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BAGHDAD (AP) — The latest plunge in oil prices has dealt a heavy blow to Iraq's stagnating economy, threatening the new government's ability to rebuild after the war with the Islamic State group and provide basic services to areas roiled by recent protests. Brent crude oil, used to price international purchases, briefly rose above $85 a barrel in October but has since plummeted to less than $55 — a nightmare for a country like Iraq that derives 95 percent of its revenue from oil exports. A $111.9 billion draft budget sent to parliament in Oct...
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi protesters stormed and set fire to a provincial government building in the southern city of Basra, despite a curfew imposed by authorities Thursday to try and quell demonstrations against poor public services and unemployment that have turned violent. Three protesters were shot dead by security forces, according to a medical and a security official. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information. Iraq's popular Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for an urgent parliamentary s...
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's government may have muddled its way through violent street protests in the country's oil-rich south with promises of jobs and better services, but the root causes of this month's unrest remain almost intact and it could be just a matter of time before popular discontent boils over again. In its bid to end the protests, Iraqi authorities have deployed security forces backed by armor and arrested hundreds of protesters in the southern city of Basra, the epicenter of the weeklong demonstrations and the jewel of Iraq's oil r...
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister on Thursday dismissed a Kurdish proposal to "freeze" the results of last month's independence vote, as Iraqi government forces and Kurdish fighters traded fire near the border with Turkey. Haider al-Abadi's office released the comments as he met with Iran's supreme leader and other officials in Tehran. Both Iran and neighboring Turkey opposed the referendum, and have sided with Baghdad in the escalating dispute. Iraq's central government "will accept only the cancelling of the referendum and following the c...
BAGHDAD (AP) — The northern town of Tal Afar has been "fully liberated" from the Islamic State group, Iraq's prime minister said Thursday, further shrinking the territory controlled by the extremists who overran nearly a third of the country three years ago. The militants have suffered a series of major defeats in recent months, including the loss of Mosul, the second-largest city, in July. Iraqi troops "eliminated and smashed" the militant group in al-Ayadia district, northwest of Tal Afar, where they had fled last week, Prime Minister H...
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's oil minister said on Sunday that his country plans to increase daily crude oil production to 5 million barrels by the end of this year, up from the current rate of about 4.4 million barrels per day, to secure sorely needed cash for its ailing economy. Iraq, where oil revenues make up nearly 95 percent of the budget, has been reeling under an economic crisis since 2014, when oil prices began their descent from a high of above $100 a barrel. The Islamic State group's onslaught, starting in 2014, has exacerbated the s...
BAGHDAD (AP) — The government of Iraq is hoping that a new OPEC deal will help the war-weary country generate enough revenue to help pay for its costly, 2-year-old fight against the Islamic State group. Iraq, whose oil revenues make up nearly 95 percent of its budget, has been reeling under an economic crisis since late 2014, when oil prices began their descent from a high of above $100 a barrel. The plunge began just months after IS militants swept across large parts of northern and western Iraq. They seized territory that prompted a huge e...
