Iraq
Its Olympic future in doubt, weightlifting names new leader

Jun. 25, 2022 12:34 PM EDT
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Iraqi official Mohammed Jalood was elected president of the International Weightlifting Federation in chaotic scenes on Saturday. ...

Tom Davis, shakes hands with Freddie De Los Santos after winning at Men's H4 Time Trial at the Fuji International Speedway at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
From battlefield to Tokyo: Combat vets vie at Paralympics

By Tim Sullivan Sep. 07, 2021 11:01 AM EDT

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, accompanied by Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, right, speaks during a news conference at Fiera Roma in Rome, Monday, June 28, 2021. Blinken is on a week long trip in Europe traveling to Germany, France and Italy. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
US warns that Islamic State extremists still a world threat

By Matthew Lee Jun. 28, 2021 06:49 AM EDT

Jordan's King Abdullah II, center, arrives in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, June 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Egyptian, Jordanian and Iraqi leaders meet in Baghdad

Jun. 27, 2021 11:25 AM EDT

CORRECTS SPELLING TO ISMAIL FROM ISMAEL - Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, Iraq Oil minister speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 11, 2021. Iraq's oil sector is rebounding after a catastrophic year triggered by the coronavirus pandemic with key investment projects on the horizon, but the country's oil minister warned an enduring bureaucratic culture of fear threatens to stand in the way. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban).
AP Interview: Iraq oil minister says gas sector a priority

By Samya Kullab Jun. 11, 2021 10:21 AM EDT

FILE— In this Dec. 11, 2006, file photo, top cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, center, speaks during a conference on the Holocaust with Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedman, left, from Austria, and Rabbi Ahron Cohen, right, from England, in Tehran, Iran. Mohtashamipour, a Shiite cleric who as Iran's ambassador to Syria helped found the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and lost his right hand to a book bombing reportedly carried out by Israel, died Monday, June 7, 2021, of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
Iran cleric who founded Hezbollah, survived book bomb, dies

By Jon Gambrell Jun. 07, 2021 05:21 AM EDT

Anti-government protesters chant slogans as they hold posters of slain activists outside the Green Zone area which houses the seat of the country's government and foreign embassies, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 25, 2021. Hundreds of Iraqi protesters have taken to the streets of Baghdad to decry a recent spike in assassinations targeting outspoken activists and journalists. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
1 killed as protesters scuffle with Iraqi security forces

By Samya Kullab May. 25, 2021 10:17 AM EDT

Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO's director general, right, attends the exhibition " Revive the Spirit of Mosul ", in Venice, Italy Friday, May 21, 2021. The United Nations’ cultural agency has opened an exhibit detailing plans to rebuild the Iraqi city of Mosul that underlines the role of architecture in helping heal wounds. The exhibit is on the sidelines of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition that opened after a one-year pandemic delay Saturday for a six-month run under the title: “How will we live together?” (UNESCO via AP)
UNESCO exhibit in Venice focuses on rebuilding Mosul sites

By Colleen Barry May. 22, 2021 10:06 AM EDT

Protests erupt in Iraqi city after killing of activist

May. 09, 2021 04:51 PM EDT
BAGHDAD (AP) — Protesters set fire to trailers belonging to Iran’s consulate in Karbala on Sunday amid widespread anger over the killing of a prominent...

Chinese in Iraq blocked from flying home after virus cases

May. 07, 2021 07:20 AM EDT
BEIJING (AP) — Employees of two Chinese state-owned companies in Iraq are blocked from returning to China for two months after 14 coworkers flew home with the...

A follower of populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr holds a picture of him while waiting with others to receive a dose of the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine at a clinic in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, May 4, 2021. Iraq’s vaccine rollout had been faltering for weeks. Apathy, fear and rumors kept many from getting vaccinated despite a serious surge in coronavirus infections and calls by the government for people to register for shots. It took al-Sadr’s public endorsement of vaccinations — and images of him getting the shot — to turn things around. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Iraq pushes vaccine rollout amid widespread apathy, distrust

By Abdulrahman Zeyad May. 05, 2021 02:42 AM EDT

Iraq's health minister resigns over Baghdad hospital fire

May. 04, 2021 12:55 PM EDT
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's health minister resigned Tuesday over a week after a deadly blaze killed dozens of people in a Baghdad hospital for COVID-19 patients...

Uffizi director Eike Schmidt poses on the occasion of the Uffizi Gallery museum reopening to the public, in Florence, Italy, Tuesday, May 4, 2021. The Uffizi Gallery reopened to visitors after a shutdown following COVID-19 containment measures. (Giuseppe Cabras/LaPresse via AP)
The Latest: Australia PM stands firm on India flight halt

By The Associated Press May. 04, 2021 03:58 AM EDT

The intensive care unit at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital is damaged following a fire that broke out last Saturday evening killing over 80 people and injuring over 100, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Medical staff who witnessed the first moments of a Baghdad hospital fire described horrific scenes: deafening screams, a patient who jumped to his death to escape the inferno and relatives who died because they refused to abandon coronavirus patients tethered to ventilators. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Iraqi medics recount horrors from Baghdad's hospital inferno

By Samya Kullab And Abdulrahman Zeyad Apr. 27, 2021 08:41 AM EDT

Iraqi rights commission: 58 people killed in Baghdad hospital fire, including coronavirus patients with severe symptoms

Apr. 25, 2021 05:33 AM EDT
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi rights commission: 58 people killed in Baghdad hospital fire, including coronavirus patients with severe symptoms. ...

Mourners take the body of Khudair Ali, a coronavirus patient who died in a hospital fire, during his funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, April 25, 2021. Iraq's Interior Ministry said Sunday that over 80 people died and over 100 were injured in a catastrophic fire that broke out in the intensive care unit of a Baghdad hospital tending to severe coronavirus patients in the early morning Sunday. (AP/Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Death toll in fire at Iraqi COVID-19 hospital surpasses 80

By Samya Kullab Apr. 25, 2021 04:56 AM EDT

Fire tears through Baghdad hospital for coronavirus patients

By Samya Kullab Apr. 24, 2021 05:53 PM EDT
BAGHDAD (AP) — A fire broke out in a Baghdad hospital that cares for coronavirus patients after oxygen cylinders reportedly exploded late Saturday, officials...

FILE - In this file photo released by Iraq's Ministry of Justice on June 29, 2018, blindfolded prisoners await their executions in Iraq. A report released by Amnesty International on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, said the number of executions worldwide in 2020 plummeted to its lowest level in at least a decade. But the report said four states in the Middle East — Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia respectively — topped the global list and pressed on with shootings, beheadings and hangings, ignoring pleas by rights groups to halt executions during the pandemic. (Iraq Ministry of Justice via AP, File)
Report: Mideast countries top 2020 global executioners list

By Isabel Debre Apr. 20, 2021 09:42 PM EDT

In this 2009 photo from left, Khodeir Majid and Iraq senior producer Ahmad Sami stand at the AP office in Baghdad. Majid, who covered Iraq’s numerous conflicts as a video producer and cameraman for the Associated Press over 17 years has died at the age of 64. Relatives said the cause of his death on Friday morning was complications due to the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ahmad Sami)
Veteran AP producer, cameraman in Iraq dies of COVID-19

By Zeina Karam Apr. 16, 2021 01:15 PM EDT

People walk through closed Tehran's Grand Bazaar, Iran, Saturday, April 10, 2021. Iran on Saturday imposed partial lockdown on businesses in major shopping centers as well as intercity travels through personal cars in major cities including capital Tehran as it struggles with the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in the Mideast region. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iran enforces 10-day lockdown amid fourth wave of pandemic

By Amir Vahdat Apr. 10, 2021 08:34 AM EDT