Levels of violence rose again in Iraq last week, as part of what appears to be a gradual trend which has evolved over the past six months. Last week saw attacks concentrated around Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, with several more incidents in Anbar, Diyala and Salah ad-Din provinces. The southern provinces have also seen a […]
On Wednesday a number of currency dealers in southern Iraq’s Nassirya City reported the spread of a new counterfeit 10,000-dinar notes, according to Aswat al-Iraq. “We have noticed the existence of a false 25,000-dinar currency in the market, being cautious against it, but a new false 10,000-dinar note, with a very close print to the […]
Levels of violence are rising in Iraq. While some commentators in the press are referring to the increase as a spike, regular readers of Iraq Business News will understand that the rise has actually been very gradual - but consistent - with the number of attacks building up all the way from the beginning of […]
MAG (pronounced “Mag”) – Mines Advisory Group – is a neutral and impartial humanitarian organisation that clears the remnants of conflict for the benefit of communities worldwide. In May, a team from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were working in the mountains near Halabja, Sulimaniyah to restore a traditional irrigation system for a nearby […]
By Gavin Jones, Director of Iraq Business News, and Partner at consultancy firm Upper Quartile. "Something we could not have predicted five months ago is that Iraq would emerge as the most advanced Arab democracy in the entire region. As messy as it is, when you think back to the months and months that it […]
Overall, levels of violence fell in Iraq over the past week, but the rate of weekly incidents has continued to fluctuate in recent months and the improvement is likely to be temporary. There have been three recent suicide attacks, targeting provincial government buildings and the police. Two of these attacks have taken place in the […]
Osama al-Nujaifi, the Iraqi parliament speaker, has told Al Jazeera that the amount of Iraqi money unaccounted for by the US is $18.7bn - three times more than the $6.6bn we reported last week. Al-Nujaifi is scheduled to visit the US soon and discuss the missing Iraqi billions. He said that he received a report […]
A UN working group said on Thursday that Iraq should tightly regulate private security firms to prevent abuses by their employees when they stay on in the country after a scheduled U.S. military withdrawal. While the number of incidents involving private military and security companies in Iraq has decreased in recent years, the Government should […]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the army to increase its protection of the country’s pipelines and refineries. “Any breaches will cause problems at the Dora [Doura, Daura] and Baiji [Bayji] refineries (pictured) and the pipelines feeding the power stations,” Maliki said yesterday during a televised Cabinet meeting on the government’s performance during its […]
The exiled former head of the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI), Hussein Al-Uzri [Hussein al-Azri], has denied allegations of corruption and mis-management in a telephone interview with Reuters. "It's about control of this bank," the U.S.-educated banker, aged 48, told the news agency in his first media interview since fleeing Iraq. "Having control of the […]
Overview Levels of violence rose in Iraq last week, making it the worst recorded by AKE since the national elections were held in March 2010. There were over 90 separate attacks documented, mainly in Baghdad and the districts surrounding it, although the southern city of Basrah also saw a rare suicide attack, potentially conducted by […]
The Los Angeles Times reports that theft has not been ruled out by auditors trying to trace $6.6 billion [7.9 trillion Iraqi dinars] of missing cash. A total of $12 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills was flown to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 to pay for public services, contractors, and general reconstruction. More […]
