Kurdistan News Agency
An Independent National News Agency

	Iraqi minister injured in Jordanian road accident	Read more
Friday, July 30th 2010 1:45 PM

Erbil, July 30 (AKnews) – Iraq’s minister of science and technology, Raed Fahmi, was injured in a traffic accident on Friday in the Jordanian capital, Amman, an Iraqi government source told AKnews. “The doctors in Amman confirmed in a phone call to Iraqi government officials that he is not in a critical condition,” said the source who...

	Turkish academician on trial for article defending Kurds	Read more
Friday, July 30th 2010 1:38 PM

Istanbul, July 30 (AKnews) - The acclaimed academician, sociologist and author, Ismail Besikci is on trial in Istanbul once again for an article he has written on the issues of Turkey's Kurdish community.Besikci is currently accused of producing propaganda for a terrorist organization after an article he wrote entitled "The Kurds and...

Human Rights Office in Basra delivers to Tehran remains of Iraqi-Iranian war	Read more
Thursday, July 29th 2010 10:45 PM

Basra, July 29 (Aknews) - The director of the Office of Human Rights in Basra province confirmed on Thursday that the office delivered the Iranian side a number of the remains of Iranian soldiers killed during the Iraqi-Iranian war in 1980, indicating that the handover ceremony was attended by personalities from the Ministry of Human Rights in...

Dohuk to tighten safety measures in hotels	Read more
Thursday, July 29th 2010 4:24 PM

Dohuk, July 29 (AKnews) - Hotels in Kurdistan’s northern province of Dohuk should enhance safety standards to protect their residents, Duhok's  tourism director told AKnews.  The measure by the authorities in Dohuk, the smallest of Kurdistan Region’s three provinces, came after a deadly fire in Soma Hotel in Sulaimaniya on July 16,...

Iranian livestock smuggled into Kurdistan	Read more
Thursday, July 29th 2010 2:20 PM

Erbil, July 29 (AKnews) – A source from the Bashmakh border gate, near Sulaimaniya said on Wednesday that a number of animals continue to be traded illegally in the Kurdistan Region even though the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has maintained the ban on the importation of Iranian stock.   Following the spread of the FMD endemic...

Emergency Health System under development in Iraqi Kurdistan	Read more
Thursday, July 29th 2010 1:57 PM

Sulaimaniyah, July 29 (AKnews) – The Kurdistan Health Minister announced on Wednesday  that the Kurdistan region's emergency health system would be completed in the coming year, helping to reduce the death toll in the region. "We are going to train the ministry's officials in connecting to the system's network in preparation for...

Exiled Kurds speak of returning to Kirkuk	Read more
Thursday, July 29th 2010 11:36 AM

Erbil, July 29 (AKnews) – The displaced Kurds from Kirkuk who are living in exile in Erbil are not returning to their homeland due to the lack of security and employment prospects in the province, one of the exiled men commented. "My children would not like to go back to Kirkuk, because they have found their sustenance and employment...

	Kurdistan Region health minister to change the health care system	Read more
Wednesday, July 28th 2010 8:56 PM

  Sulaimaniyah, July 28 (AKnews) – The Kurdistan Region’s health minister announced today that they have planned to set a meeting to change the health care system in the Region. "We have scheduled to hold a meeting for Feb. 2011 for reforming the health care system," said Tahir Hawrami. "The conference...

	Diwaniyah court convicts drug-dealers	Read more
Wednesday, July 28th 2010 7:15 PM

Diwaniyah, July 28 (AKnews) – A court in Iraq’s southern Qadisiyah province handed down sentences – ranging from five years to life imprisonment – to 63 drug dealers recently, the province’s police chief said on Wednesday. "The security forces in the province have arrested 88 drug dealers in the last three months," Major...

	Thousands of Christians fell victims to violence, says Christian MP	Read more
Wednesday, July 28th 2010 3:33 PM

Erbil, July 28 (AKnews) – More than 1,000 Christians have been killed and over 200,000 others have left Iraq as a result of the violence that has engulfed the country in the last seven years, said the head of Iraqi parliament’s largest Christian bloc. Speaking to AKnews, Yonadem Yousef Kanna, the head of al-Rafidain Christian bloc, said the...