Baghdad

Election results from the vote for the regional parliament in Iraq's semi-autonomous northern region show the two dominant Kurdish parties have maintained their hold while an opposition party has made inroads, officials said on Oct. 30.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with Nechirvan Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), in the Turkish capital Ankara on Oct. 16.

Ahead of the meeting, Barzani held talks with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chief İbrahim Kalın.

Fidan later joined Erdoğan's reception of the KRG president.

Steve Maman, a Jewish businessman from Canada, has earned the title “The Jewish Schindler” for his extraordinary efforts in rescuing hundreds of Yazidi children abducted by ISIS. Born in Morocco in 1973, Maman moved to Canada with his family, where he eventually became a successful luxury car dealer.

A new wave of bombings was launched by the Israeli military during the night in the southern part of Beirut, which is regarded as a Hezbollah stronghold.

Ankara and Baghdad have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at facilitating the voluntary return of Iraqi citizens from Türkiye, according to the Turkish Interior Ministry.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein commended the robust ties between Iraq and Türkiye on Tuesday, emphasizing that any outstanding issues between the neighboring countries would be addressed through dialogue.

"Our relationship with Türkiye is going well," Hussein stated in an interview with Anadolu Agency outside the U.N. headquarters in New York.

Iraq and the United States have agreed on a phased pullout of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition but have yet to sign a final agreement, the Iraqi defense minister said Sunday.

The United States has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the ISIL group.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front has that its members in Iraq's Kirkuk province will continue to protest by not attending provincial council sessions, as they did during the previous governorate elections.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pledged not to allow terrorism to become a major threat for Türkiye again.

"We will not allow the terror threat that we broke its back to be revived again," Erdoğan said during an event in the eastern city of Bitlis on Aug. 25.

The transport ministers of Türkiye, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will gather in Istanbul on Aug. 29 to discuss the Development Road project aimed at connecting Iraq's Grand Faw Port to Türkiye's southern border.

The initiative is seen as a potential alternative trade route to the Suez Canal.