Nytimes.com | Farnaz Fassihi

A year after Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody ignited fierce anti-government protests, her family reminisces about the young woman they called Jina.

Rudaw.net | Karwan Faidhi Dri

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Beytocan, a legendary Kurdish singer, passed away in a Swedish hospital on Monday, after a long fight against jaw bone cancer. He had wished to spend his last days in the Kurdistan Region and see an independent Kurdish state but these dreams never came true. 

Iraqoilreport.com | Lizzie Porter and Ben Van Heuvelen

High-level diplomacy has failed to make progress, and a recent U.S. legal filing from Turkey suggests a new phase of adversarial action. 

Nytimes.com | By Farnaz Fassihi

Sept. 16 marks one year since Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police, setting off months of protests. Authorities are trying to quell any new unrest.

Rudaw.net By Chenar Chalak 

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have so far lost around five billion dollars due to the halt in the Region’s oil exports through Turkey's Ceyhan port since March, a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) official told reporters on Tuesday, adding that Baghdad has not taken any “practical steps” to resume the exports.

Kurdistan24.net

“He was a patriot and a strong advocate of Kurdistan, especially the culture of peaceful coexistence of different communities in Kurdistan,” PM Masrour Barzani said in a condolence message.

Al-monitor.com | Amberin Zaman 

Nytimes.com | Vivian Yee, Leily Nikounazar

Lawmakers are warning that one province will run out within three months, and the shortage is inflaming tensions with the country’s neighbors.

Nytimes.com | Farnaz Fassihi

The uprising began in September, after a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of Iran’s morality police. She had been arrested on accusations of violating mandatory-hijab rules, and a gruesome photo and video of her unconscious in a hospital bed went viral, sparking outrage and grief. The protest movement — known as Woman, Life, Freedom — quickly morphed into broader demands for an end to the Islamic Republic’s rule.

On the surface, Iraq appears to have achieved a measure of stability. The country finally has a functioning government after a yearlong political vacuum. Terrorist violence has fallen to its lowest rate since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Even the country’s Iran-backed militias—long a source of tension with Washington—have significantly reduced their attacks on U.S. diplomatic and military sites. In a May 4 speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan credited a U.S strategy built on the “twin pillars of deterrence and diplomacy” for the decrease in attacks on U.S. interests.