept it because I felt that was the will of God.”

    With some of former teammates now regulars with the Super Eagles, Omego said he remained  upbeat that something great would happened at the expiration of hi contract with Al-Sinaa in Iraq.

    “I’m not worried playing here in Iraq; It’s just an experience for me but I’m  just being focussed  for now because playing for the  Super Eagles is  one of my  main targets.”

  • Nigeria, three others nominated for OPEC+ committee

    Nigeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been nominated  as members of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC coalition, including Russia.

    The JMMC monitors and ensures compliance of members with production cut directives. The JMMC met in Baku, the Republic of Azerbaijan, for its 13th meeting. The Committee reviewed the monthly report prepared by its Joint Technical Committee (JTC) and recent developments in the global oil market as well as immediate prospects for the remainder of 2019.

    The JMMC reiterated the critical role that the “Declaration of Cooperation” has played in supporting oil market stability since December 2016 and took note of the expressed commitment of all participating countries to ensure that such stability continues on a sustainable basis, as overall conformity reached almost 90 per cent for the month of February 2019, which is up from 83 per cent in the month of January.

    The Committee recognised the current, critical uncertainties surrounding the global oil market throughout 2019, and stressed on the shared responsibility of all participating countries to restore market stability and prevent the recurrence of any market imbalance.

    All participating countries at the meeting, individually and collectively, assured the Committee that they will exceed their voluntary production adjustments over the coming months.

    The JMMC also urged all participating countries, including those not present at the meeting, to achieve full and timely conformity with their voluntary production adjustments under the decisions of the 175th Meeting of the OPEC Conference on December 6, 2018, and the 5th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting on December 7, 2018.

    In consideration that market fundamentals are unlikely to materially change in the next two months, the JMMC adopted a recommendation to forego the full Ministerial Meeting in April and instead schedule a JMMC meeting in May ahead of the OPEC meeting on June 25, during which a decision will be taken on the production target for the second half of 2019.

    The Committee also endorsed the adjustments of the baselines of three countries, Brunei, Daressalam, Ecuador and Malaysia.

    The JMMC thanked Azerbaijan President, Ilham Aliyev, for his hospitality and the support he has given to the “Declaration of Cooperation”. The Committee emphasised the unique role that Baku has played in the history of the oil industry and expressed its gratitude to all involved from Azerbaijan, particularly Minister of Energy, Parviz Shahbazov, for the excellent arrangements for the meeting.

    The JTC will continue its monthly meetings and the next meeting of the JMMC is scheduled to take place in May, in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

  • U.S. will not stop Iran oil exports

    U.S. plan to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero will not succeed, Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Zarif was cited as saying by an Iranian newspaper on Wednesday.

    U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that they aim to pressure countries to stop buying oil from Iran in a bid to force Tehran to halt its nuclear and missile programmes and involvement in regional conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

    “If the Americans want to keep this simplistic and impossible idea in their minds they should also know its consequences,” Zarif told the Iran newspaper.

    Read Also: PDP to APC: You can’t woo our members

    “They can’t think that Iran won’t export oil and others will export.”

    President Hassan Rouhani hinted in July that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, if the U.S. attempted to stop the Islamic Republic’s oil exports.
    U.S. President Donald Trump responded by noting that Iran could face serious consequences if it threatened the U.S.
    “The Americans have assembled a war room against Iran,” Zarif said.

    “We can’t get drawn into a confrontation with America by falling into this war room trap and playing on a battlefield.”

    Iran sanctions are ‘the most biting ever imposed’: Trump

    In July, Trump offered to meet with Iran’s leaders. Zarif said that Oman and Switzerland have acted as mediators in talks with America in the past but that there are currently no direct or indirect talks being held with the U.S.

  • France repatriates three children of suspected jihadists from Iraq

    France repatriates three children of suspected jihadists from Iraq

    Three French-born children belonging to suspected Islamic State ( IS ) militants and who were being held by Iraq authorities have been flown back to Paris, France Capital, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) said it was the first such repatriation of French children from Iraq.

    It has suffered a series of deadly militant attacks over the past three years and is grappling with the threat of homegrown militancy as well as the risks posed by IS fighters slipping back across French borders.

    “Their return was organised in coordination with the authorities in Iraq,” a foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters.

    French media reported that the family had left France for Iraq in 2015.

    “The father was killed during the battle for Mosul and Iraqi forces later detained the mother and her four children in July.

    “She and her youngest child remain in detention in Iraq,’’ Vincent Brengarth said, the lawyer acting on her behalf.

    Her three older children, aged between three and eight years, were now in foster care after arriving back on December 18.

    Reuters revealed in September that Iraqi authorities were holding about 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected IS combatants at a single camp after government forces routed the jihadist group from Mosul, its last major urban redoubt in Iraq.

    However, it was not clear if the three children had been among the same group.

    French officials have indicated a preference for their citizens held in Iraq and found to be affiliated to IS to be prosecuted there, although in mid-November President Emmanuel Macron said the fate of women and children should be examined on a case-by-case basis.

    The head of France’s domestic spy agency last month said some 700 men and women either of French nationality or who had resided in France, as well as 500 children, were in Iraq and Syria or linked to the militants.

    Meanwhile several hundred others have already slipped back into France.

    (Reuters/NAN)

  • ISIS threatens U.S. over Jerusalem decision

    ISIS threatens U.S. over Jerusalem decision

    Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ( ISIS )has threatened attacks on U.S. soil in retaliation for the Trump administration’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

    One of the group’s social media accounts reported on Thursday without much details on one of its accounts on the Telegram instant messaging service titled: “Wait for us” and “ISIS in Manhattan”.

    The group said that it would carry out operations and showed images of New York’s Times Square and what appeared to be an explosive bomb belt and detonator.

    “We will do more ops in your land, until the final hour and we will burn you with the flames of war which you started in Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria and Afghan. Just you wait.

    “The recognition of your dog ‘Trump’ (sic) Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will make us recognise explosives as the capital of your country,” it said.

    Washington triggered widespread anger and protests across the Arab world with its decision on Jerusalem.

    The disputed city is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and is home to Islam’s third holiest site.

    It has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.

    Read also: UAE urges Arabs, Muslims to unite over U.S decision on Jerusalem

    Islamic State was driven out of its Iraqi and Syrian capitals this year and squeezed into a shrinking pocket of desert straddling the border between the two countries.

    The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare there.

    Militants including people claiming allegiance to Islamic State have carried out scores of deadly attacks in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the U.S. over the past two years.

    NAN

  • Macron warns battle against IS will continue for years

    Macron warns battle against IS will continue for years

    French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned that as the fight against Islamic State (IS) nears its end in Iraq and Syria, it will continue for years in other parts of the world.

    “We have won in al-Raqqa against Islamic State, and I firmly believe that in the coming weeks and months we will be completely victorious in military terms in the Iraqi-Syrian theatre.

    “But this fight will not end there, above all in many places, from the Horn of Africa to the Gulf, passing through South-East Asia and the Sahelo-Saharan region.

    “There are many areas where this fight will remain for years to come,’’ Macron said, while addressing French forces at the Mina Zayed naval base in Abu Dhabi.

    In October, Syrian Kurd-led forces, supported by the international U.S.-led alliance, captured Syria’s northern city of al-Raqqa, which was once the capital of Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in the country.

    Islamic State has lost more than 96 per cent of the territory that it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, according to the U.S-led coalition fighting the group.

    “Our challenge now is to rebuild peace once we have won the war against barbarism,’’ Macron said, who visited the permanent French base Mina Zayed as part of his two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.

    The base, established in 2009, hosts between 300 and 900 troops, sailors and airmen depending on rotations.

    Macron said it represents a “sign of a France that keeps its commitments to its allies.’’

    Read Also: French Senate to vote on security law as Macron addresses Police

  • Tinubu lauds choice of Agege Stadium for AITEO Cup Final

    Tinubu lauds choice of Agege Stadium for AITEO Cup Final

    The choice of Agege Township Stadium located in a close-packed area of the Lagos metropolis for the 2017 maiden AITEO Cup Final by the organisers is logical and administrative, says Deji Tinubu, the Chairman, State Sports Commission.

    “The choice of Agege stadium as venue for the cup is logical and administrative.

    “The use of the stadium means so much to us as it had played host to the CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad and other CAF executives. So, it is a right step.

    “The facilities at the stadium are of high standard that can host any final because we harp on quality infrastructure in Lagos State,” he disclosed in an interview on Monday.

    The stadium had played host to the maiden AITEO Cup final displacing the former host, Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere with thousands of spectators and football supporters on hand to watch the oldest cup match in the country.

    Akwa United football club defeated the Niger Tornadoes 3-2 on penalty shootout after a goalless full time to emerge winner for the second time in a space of two years, having won it in 2015 under the name, Federation Cup.

    Tinubu said:“This stadium will also play host to the continental championships which we are looking forward to, they must have used the opportunity to access the facilities at the stadium.

    “The organisers asked us for venues and they made their choice which is logical and administrative. They have their criteria, ours is to get the venue ready.”

    On the bid by the Lagos State Government to take over the National Stadium adjacent to the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Tinubu said the plan to acquire it was still on, adding the proposal has yet to be approved by the Federal Government.

    “We have submitted the bid and we are awaiting response from the federal government for approval, if we are awarded the bid, it is okay and if not, we will move on.

    “We have our plans for sports infrastructure in the state and we will not continue to sit down and watch such an iconic facility rot away under our nose.

    “Sports remains one of the the sectors we want to use to drive the economy of the state as identified by Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode.

    “The administration has identified critical sectors such as sports, tourism, and entertainment to drive the economy, hence , sports infrastructure development is critical,’ ‘he said.

  • Oil price now $57.8 over fears of new Iran sanctions, Iraq conflict

    Oil price now $57.8 over fears of new Iran sanctions, Iraq conflict

    Oil markets jumped on Monday on concerns over potential renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran as well as conflict in Iraq.

    An explosion at a U.S. oil rig and reduced exploration activity also supported prices there.

    Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for prices, were at 57.85 dollars.

    There were also concerns about the stability of Iraq, the second biggest oil producer within OPEC behind Saudi Arabia.

    Iraqi forces on Sunday began moving towards oil fields and an important air base held by Kurdish forces near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Iraqi and Kurdish officials said.

    An explosion overnight at an oil rig in Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain drew market attention, with at least six people injured.

    U.S. crude prices were also supported by drillers cutting back the number of rigs looking for new production.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at 51.89 dollars per barrel, up 44 cents, or 0.9 per cent.

    Drillers cut five rigs in the week to Oct. 13, bringing the total count up to 743, the lowest since early June, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said late on Friday.

     

  • Iraq: UNESCO condemns killing of 2 journalists

    Iraq: UNESCO condemns killing of 2 journalists

    The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Thursday strongly condemned the killing of two journalists working on assignment in Iraq.

    Kurdish journalist Bakhtyar Haddad and French reporter Stéphane Villeneuve were working together in Mosul, Iraq, on a programme for France II when they were killed as a result of a roadside bomb explosion.

    UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, said it was regrettable that journalists faced tremendous hazards on the job while trying to provide information to the public.

    “Journalists face tremendous dangers in carrying out their job, a job where they provide us with vital information enabling us to build towards peace.

    “Their names will be added to UNESCO’s dedicated webpage commemorating the lives of journalists killed in the line of duty,” the UNESCO chief said.

    The UN agency is tasked with defending press freedom and the safety of journalists.

    NAN reports that Reporters Without Borders in May said that 28 journalists  have been  killed so far in 2017

    According to the charity’s annual report, in Syria, it said 19 journalists were killed  in 2017.

    It also said that Syria was the world’s most deadliest country for journalists to work in.

    Afghanistan, where 10 journalists have been killed, was listed as the second deadliest, followed by Mexico, where nine journalists lost their lives.

    Among the dead is 19-year-old Osama Jumaa, a photojournalist for the British news agency Images Live, who was killed on June 5 while covering a rescue operation in Aleppo.

    The Syrian conflict is particularly dangerous to cover due to constant, indiscriminate shelling, as well as the risk of being detained by the Syrian regime or kidnapped by jihadist groups.

    The Reporters Without Borders also said that 74 professional and non-professional journalists lost their lives in 2016 in connection with their work.

    The number of deaths in 2016 is slightly lower than the previous year, when 101 journalists – including 12 at the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris – were killed.

    Reporters Without Borders said the fall in deaths was partially due to the fact that many journalists have already fled dangerous countries such as Syria, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.