GENEVA, Switzerland - The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that the outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus, which has spread from China to two dozen countries, does not yet constitute a "pandemic".
"Currently we are not in a pandemic," Sylvie Briand, head of WHO's Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness division, told reporters in Geneva.
Instead, she said, "we are at the phase where it is an epidemic with multiple foci."
The disease has killed more than 425 people and infected a further 20,000 in China, nearly all of them in central Hubei province -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- and spread to two-dozen countries since it emerged in December.
Briand said that while there is rapid spread of transmission in Hubei, the cases outside the province are mainly "spillover cases" with sporadic clusters of transmission.
At the same time, authorities in China have taken dramatic measures to halt transmission, while other affected countries have also taken steps to avoid the spread of the virus.
"We hope that based on those measures in Hubei but also in other places where we have had spill-over, we can stop transmission and get rid of this virus," she said.
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BAGHDAD - OPEC members and their ally Russia are discussing a further cut to crude oil output at a meeting in Vienna because of China's coronavirus epidemic, Iraq's oil ministry said Tuesday.
Crude prices have tumbled since the deadly outbreak in the world's second-biggest economy, which is a huge consumer of crude.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is holding a meeting of a "joint technical committee" in Vienna on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the virus's impact and whether an output reduction is needed.
"Depending on the needs of the market and how it's been affected by the coronavirus, will a cut be necessary? This is being discussed as the technical reports are presented," said Iraq's oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad.
"The technical committees are discussing the recommendations, which they will elevate to their ministers. Any further cut to outputs would only be announced in a ministerial meeting," Jihad told AFP.
He said those gathered would also consider bringing forward a March ministerial meeting to February "depending on the market's needs and what happens with the virus."
Iraq is OPEC's second-biggest oil producer.
The new coronavirus has killed more than 400 people and infected a further 20,000 in China since emerging in December, and has also spread to more than 20 other countries.
The US benchmark oil contract, WTI, has fallen by around 18 percent over the past month.
"For now, the market seems content that China will contain and manage the virus situation, and that the worst will soon be over with no accelerated spreading outside of China, and that OPEC+ will step in with cuts and prevent a surplus and a stock building," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at Nordic bank SEB.
Top oil exporter and OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia said this week that the impact of the virus on oil demand was "extremely limited" and "driven by psychological factors".
But if the virus continues to spread, there could be a more severe hit to the market, said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst for Markets.com in London.
"This kind of oil demand shock has not been seen for over a decade. The longer the lockdown in China and travel restrictions globally, the greater the impact," he said.
Russian energy minister Alexander Novak, said Friday the crisis could lead to lower demand for hydrocarbon fuels.
The OPEC cartel regularly convenes with non-members led by Russia over how to influence oil prices.
OPEC and its allies in December extended an existing agreement to curb crude oil production to prop up
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TIKRIT, Iraq - Four people were wounded on Sunday in an attack on Balad air base in northern Iraq which houses US personnel.
The Iraqi military said in a statement that eight Katyusha rockets had been fired at the base, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, and that the four wounded included two officers.
Military sources identified the wounded as Iraqi soldiers. They said seven mortar bombs had hit the base's runway.
There was no word of any US casualties among the U.S. forces at the base.
The Iraqi military statement did not say who was behind the attack and made no mention of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, which last Wednesday fired missiles at two military bases in Iraq which house US forces.
(Reporting by Ghazwan Hassan writing by Hesham Abdul Khalek; Editing by Susan Fenton and Timothy Heritage)
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NEW YORK -- US stocks ended higher on Wednesday, but the day's uneven path showed investors' sensitivity to any signs of turmoil in the Middle East, with stocks rising on comments by President Donald Trump and paring gains on reports of blasts in Baghdad.
Trump spoke at a White House briefing after Iran's missile strikes overnight on military bases housing US troops in Iraq. The US president said the strikes had not harmed any Americans and that Tehran appeared to be standing down.
Comments earlier from Iran's foreign minister that the country did not seek an escalation and a tweet from Trump that "All is well!" also helped calm investor jitters.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record intraday highs, but major indexes cut their gains late in the day following reports of two blasts heard in Baghdad. After the bell, Iraq's military said two rockets had fallen inside Baghdad's Green Zone but there were no casualties.
"The measured tones coming out of the Trump administration potentially dialing back from a tit-for-tat reaction on balance is positive, but the market is going to react to minute-by-minute news of increased tensions in the Middle East," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Nasdaq registered a record high close and most S&P 500 sectors rose, while the S&P 500 energy index fell 1.7 percent as oil prices slumped.
Global markets have been rattled by concerns about rising tensions in the Middle East after the US killing of influential Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 161.41 points, or 0.56 percent, to 28,745.09, the S&P 500 gained 15.87 points, or 0.49 percent, to 3,253.05, and the Nasdaq Composite added 60.66 points, or 0.67 percent, to 9,129.24.
Among the day's decliners, Boeing fell 1.8 percent after a 737-800 jet made by the company and belonging to a Ukrainian airline burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc slid 5.8 percent after its quarterly profit missed expectations. Shares in rival CVS Health fell 1.3 percent.
On the upside, Lennar Corp ended up 0.8 percent after the No. 2 US homebuilder beat quarterly profit estimates and forecast 2020 homes sales above analysts' estimates as lower home prices and mortgage rates drive demand.
Adding to the upbeat mood, the ADP National Employment Report showed private payrolls jumped by 202,000 jobs last month, well above the 160,000 rise expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.51-to-1 ratio
The S&P 500 posted 6258 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 118106 new highs and 149 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 7.78 billion shares, compared to the 7.01 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days
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TEHRAN, Iran—The millions who turned out across Iran to mourn General Qasem Soleimani have testified to the apparent across-the-board popularity of a figure hailed as a "living martyr" for the Islamic republic.
Rising above divisions in Iran, funeral processions for the Revolutionary Guard commander assassinated in a US drone strike last week in Baghdad drew massive crowds between Sunday and Tuesday in the cities of Ahvaz, Mashhad, Tehran, Qom and finally Kerman, his hometown.
"The last time I remember such a crowd was at Ayatollah (Ruhollah) Khomeini's funeral 30 years ago," prominent Iranian journalist Maziar Khosravi said of the turnout in the capital, referring to the founder of the Islamic republic.
The show of national unity has contrasted sharply with the downbeat mood in the country since nationwide demonstrations that were violently put down by security forces in November.
Soleimani, killed at the age of 62, had been at the center of power-broking in the region for 2 decades as chief of the elite external operations Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards.
Powerful and always presentable, yet discreet, he was also a popular figure during his lifetime, not just in death.
A survey published in 2018 by IranPoll and the University of Maryland—one of the few considered reliable by analysts—found Soleimani had a popularity rating of 83 percent, ahead of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
ROOTS OF POPULARITY
Declared a "living martyr" by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while still alive, Soleimani was widely regarded as a hero for his role in defeating the Islamic State jihadist group in both Iraq and Syria.
In the eyes of many Iranians, his military and strategic prowess were instrumental in warding off the multi-ethnic disintegration of neighboring countries such as Afghanistan as well as Syria and Iraq.
In a rare tribute to his status, a mosque in Qom, the spiritual capital of Shiite Iran, hoisted the red flag symbolizing the blood of martyrs that is traditionally reserved for the Islamic holy month of Muharram.
Khosravi, the journalist, noted that huge crowds from different sectors of society had also turned out to mourn and pay tribute to Soleimani in Ahvaz, capital of the down-at-heel province of Khuzestan and a hotspot in last year's protests.
Hassan Razavi, a lawyer and University of Tehran teacher, explained the roots of the general's popularity at home.
"What people liked about him is that while some other military commanders after the Iraq-Iran war shifted their life toward politics and economy, he continued his role in the military," said Razavi.
He was seen to have played a "significant role in pushing (late Iraqi dictator) Saddam Hussein's army out of the country" during the devastating war that raged between the 2 neighbors from 1980 to 1988.
"People witnessed that he never took financial advantage of his position for his personal life," the lawyer said.
And, "he was so courageous that instead of leading the war out of war rooms far from the battlefield, he was in the middle of the battlefield on the frontline with his soldiers," Razavi said.
Whereas previously he kept out of the limelight, Soleimani had in recent years become an unlikely celebrity in Iran—replete with a huge following on Instagram.
His profile shot up as the public face of Iran's intervention in the Syrian conflict from 2013, appearing in battlefield photos, documentaries—and even being featured in a music video and animated film.
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SHANGHAI -- Asian shares and US treasury yields plunged on Wednesday, while gold and oil shot higher after Iran fired rockets at an Iraqi airbase that hosts US military forces, stoking fears of further sharp escalations in a developing conflict.
Iran's missile attacks on the Ain Al-Asad air base and another in Erbil, Iraq, early Wednesday came hours after the funeral of an Iranian commander whose killing in a US drone strike has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
In morning trade, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.5 percent and Australian shares fell 1 percent.
US crude soared 4.42 percent to $65.47 a barrel.
"We've moved on from how Iran will respond to now anticipating the US 52-pronged response as the US military forces in the region are in a heightened state of alert while likely preparing for war," said Stephen Innes, strategist at AxiTrader. "It's not going to be pretty today"
The sharp sell-off in risk assets was accompanied by steep drops in US Treasury yields as investors flocked to safety. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes yielded 1.7188 percent, down more than 10 basis points from a US close of 1.825 percent on Tuesday.
The two-year yield dropped to 1.4581 percent compared with a US close of 1.546 percent.
The dollar also plunged against the yen, with the Japanese currency touching its strongest point against the greenback since October. The US currency was last down 0.69 percent against the yen at 107.67.
The euro gained 0.1 percent on the day to $1.1161.
The flight to safety and a falling dollar supported gold, which rocked 1.91 percent higher on the spot market to $1,603.93 per ounce.
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BAGHDAD - Pressure against the US in Iraq ramped up Sunday, as rockets hit near the American embassy and parliament demanded the ouster of thousands of US troops over the killing of a top Iranian general.
Ties have deteriorated after an American precision drone strike Friday on the Baghdad international airport that killed Iran's Major General Qasem Soleimani and top Iraqi military figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
A pair of rockets hit near the US embassy in Iraq's high-security Green Zone for the second night in a row on Sunday just hours after Iraq's foreign ministry summoned the American ambassador over the strike.
Earlier, caretaker prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi attended an extraordinary parliamentary session during which he slammed the US strike as a "political assassination".
He joined 168 lawmakers -- just enough for quorum in Iraq's 329-seat parliament -- to discuss the ouster of US troops.
Some 5,200 US soldiers are stationed across Iraqi bases to support local troops preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State jihadist group.
They are deployed as part of the broader international coalition, invited by the Iraqi government in 2014 to help fight IS.
"The parliament has voted to commit the Iraqi government to cancel its request to the international coalition for help to fight IS," speaker Mohammed Halbusi announced.
The cabinet would have to approve any decision but the premier indicated support for an ouster in his speech.
"We face two main choices," he told MPs: either immediately voting for foreign troops to leave or setting limits and a timeframe for withdrawal through a parliamentary process.
US-LED COALITION 'PAUSES' OPS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reacted to the parliament's move by saying: "We'll have to take a look at what we do when the Iraqi leadership and government makes a decision".
Britain, a key member of the US-led coalition against jihadists, urged Iraq to allow soldiers to stay in the country, saying their work was "vital".
Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary, said US troop presence in Iraq after the Iraqi parliamentary decision would be considered an "occupation".
Hardline parliamentarians with ties to Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, a military force close to Iran, had demanded the immediate expulsion of all foreign troops.
No Kurdish and most Sunni MPs boycotted the session as they were more supportive of an American military presence, seen as a counterweight to Iran.
Tom Warrick, a former US official and current fellow at the Atlantic Council, said Soleimani and pro-Iran factions within the Hashed had long sought the US's ouster.
"If US forces do end up withdrawing, it could grant Soleimani a post-humous victory," Warrick told AFP.
As the session got under way, the US-led coalition announced it was suspending its Iraq operations due to deadly rocket attacks on their bases.
"This has limited our capacity to conduct training with partners and to support their operations against Daesh (IS) and we have therefore paused these activities, subject to continuous review," it said.
Late Saturday, two missiles slammed into the Green Zone and another two rockets hit an airbase north of the capital housing American troops.
There had been fears of a volleys of rockets following a warning from a hardline Hashed faction for Iraqis to move away from US forces by Sunday afternoon.
Increased tensions had already prompted NATO to suspend training activities in Iraq and a US defense official told AFP American-led coalition forces would "limit" operations.
'BLATANT VIOLATION'
Iraq's foreign ministry said it summoned US ambassador Matthew Tueller and submitted complaints to the United Nations Security Council over the strikes.
"They were a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement, and "contradict the agreed-upon missions of the international coalition."
The US strike on Baghdad international airport early Friday killed five Iranian Revolutionary Guards and five members of Iraq's Hashed.
After a procession that made its way across various Iraqi cities on Saturday, the remains of the Iranians, plus those of Muhandis and another Hashed member, were flown to Iran where mourners packed the streets to pay tribute to them.
DNA testing was required to separate the Iraqis' remains so they could be properly buried, the Hashed said.
As head of the Quds Force, the Guards' foreign operations arm, Soleimani oversaw Iran's wide-ranging interventions in regional power struggles.
In Iraq, protesters taking to the streets since October had blamed him for propping up a government they see as corrupt and inept.
Demonstrations still rocked the capital and south on Sunday, with many protesting against Iran and the United States.
US President Donald Trump claimed Soleimani was planning an "imminent" attack on US personnel in the region and threatened Iran -- which has promised "severe revenge" -- with more strikes.
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UNITED NATIONS - The United States' killing of Iran's most prominent military commander, Qassem Soleimani, is virtual to starting a war and "the response for a military action is a military action," Iran's UN ambassador said on Friday.
Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said in an interview with CNN that by "assassinating" Soleimani, the United States had entered a new stage after starting an "economic war" by imposing tough sanctions on Iran in 2018.
"So that was ... a new chapter which is tantamount to opening a war against Iran," Ravanchi said.
Ravanchi, echoing Iranian leaders, said there would be harsh revenge. "The response for a military action is a military action," he said.
Earlier on Friday, the ambassador told the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Iran reserves the right to self-defense under international law.
In a letter, Ravanchi said the killing of Soleimani "is an obvious example of State terrorism and, as a criminal act, constitutes a gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law, including, in particular... the Charter of the United Nations."
Soleimani, a 62-year-old general who headed the overseas arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was regarded as the country's second most powerful figure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The United States killed Soleimani in an overnight attack in Iraq authorized by President Donald Trump. A senior Trump administration official said Soleimani had been planning imminent attacks on US personnel in the Middle East.
The United States could seek to justify killing Soleimani under Article 51 of the UN Charter, which covers an individual or collective right to self-defense against armed attack.
Under Article 51, countries are required to "immediately report" to the 15-member Security Council any measures taken in exercising the right to self-defense. The United States used Article 51 to justify taking action in Syria against Islamic State militants in 2014.
Diplomats said no such letter had yet been received from Washington on the killing of Soleimani.
Guterres is deeply concerned by the recent rise in tensions in the Middle East, his spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement earlier on Friday.
"This is a moment in which leaders must exercise maximum restraint. The world cannot afford another war in the Gulf," Haq said.
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WASHINGTON - Iran promised vengeance after a US air strike in Baghdad on Friday killed Qassem Soleimani, Tehran's most prominent military commander and the architect of its growing influence in the Middle East.
Soleimani, a 62-year-old general who headed the overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guards, was regarded as the second most powerful figure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The overnight attack, authorized by US President Donald Trump, was a major escalation in a "shadow war" in the Middle East between Iran and the United States and American allies, principally Israel and Saudi Arabia.
A senior Trump administration official said the general had been planning imminent attacks on US personnel across the Middle East. Democratic critics said the order by the Republican president was reckless and that he had raised the risk of more violence in a dangerous region.
"Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel but we caught him in the act and terminated him," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
"We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war."
Trump said the United States was not seeking regime change in Iran, but that Tehran must end what he called its aggression in the region, including the use of proxy fighters.
A top US general cautioned that the plot by Soleimani could still happen despite his death. US officials said Washington was sending nearly 3,000 more troops to the Middle East, joining roughly 750 sent to Kuwait this week.
The attack, which also killed a top Iraqi militia commander and adviser to Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, divided Iraqi opinion.
Many condemned the attacks, seeing Soleimani as a hero for his role in defeating the Islamic State militant group. Others voiced approval, saying Soleimani and Muhandis had backed the use of force against unarmed anti-government protesters last year and established militias that demonstrators blame for many of Iraq's social and economic woes.
However, many Iraqis criticized Washington for killing the men on Iraqi soil and possibly plunging Iraq into another war.
Early on Saturday in Baghdad, air strikes hit a convoy carrying medics belonging to an Iran-backed militia near Taji stadium north of the city, Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces umbrella grouping of paramilitary groups said.
An Iraqi army source said 6 people were killed and 3 wounded. State TV reported that it was carried out by the United States. There was no immediate confirmation from Washington.
There had already been a sharp increase in US-Iranian hostilities last week when pro-Iranian militia attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad following a deadly US air raid on the Kataib Hezbollah militia, founded by Muhandis.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said with Friday's attack, Washington had breached Iraq's sovereignty and violated a deal for keeping US troops there.
INTELLIGENCE OPERATION
Two Iraqi security sources said the attack followed an intelligence operation in which inside sources recruited by the CIA revealed the timing of Soleimani's arrival in Baghdad and his convoy leaving the airport.
Khamenei said harsh revenge awaited the "criminals" who killed Soleimani and his death would redouble resistance against the United States and Israel. He called for 3 days of national mourning.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the attack was an act of "international terrorism" and Iran would take legal action to hold Washington to account.
US officials said Soleimani was killed in a drone strike. Iran said he died in an attack by US helicopters.
Israel put its army on high alert and US allies in Europe including Britain, France and Germany voiced concerns. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "maximum restraint."
In a letter to Guterres and the UN Security Council, Iran said it reserved the right under international law to self-defense and that Soleimani's killing "by any measure, is an obvious example of State terrorism."
Iran's top Arab foe, Saudi Arabia, urged restraint. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his US counterpart Mike Pompeo on a phone call that the killing "grossly violates international law" and would lead to serious consequences for regional peace and stability, according to a ministry statement.
The US embassy in Baghdad urged American citizens to leave Iraq immediately, and dozens of US citizens working for foreign oil companies in the southern city of Basra left. The evacuations would not affect output and exports, Iraqi officials said.
Oil prices jumped more than $3 a barrel over concern about disruption to Middle East supplies.
'STICK OF DYNAMITE'
The United States and its allies have suspended training of Iraqi forces due to the increased threat they face, the German military said in a letter seen by Reuters.
Chas Freeman, a retired US ambassador, said he could think of no other example of the United States openly killing a senior foreign government official during peacetime. "This is unprecedented," Freeman said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a contender among Democrats seeking to run against Trump in November, said Trump had "tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox."
After being briefed by US officials in Washington, House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, questioned why Trump chose to act against Soleimani now, when previous administrations decided such a step would increase risks in the region.
"If the administration has a broader strategy, they have yet to articulate it," Schiff told reporters.
As chief of the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards foreign arm, Soleimani had a main role in fighting in Syria and Iraq.
Over 2 decades he was at the forefront of projecting Iran's military influence across the Middle East and survived several assassination attempts by Western, Israeli and Arab agencies, acquiring celebrity status at home and abroad.
President Hassan Rouhani said the killing would stiffen Iran's resistance to the United States.
In the capital Tehran, hundreds of demonstrators marched toward Khamenei's compound to convey their condolences.
"I am not a pro-regime person but I liked Soleimani. He was brave and he loved Iran, I am very sorry for our loss," said housewife Mina Khosrozadeh in Tehran.
Soleimani became head of the Quds Force in 1998, after which he strengthened Iran's ties with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria's government and Shi’ite militia groups in Iraq.
In Soleimani's hometown, Kerman, people wearing black gathered in front of his father's house, weeping as they listened to a recitation from the Koran.
"Heroes never die. It cannot be true. Qassem Soleimani will always be alive," said Mohammad Reza Seraj, a teacher.
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BAGHDAD - Iraq's embattled premier announced Friday he will resign in keeping with the wishes of the country's top Shiite cleric, after nearly two months of anti-government protests that have cost more than 400 lives.
Adel Abdel Mahdi's written statement was greeted with cheers and blaring music across Baghdad's iconic Tahrir (Liberation) Square, where crowds have amassed since early October against a ruling class deemed corrupt and inefficient.
"I will submit to the esteemed parliament a formal letter requesting my resignation from the premiership," Abdel Mahdi wrote, just hours after Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called in his weekly sermon on parliament to replace the cabinet.
The sermon set off an avalanche of statements from political figures in support of a no-confidence vote on the government, before the prime minister's announcement.
Celebrations broke out in Tahrir, where young protesters dropped the stones they were preparing to throw at riot police and began dancing, an AFP photographer said.
"It's our first victory, and we're hoping for many more," shouted one demonstrator as the three-wheeled tuk-tuk vehicles used to ferry casualties pumped patriotic music into the square.
"It's also a victory for the martyrs who fell," he said.
The grassroots movement is the largest Iraq has seen in decades but also the deadliest, with more than 400 people dead and 15,000 wounded in the capital and Shiite-majority south, according to an AFP tally.
For weeks, Sistani had called for restraint in dealing with demonstrators and urged political parties to get "serious" about reform, but he ramped up demands on Friday.
"The parliament, from which this current government is drawn, is asked to reconsider its choice in this regard," he said in Friday's sermon delivered by a representative.
Within minutes, MP and former premier Haider al-Abadi called on lawmakers to convene Saturday for a "special session for a vote of no-confidence and to form a new independent government".
And the powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network, which had backed the government, also appeared to change course.
Its parliamentary bloc, Fatah, called for "the necessary changes in the interests of Iraq".
Bloodshed resumes
The sudden turnaround came after one of the bloodiest days of protests yet, with 44 demonstrators killed and nearly 1,000 wounded on Thursday in Baghdad and across the south.
The bloodshed resumed on Friday, with two protesters shot dead in the flashpoint city of Nasiriyah and another killed in the shrine city of Najaf.
"The increasing numbers of deaths and injuries cannot be tolerated," said the UN's top official in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.
The majority of Thursday's dead fell in Nasiriyah, which counted 26 dead, including two who died Friday from injuries suffered the previous day.
In renewed rallies Friday in Nasiriyah, demonstrators encircled a police station and set ablaze five police cars.
And in Najaf, a massive funeral procession snaked through the streets carrying coffins of some of the 16 people killed there the previous day.
Clashes erupted there between protesters and armed men dressed in civilian clothes, with volleys of gunfire heard outside political party offices, according to witnesses.
Demonstrators felt emboldened by Sistani's sermon, which was "different than the previous ones", said Ali al-Sunbuli, an activist in Najaf.
The sermon began with a prayer for the protesters who died and then addressed parliament directly, not the cabinet or political parties.
"It's a sign that he doesn't recognise their legitimacy," said Sunbuli.
In Diwaniyah, another hotspot, protester Ahmad al-Badr said that Sistani's speech "was a big push for us".
Turning tides
The unrest in Iraq's south was unleashed after protesters stormed the Iranian consulate in Najaf late Wednesday, accusing the neighbouring country of propping up Iraq's government.
Tehran demanded Iraq take decisive action against the protesters, saying it was "disgusted" by developments.
In response, Abdel Mahdi ordered military chiefs to deploy in several provinces to "impose security and restore order" -- but chaos reigned instead.
Men in civilian clothes opened fire at demonstrators and tribal fighters deployed in the streets in their defence.
As the death toll climbed late Thursday, the premier sacked the commander he had dispatched to Nasiriyah and the provincial governor based in the city resigned.
Police officers speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP they had received orders Thursday to "finish off" the rallies.
Baghdad and the south have been rocked by the most widespread street unrest since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Protesters are seeking an overhaul of the ruling elite, accused of corruption and embezzling state funds in a country scarred by decades of conflict and where infrastructure is failing.
Iraq is OPEC's second-largest crude producer but one in five Iraqis lives in poverty and youth unemployment stands at 25 percent, according to the World Bank.
Demonstrators have also called out Iraq's large eastern neighbour Iran, accusing it of political, economic and military overreach.
Top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani last month convinced political factions to back the government, including firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr, who had called on the premier to resign.
But as the tide appeared to turn again, Sadr resurfaced Thursday, saying it would "be the beginning of the end for Iraq" if the government did not step down.
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BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqis thronged central Baghdad on Friday demanding the root-and-branch downfall of the political elite, in what was expected to become the biggest day of mass anti-government demonstrations since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Protests in which 250 people have died over the past month have accelerated dramatically in recent days, drawing huge crowds from across Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divides to reject the political parties in power since 2003.
Thousands have been camped out in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square, with many thousands more joining them by day. Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, was expected to draw the biggest crowds yet, with many taking to the streets after worship.
More than 50 people were wounded overnight and early Friday morning, police and hospital sources said. By late morning hundreds were marching to the square from side streets, condemning elites they see as deeply corrupt, beholden to foreign powers and responsible for daily privations.
In recent days protests have been comparatively peaceful by day, joined by elderly people and young families, becoming more violent after dark as police use tear gas and live ammunition to battle self-proclaimed "revolutionary" youths in the street.
Amnesty International said on Thursday security forces were using "previously unseen" tear gas canisters modeled on military grenades that are 10 times as heavy as standard ones.
In Baghdad, protesters had set up checkpoints in the streets leading into and surrounding Tahrir Square, redirecting traffic.
New arrivals joined and assisted those who had camped overnight. A group of young people was sweeping the streets in to "make things comfortable" for fellow protesters.
Mohammed Najm, an engineering graduate with no job, said the square had become a model for the country he and his comrades hope to build: "We are cleaning streets, others bring us water, they bring us electricity, they wired it up.
"A mini-state. Health for free, tuk-tuks transporting for free," he said. "The state has been around for 16 years and what it failed to do we did in seven days in Tahrir. If they can't do it, leave."
Many were singing about the sit in. Helmets and gas masks were now a common sight. A group of middle-aged women sat making falafel sandwiches.
"We are making food for the protesters. They are our sons and brothers," said Umm Idrees, mother to three university graduates who have all failed to find jobs. "We are here until the regime falls, every day."
'NOT ENOUGH'
In his weekly sermon, top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani warned of "civil conflict, chaos and destruction" if the security forces or paramilitary groups crack down on the protests. And he gave an apparent nod to protesters who say the government is being manipulated from abroad, above all by Iran.
"No one person or group or side with an agenda, or any regional or international party, can infringe upon the will of Iraqis or force an opinion upon them," Sistani's representative said during a sermon in the holy city of Kerbala.
Despite OPEC member Iraq's vast oil wealth, many Iraqis live in poverty or have limited access to clean water, electricity, basic health care and education. The protests are driven by young people who above all want jobs.
The government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, in office for a year, has failed to find a response to the protests. A crackdown that saw police fire into crowds from rooftops has only inflamed the anger of the crowds.
Many see the political class as subservient to one or another of Baghdad's main allies, the United States and Iran, who use Iraq as a proxy for a struggle for regional influence.
"The leadership is controlled by Iran," said barber Amir, 26. "When we make demands we shouldn't even talk to the government, we should talk to Iran. We don't have a government."
Reuters reported this week that a powerful Iran-backed faction had considered abandoning Abdul Mahdi, but decided to keep him in office after a secret meeting attended by a general from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
An Iranian security official confirmed General Qassem Soleimani had attended Wednesday's meeting, saying he was there to "give advice."
President Barham Salih said on Thursday that Abdul Mahdi was willing to resign if parliament's main blocs could agree on a replacement.
Protesters say that wouldn't be enough; they want to undo the entire post-Saddam political system, which distributes power among sectarian parties, giving them little incentive to reform.
"We don't want to oust just Adel Abdul Mahdi, we want all the corrupt ones. So what if he resigns? What will happen? They will get someone worse," said Amir. "It is not enough. What about the rest of them? We don't want the parties."
There were protests in other provinces, with the unrest having spread across much of the southern Shi'ite heartland.
Some protesters in oil-rich Basra tried to block the road leading to Majnoon oilfield and pitched a tent on Friday in support of the Baghdad protests but oil sources said operations were not interrupted.
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When anti-government demonstrations shook Iraq, authorities cut the internet to disconnect protesters and slow sharing of bloody images -- a digital clampdown estimated to have cost the economy nearly a billion dollars.
Officials say 110 people died in the violence in the first week of October, mostly protesters killed by gunshots.
From the second day of unrest, the internet was restricted and the day after authorities ordered it cut entirely.
A fortnight later, while calm has returned to the streets, social media websites are still blocked. The only way around the restriction is to use a virtual private network (VPN) application, which connects to networks outside the country, or via expensive satellite connections.
But for enterprises whose business is conducted online, these workarounds have not prevented heavy losses.
Online sales hit
One online delivery company incurred more than 50 percent losses daily after it lost access to the locations of its clients, businesses and couriers, its finance director told AFP.
Scheduled deliveries were possible using offline maps but the delays cost them customers, the manager said, asking to remain anonymous.
And when they started using the telephone instead of the internet for communicating with clients, bills shot up, compounding losses, he added.
Cyber security NGO NetBlocks estimated the total losses to the Iraqi economy at $951 million (864 million euros).
But this only took into account the seven days of total blackout. Restrictions that continue 12 days later on the 3G mobile network and social media platforms continue to cost the economy an estimated $10 million daily.
Worst hit are the start-ups that are just starting to flourish in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq -- where online shopping and services are still in their infancy.
Iraq has more than 15,000 digital storefronts on Facebook and Instagram, said an IT professional familiar with the country's digital economy.
"Online sales were totally stopped for 12 days because they are hosted on social networks," the expert said, asking to remain nameless to discuss a sensitive topic.
Normally, each of these pages might make "10 to 15 sales a day for an average of $40 per purchases," he said, estimating losses already into the tens of millions of dollars.
Virtual unemployment, salary cuts
The cuts have also had a social impact in the conservative country, where many find work in the informal economy.
"Many women can't work outside the home," the e-commerce expert noted, adding that working online offered a way to support their families without breaching social norms.
Couriers have also been affected. "According to estimates, more than 400 motorcyclists and 5,000 delivery drivers have been out of work for 12 days," he said.
And travellers who might otherwise make reservations online are calling travel agents to make arrangements.
At one travel company in Baghdad, an employee told AFP they were losing $15,000 in commissions daily.
To retain clients, the agency was making reservations via companies in Iraqi Kurdistan -- the autonomous region where internet is unaffected.
"We're not making anything on the transaction," the travel agent said. "But at least we're keeping their loyalty for later."
But while the company was retaining clients, employees were leaving.
"Four colleagues quit because of the blackout," she said. "They were worried about having no salary at the end of the month and left to look for work elsewhere."
Already, she said, most travel agencies have announced salary cuts of 30 percent.
For now the digital blackout may continue, despite the telecommunications ministry announcing Friday that connections were restored.
Internet service providers however have told their clients they do not know when they will get orders to reconnect the network.
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BAGHDAD - At least 8 people were killed and 25 wounded in new clashes between protesters and police in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, police and medical sources said.
The clashes were in Sadr city, a sprawling residential district of the Iraqi capital, and added to a death toll of more than 100 people killed in less than a week of protests over corruption and unemployment.
Police, backed by the army, used live rounds and tear gas to disperse the crowds at two separate locations in Sadr City, police said.
The protests pose the biggest security and political challenge for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government since it took power a year ago, and have revived fears of a new spiral of violence that could suck in influential militia groups.
Two years after oil-producing Iraq declared the defeat of Islamic State, security has improved but corruption is rampant, wrecked infrastructure has not been rebuilt and jobs are scarce.
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IRBIL, Iraq — Life was a struggle for Jimmy Aldaoud. He was bipolar and schizophrenic, and battled depression and diabetes. He got into trouble, frequently landing in jail or on the street in and around Detroit, where he grew up.
Then, in June, he was deported to Iraq, and life got even more difficult. He had never set foot there before, his family said. He did not understand Arabic. He did not have enough medicine.
And he was alone. His three sisters did not even know he had been sent there until he called them from the city of Najaf.
Aldaoud, 41, died in Baghdad on Tuesday, after days of vomiting blood and begging to return to the United States.
“He was sort of doomed from the beginning,” said Edward Bajoka, an immigration lawyer who is in touch with Aldaoud’s family.
Aldaoud’s experience illustrates the dire consequences that noncitizens living in the United States may face if they are deported to countries they have not seen in decades, or ever. Aldaoud was officially an Iraqi, but he was born in a refugee camp in Greece and entered the United States legally in 1979 at the age of 6 months.
Almost as soon as Aldaoud left the airport in Najaf, Iraq, he would have been unable to read the signs or understand the conversations all around him. Everything from the scorching summer sun to the electricity cuts that punctuate the days would have been strange.
“He was literally crying every day,” his sister Rita Aldaoud, 30, said in an interview, adding that Aldaoud told her he would rather be back in an American jail.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Detroit said in an unsigned statement that Aldaoud, whose name is sometimes spelled Al-Daoud, was ordered removed from the United States in May 2018 after at least 20 criminal convictions over the previous two decades, including assault with a weapon, domestic violence and home invasion. While awaiting deportation, he was released in December with a GPS tracker, but he cut it off, the agency said. Local police arrested him in April on a larceny charge, and he was finally deported on June 2.
After about two weeks in Iraq, Aldaoud lamented his harrowing situation in a video that was posted on Facebook.
“They wouldn’t let me call my family, nothing,” he says of U.S. immigration officers in the video. “I begged them. I said: ‘Please, I’ve never seen that country. I’ve never been there.’”
Aldaoud, sitting on the ground, says he had been sleeping in the street and struggling to find food. “I’ve got nothing over here, as you can see,” he says.
In the video, a cross tattoo can be seen on his forearm. Aldaoud is a Chaldean Catholic; in mainly Muslim Iraq, Christians are a minority that has shrunk considerably since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Shortly after the video was posted, the Rev. Martin Hermiz, spokesman for Iraq’s Christian Endowment, found Aldaoud’s cellphone number and called him to ask if he needed help.
“He said, ‘No — if anyone wants to help me, let Trump know my situation here in Iraq so maybe he can have mercy on me and bring me back to America,’” Hermiz recalled, adding that Aldaoud also turned down an offer to stay in a church, saying he wanted to live alone and pay his rent himself.
The small apartment Aldaoud found was in a working-class Christian neighborhood of Baghdad, where there are churches and women can walk comfortably without headscarves.
Hermiz said he did not hear from Aldaoud again, but he did get a call from a friend of Aldaoud, who said he had taken Aldaoud to a Baghdad hospital because he was vomiting blood. The hospital gave him medication and sent him home, Hermiz said.
Rita Aldaoud said her brother had similar symptoms in the past when his blood sugar spiked. In the last few days of his life, his family grew worried about his health. When they called him, she said, “he would answer and say, ‘I can’t talk,’ and you could hear he was throwing up.”
A Baghdad neighbor found him dead in his apartment Tuesday morning.
Politicians have expressed outrage at ICE before over the deaths of asylum-seekers who have been killed after being deported.
“We knew he would not survive if deported,” said Miriam Aukerman, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
Rep. Andy Levin, a Democrat who represents the district in metropolitan Detroit where Aldaoud used to live, said he did not have to die. “His death could have and should have been prevented, as his deportation was essentially a death sentence,” Levin said in a statement.
Aldaoud has had trouble believing that her brother could have been deported to a country in which he had never set foot.
“It’s baffling, I don’t understand it,” Rita Aldaoud said. “We’re still dumbfounded, to be honest.”
“It was a shock to find out he’d passed, but to be honest, I didn’t know how he would make it there,” she added.
For now, Aldaoud’s body is in the Baghdad morgue. An Iraqi court has ordered an investigation into the cause of his death, and Dr. Ziad Ali, the country’s forensic medical examiner, said he thought it would be another month before pathology and tests are complete.
No one is sure what will happen to his body after that, Hermiz said: “We are looking for relatives to receive him, but what a pity it is that there are no relatives to receive him here in Iraq.”
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Christians quietly celebrated Christmas on Tuesday amid improved security, more than a year after the country declared victory over Islamic State militants who threatened to end their 2,000-year history in Iraq.
Christianity in Iraq dates back to the first century of the Christian era, when the apostles Thomas and Thaddeus are believed to have preached the Gospel on the fertile flood plains of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
Iraq is home to many different eastern rite churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, traditionally a sign of the country's ethnic and religious diversity.
But war and sectarian conflict shrank Iraq's Christian population from 1.5 million to about 400,000 after the US-led invasion in 2003. Following the onslaught of Islamic State in 2014 and the brutal three-year war that followed their numbers have fallen further, though it is not known exactly by how much.
In Baghdad, Christians celebrated mass on Tuesday morning -- declared a national holiday by government -- in churches decorated for Christmas. Once fearful, they said they were now hopeful, since conditions had improved.
"Of course we can say the security situation is better than in previous years," said Father Basilius, leader of the St George Chaldean Church in Baghdad where more than a hundred congregants attended Christmas mass.
"We enjoy security and stability mainly in Baghdad. In addition, Daesh was beaten," he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
Iraq declared victory over the militants more than a year ago, but the damage done to Christian enclaves on the Nineveh Plains has been extensive.
In Qaraqosh, a town also known as Hamdaniya which lies 15 km (10 miles) west of Mosul, the damage is still visible.
At the city's Immaculate Church, which belongs to the Syrian Catholic denomination and has not yet been rebuilt since the militants set it on fire in 2014, Christians gathered for midnight mass on Monday, surrounded by blackened walls still tagged with Islamic State graffiti.
Dozens of worshippers prayed and received communion, and then gathered around the traditional bonfire in the church's courtyard.
Before the militant onslaught, Qaraqosh was the largest Christian settlement in Iraq, with a population of more than 50,000. But today only a few hundred families have returned.
Faced with a choice to convert, pay a tax or die, many Christians in the Nineveh Plains fled to nearby towns and cities and some eventually moved abroad.
Some have since returned, Father Butros said, adding: "We hope that all displaced families will return." (Reporting by Reuters Video News; writing by Raya Jalabi Editing by Gareth Jones)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
* Iraq needs $88 billion to rebuild after three-year war
* U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson urges support
* Urges vigilance to prevent Islamic State returning
* Iraq to sign $3 billion MoU with EXIM Bank
* NATO says ready to expand training mission in Iraq
KUWAIT - The United States on Tuesday urged members of the coalition fighting Islamic State to help rebuild Iraq or risk a reversal of the gains made against the group, and said it would extend to Baghdad a $3 billion credit line.
The United States leads the coalition and hopes that after a three-year fight to defeat the militants it can count largely on Gulf allies to shoulder the burden of rebuilding Iraq. It is also counting on a Saudi-Iraqi rapprochement to weaken Iran's influence there.
Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December, having taken back all the territory captured by the militants in 2014 and 2015. The fighters have also been largely defeated in neighboring Syria.
"If communities in Iraq and Syria cannot return to normal life, we risk the return of conditions that allowed ISIS to take and control vast territory," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a donors' conference for Iraq hosted by Kuwait. ISIS is another acronym for Islamic State.
"We must continue to clear unexploded remnants of war left behind by ISIS, enable hospitals to reopen, restore water and electricity services, and get boys and girls back in school."
Although the U.S. government was not expected to pledge direct financial aid at the conference, Tillerson said the official U.S. export credit agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), would sign with Iraq's finance ministry on Tuesday a $3 billion memorandum of understanding "that will set a stage for future cooperation".
Iraq has suffered from decades of war and it is striking that it is holding its reconstruction conference in Kuwait, which it invaded in 1990, leading to defeat by a U.S.-led coalition and more than a decade of sanctions.
Kuwait will celebrate Liberation Day from Iraq in two weeks and Iraq still pays it reparations.
BALANCING ACT
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government is pursuing a difficult diplomatic balancing act by trying to maintain good relations with both the United States and its Sunni Gulf Arab allies and with their main regional foe, Shi'ite Iran.
Arriving in Kuwait for the conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said his country would "stand by the Iraqi people forever".
"At a time when only a few countries were participating in the reconstruction of Iraq, Iranian companies were active in building roads in the country and providing Iraqis with engineering services," he was quoted by state news agency IRNA.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose government puts the costs of reconstruction at more than $88 billion , said Iraq could not rebuild without outside help.
Iraq has published a list of some 157 projects for which it is seeking investment. Baghdad has said it is determined to tackle the red tape and corruption that hamper investment.
"Doing business in Iraq can be complicated, but the Iraqi market has vast potential," said Tillerson.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was ready to answer a U.S. call for it to expand its small training mission in Iraq to support reconstruction.
Tillerson also cautioned that the end of major combat operations in Iraq did not mean the United States and its allies had achieved final victory over the militants.
"In Iraq and Syria, ISIS is attempting to morph into an insurgency. In places like Afghanistan, the Philippines, Libya, West Africa, and others, it is trying to carve out and secure safe havens," he said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis echoed those comments, saying the fight against Islamic State had been discussed on Tuesday at a meeting in Rome of about a dozen coalition defense ministers.
"ISIS is not down, the fight is not over... not even the caliphate is completely down... We have to work against this ideology, we have to work against (the) financing," he said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi military parade in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone celebrated final victory over Islamic State on Sunday, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi looking on as troops marched in formation, their bodies spelling "victory day" in Arabic.
Abadi, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, listened solemnly to Quranic verses from a chapter titled al-Nasr, meaning victory.
Iraqi forces recaptured the last areas still under Islamic State control along the border with Syria on Saturday and secured the western desert, marking the end of the war against the militants three years after they had captured about a third of Iraq's territory.
The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare.
Watching the parade on Sunday, state television showed Abadi sat on a throne-like chair placed between two Iraqi flags with the country's official seal behind him, and with all other officials sat at a distance from him.
Abadi declared Dec. 10 would be an annual national holiday. Fighter jets were seen and heard flying over Baghdad's skies.
An announcer introduced various factions who took on Islamic State as troops marched, tanks rolled by and helicopters hovered, all brandishing Iraqi flags as Abadi stood up and waved.
Those who fought were drawn from the army, air force, federal and local police, elite counter-terrorism forces, as well as Shi'ite and Sunni paramilitaries and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They received key air support from a US-led global coalition.
In his victory speech, delivered on Saturday, Abadi did not mention the Peshmerga, who played a big part in the fight against Islamic State.
The central government in Baghdad is in conflict with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government after the latter unilaterally held an independence referendum in September.
Instead Abadi hailed the Iranian-trained and backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a group of Shi'ite militias, many of whom are loyal to Iran.
He also said that the state should have a legitimate monopoly on arms, however. Disarming the PMF is seen as Abadi's greatest challenge after Islamic State's defeat.
The man who many saw as weak and ineffectual when he took over in 2014 from a predecessor who was blamed for the Islamic State takeover now heads towards an election next year as the commander who freed Iraqi lands.
Or as one Western diplomat described him - "the most popular man in Iraq."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
