ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Female candidates standing in Iraq’s 2018 parliamentary election have faced a barrage of threats, defamation, and public shaming. Voters and activists say Iraq is a long way off from achieving gender equality in politics. Twenty-five percent of the parliament’s 329 seats are reserved for women in the May 12 election. It […]
Read moreFrom Afrin to Erbil: One refugee family’s journey
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Ahmad and his daughter Berivan are from Afrin. They are among the first refugees from the city to reach Erbil since Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies seized the northeast Syrian canton in March. Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on January 20 with the stated aim of pushing the Kurdish Democratic […]
Read moreAsian migrants in Erbil share stories of hope and struggle on Labour Day
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Ankawa is probably Erbil’s most diverse neighborhood, home to migrant workers from across southern and east Asia. Working long hours, often on low pay, and many of them trapped in rigid contracts, the workers who come to Kurdistan are rarely asked: was it worth it? “The company lied to me. I […]
Read more‘Saddam’s gas didn’t kill me – searching for my family has’: Halabja orphan
Maryam was eight months old when the single most deadly chemical attack in history erased her identity one spring morning thirty years ago. After years of searching, she has abandoned hope of ever learning her real name or finding her parents alive. Three years ago, Maryam thought she had finally discovered her true identity and […]
Read more‘We are all proud of her’: Rudaw staff share memories of Shifa Gardi
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Colleagues of Shifa Gardi, the Rudaw correspondent tragically killed last year while reporting on the war in Mosul, have shared their memories of her life and work. Shifa Zikri Ibrahim, professionally known as Shifa Gardi, was reporting on the war against ISIS in western Mosul for her daily TV program Focus […]
Read moreHow bad does Yemen need to get before Britain stops selling weapons to Saudi? (VIDEO)
It’s been 50 years since the British Empire left its foothold in Aden. Given the half-hearted attempts of Her Majesty’s Government to end the horrors in Yemen today, you’d be forgiven for thinking they shared no history at all. In the closing months of 1967, Yemeni rebels concluded their campaign to oust the British presence, […]
Read more‘Assad is here to stay, he’s won the Syrian civil war’: Brit who fought ISIS in Raqqa (VIDEO)
Macer Gifford left his high-flying city job in 2014 to join the fight against Islamic State in Syria. Now, as peace talks get underway, he wants his comrades in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at the negotiating table in Geneva. Arriving back in the UK just weeks after participating in the battle to free Raqqa, […]
Read moreWhy has a Cold War-era Soviet submarine surfaced in England’s River Medway? (VIDEO)
Kent seems an unlikely place to encounter a 1,950 tonne Soviet war machine. But don’t be alarmed if you happen to spot U-475 ‘Black Widow’ looming out of the river as you cross the Medway – the Cold War hasn’t resumed and the Soviets aren’t about to annex Strood. Built in 1967, Black Widow saw […]
Read moreBalfour at 100: Should Britain celebrate or apologize for its colonial legacy in Palestine? (VIDEO)
November 2 marks 100 years since the Balfour Declaration – the colonial-era document that paved the way for the creation of Israel. But is the centenary a cause for celebration, or is it high time for an apology? In November 1917, at the height of the First World War, Britain’s then-Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued […]
Read moreKirkuk to Dunkirk: Kurdish journalist fights to stay in UK after fleeing assassins (RT EXCLUSIVE)
A Kurdish journalist is fighting for UK asylum after serving with American forces in Iraq, narrowly escaping assassination for his reporting, being labeled a torturer by US immigration, and entering Britain illegally smuggled inside a lorry, RT has found. Aram Fareeq Abduljabbar, 32, arrived at the Grande-Synthe refugee camp in Dunkirk, northern France, on January […]
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