Demolition of 300-year-old Iraq mosque minaret for road expansion enrages locals
Basra, IraqReuters The demolition on Friday of a 300-year-old minaret of a mosque in Iraq’s southern city of Basra to make way for road expansion has enraged locals, religious and cultural authorities who condemned it as a further erosion of Iraq’s cultural heritage. Built in 1727, the 11-metre Siraji minaret and its mosque were toppled […]
Iraq’s water crisis drying up fish farming in Basra
Basra, Iraq Reuters Iraq is in the grip of a severe water shortage which has left crop growers and food producers such as Iraqi fish farmer Qasem Karam facing the loss of their livelihoods. A view shows the fish pond dried up which was abandoned due to water pollution and shortages in Basra, Iraq, on […]
“The fresh water is finished”: Drought drives economic exodus from Iraq’s rivers and marshlands
AHMED SAEED, ISSAM SUDANI AND TIMOUR AZHARI, of Reuters, report from southern Iraq…
Saddam’s rusting yacht serves as picnic spot for Iraqi fishermen
Basra, Iraq Reuters Capsized in a river in southern Iraq, the rusting wreck of a yacht that belonged to Saddam Hussein serves as a stark reminder of his iron-fisted rule that ended with the US-led invasion two decades ago. The 121-metre al-Mansur, a symbol of Saddam’s wealth and power when it was built in the […]
“If this is not genocide, then what is genocide?” asks Iraqi archbishop
World Watch Monitor One more wave of persecution and Christianity could be erased from Iraq, a church leader has said. Habib Nafali, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Basra, said the killing and displacement of Iraq’s Christians and “systematic violence” towards them was intended to force them out of Iraq. Security is still a concern for Iraqi […]
First Christian school to open in Iraq since 1970s
World Watch Monitor Iraq has given permission for the first new Christian school to open in the country since 1974, when education was nationalised, reports Asia News. The Catholic primary school will open in September, 2018, in Basra, near the country’s Gulf coast. Chaldean Archbishop of Basra, Alhava Habib Jajou, said he hopes the school will […]