The Latest Breaking News from Baghdad

Iraq has reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, on a farm southeast of Baghdad, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Friday. The outbreak last month at the poultry farm in the province of Wasit killed 24,060 birds out of a…

Outgoing Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi slammed on Monday the scourge of drugs in Iraq. During a meeting with senior security leaders in Iraq on Monday, he said the phenomenon has for years raised deep popular and official concerns given its rapid spread in the country, especially in southern governorates. Addressing…

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi affirmed that strengthening the partnership with regional countries will boost regional integration and enhance the ability to confront common environmental challenges. Kadhimi received the Iranian Vice President and Head of the Environmental Protection Organization, Ali Salajegheh, visiting Baghdad. The PM said that the historical relations…

Four people were killed and at least eight people, including foreign workers, were injured after a building that housed a restaurant collapsed Sunday morning in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, medical and security sources told AFP. A Civil Defense source told the news agency that the two-story building collapsed as…

Salah Chelab crushed a husk of wheat plucked from his sprawling farmland south of Baghdad and inspected its seeds in the palm of one hand. They were several grams lighter than he hoped. "It’s because of the water shortages," he said, the farm machine roaring behind him, cutting and gathering…

The Operations Command on Saturday revealed that outlawed armed factions were seeking to attack Baghdad's international airport and Green Zone. The information was leaked in a secret cable overnight on Friday. The military said the attack was likely to take place on Saturday night or Sunday. The factions would resort…

An Iraqi court on Sunday adjourned for two weeks the trial of a Briton and a German man accused of trying to smuggle antiquities after a defense lawyer called for more investigations. James Fitton, 66, a retired British geologist, and Volker Waldmann, 60, a Berlin psychologist, have been in custody…

The Presidency of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq announced that the Security Council approved a request submitted by Erbil to send a UN envoy to organize the relationship with Baghdad and find radical solutions for their differences. The Presidency said in a statement that Council members expressed their support of…

Israel accused on Friday a senior official in the Hezbollah party of opening a new route to transfer weapons from Iran to Lebanon. Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said that Rida Hashem Safieddine was overseeing the route. Safieddine is the husband of Zeinab, the daughter of slain Iranian Quds Force…

Iraqi Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi dropped a bombshell by announcing that the era of Baghdad’s “Green Zone,” which was set up during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, is nearing its end. Kadhimi, during a Tuesday visit to the Municipality of Baghdad, pledged that the Green Zone in the…

Hundreds living in Baghdad and Iraq's southern cities have been admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties as a series of heavy sandstorms continue to batter the country