Zig’s Place Chat Room Discussion and News Thurs PM 2-25-21
Zig’s Place Chat Room Discussion and News Thurs PM 2-25-21
Zig: Welcome to zig's place, a chat room for dinar speculators and others....discuss any topic that you wish here
butterfly https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/Iraq-s-Intelligence-arrests-ISIS-prominent-leader-in-Kurdistan Iraq’s Intelligence arrests ISIS prominent leader in Kurdistan
butterfly 2021-02-25 12:58 Shafaq News / an ISIS sniper had arrested in the "southern sector" in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, a security source said on Thursday,
The source told Shafaq News Agency, "The Iraqi intelligence service carried out an operation in coordination with the Kurdistan’s Asayish in which it arrested the terrorist “Bashar Al-Idwani” who is responsible for snipers divisions in the southern sector."
He said "The intelligence service tracked Al-Idwani’s movement for three months before arresting him."
According to the source, "Al-Idwani is considered one of the most dangerous wanted persons; he was a leader during the invasions against the Iraqi security forces in northern Babel, Ameriyat al-Fallujah and Khalidiya."
In 2017, Iraq declared final victory over ISIS after Iraqi forces drove its last remnants from the country, three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq’s territory.
Yet, ISIS still has sleeper cells in several Iraqi Governorates.
butterfly https://www.arabnews.com/node/1815871/middle-east Saddam Hussein ‘acted like Hitler’ during Kuwait invasion, former UK PM Thatcher said
butterfly This week marks the 30th anniversary of the end of the Gulf War, which concluded when a US-led military coalition liberated Kuwait
British government papers declassified in the past few years reveal Thatcher also described the Iraqi leader as a “selfish, despotic dictator”
butterfly LONDON: As the 30th anniversary of the end of the Gulf War approaches, much interesting historical detail and context can be found by reviewing official UK government documents that were only made public in the past few years.
For example, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher compared Saddam Hussein to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler when Iraq invaded Kuwait. She also described him as a “selfish, despotic dictator” who engaged in “psychological warfare,” according to papers that were declassified and released in 2017.
Feb. 28 marks 30 years since the end of the Gulf War. It concluded when US-led coalition forces liberated Kuwait from the Iraqi dictator’s invasion and occupation that began in August the previous year.
One of Thatcher’s aides sent a memo to a Foreign Office colleague detailing a conversation between the prime minister and Douglas Hurd, who was the UK foreign secretary at the time.
The memo said: “Both the prime minister and the foreign secretary agreed that it now seemed highly likely that foreign nationals would be detained at key installations.
“Saddam Hussein was behaving like Hitler and using psychological warfare. His aim might well be to provoke hostile action. The prime minister stressed the importance of the UK studying his psychological warfare tactics carefully and responding in a suitable way.”
The note also said Thatcher and Hurd, in reference to the eight-year Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s during which hundreds of thousands of people died, described Saddam as “a selfish, despotic dictator.”
Iraq invaded small, but oil-rich, neighbor Kuwait in 1990, two years after the conclusion of the economically devastating Iran-Iraq War. Not only did the invasion provide a much-needed financial boost to Iraq’s oil supplies, it also posed a serious and imminent military threat to Saudi Arabia and its smaller Gulf neighbors.
The invasion and occupation of Kuwait prompted a response by a 35-state military coalition, led by the US, UK, and Saudi
butterfly https://www.commsupdate.com/articles/2021/02/24/zain-group-reports-revenues-of-kwd1-63bn-in-2020/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+telegeography%2Fcommsupdate+%28TeleGeography+CommsUpdate%29 Zain Group reports revenues of KWD1.63bn in 2020
butterfly Kuwait-based telecoms group Zain has published its consolidated financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2020, reporting a 2% increase in revenues year-on-year to KWD1.63 billion (USD5.38 billion), while EBITDA decreased 8% annually to KWD673 million.
The company booked a net profit of KWD185 million in the twelve months under review, down 15% y-o-y. Zain highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economic activity due to lockdowns and travel bans across all Zain markets, impacting the group’s revenue by USD417 million.
Further, foreign currency translation impact – mainly due to a 16% currency devaluation in Sudan – cost the group USD110 million in revenue, USD50 million in EBITDA and USD16 million in net income. Zain Group invested USD1.4 billion in CAPEX (26% of revenues), predominantly in 5G rollouts in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, 4G upgrades and new network sites across Iraq and Jordan, expansion of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure and spectrum licence fees.
In operational terms, Zain Group reported a consolidated customer base of 47.8 million at 31 December 2020, down 3.4% y-o-y. In Kuwait subscribers decreased 7.0% y-o-y to 2.6 million, while the Saudi Arabian unit served 7.6 million subscribers (down from 7.0 million in Q4 2019). Zain Sudan’s subscriber base stood at 16.6 million at 30 December 2020, up 4% y-o-y. Zain Iraq, meanwhile, saw its customer base increase 3.2% y-o-y to serve 16.2 million users at end-December 2020, while the user base in Jordan contracted by 2.8% to 3.5 million.
Mr. Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, commented: ‘The Group’s performance for 2020 reflects the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on economic-social activity and the unavoidable impact it had on the financial results. The Board and management are working closely together in minimising this impact across our footprint with a particular focus on driving efficiencies, cost optimisation and monetising our 4G and
butterfly https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/Iraq-ranks-among-the-last-Countries-on-Women-Business-and-the-Law-index Iraq ranks among the last Countries on "Women, Business and the Law" index
butterfly 2021-02-25 02:34 Shafaq News/ The World Bank issued the 2021 edition of "Women, Business and the Law" for 190 economies to October 1, 2020.
This study examines progress toward gender equality by measuring the laws and regulations that restrict women’s economic inclusion in 190 economies.
It also presents compelling findings on gender-sensitive government responses to COVID-19, as well as pilot research on both childcare and enhancing women’s access to justice.
According to the report, discriminatory laws across the world continue to threaten not only women’s fundamental human rights, but also their economic security.
Women face these challenges in even the most developed economies. Worldwide they have, on average, just three-quarter of the rights of men.
Iraqi women scored 25 out of 100 points in freedom of movement, while they scored 100 out of 100 on the level of laws that affect women's decisions to work, scoring 50 percent for spending, and 20 percent for laws that affect women's work after childbearing.
As for restrictions related to marriage, Iraq scored zero, and for ownership of assets, it scored 40 percent, while it scored 75 points in entrepreneurship, and 50 in laws related to retirement.
Ten economies—Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Sweden—score 100 on the Women, Business and the Law index.
Since 2019, 27 economies from all regions have enacted reforms increasing gender equality.
Most reforms introduced or amended laws affecting pay and parenthood.
There were no reforms addressing gender differences in property and inheritance as measured by the Assets indicator.
The Middle East and North Africa and Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) high-income economies improved their laws the most in 2019/20.
Over the last 50 years, three regions—OECD high income, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa—have seen a record gain in their average scores of mor
butterfly https://www.eurasiareview.com/24022021-rouhani-says-irans-assets-to-be-released-by-south-korea-japan-iraq-oman/ Rouhani Says Iran’s Assets To Be Released By South Korea, Japan, Iraq, Oman
butterfly President of Iran Hassan Rouhani lauded the agreements with South Korea, Japan, Iraq and Oman to unfreeze Iranian funds as an omen of the Islamic Republic’s victory against the economic war.
In comments at a Tuesday meeting of the Administration’s Economic Coordination Headquarters, Rouhani pointed to a report from the governor of the Central Bank of Iran about the agreements reached with South Korea, Japan, Iraq and Oman on the release of the Iranian currency assets, saying the promising signs of the enemy’s failure in its economic war on Iran are beginning to emerge.
The futility of sanctions on Iran is becoming clearer, the president noted, saying the Iranian people’s maximum resistance against the full-blown economic war imposed by the enemy is yielding results.
“One of the outcomes is the release of the Iranian currency resources blocked illegally and unjustly,” he added, stressing that the unfreezing of the assets will give fresh impetus to the country’s economy.
After a Monday meeting in Tehran, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran and South Korea’s ambassador reached an agreement on how to release and spend part of Iran’s assets blocked in South Korea.
The two sides have come to an agreement on transferring the Iranian financial resources to certain destinations, as South Korea has been informed about the CBI’s decisions about the volume of the transactions and the destination banks.
The South Korean ambassador has reportedly expressed Seoul’s readiness to take whatever measures necessary to use all of Iran’s financial resources in South Korea “without any limits”.
Butterfly https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/iraq Iraqi prime minister is first among Arab leaders to receive call from US president
US President Joe Biden made his first call in the Arab world to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, expressing strong support for Iraq.
butterfly TOPICS COVERED economic crisis, nato, us policy, islamic state, bilateral relations, us military, mustafa al-kadhimi, arab world, joe biden
butterfly article is too long
butterfly https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2020/11/17/iraq-reparations-to-kuwait-extended-to-2022/ Iraq Reparations to Kuwait Extended to 2022
butterfly The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), which was established to pay compensation for losses and damage as a direct result of Iraq's unlawful invasion of Kuwait in 1990, has made available $230 million to the Government of Kuwait towards the Commission's remaining claim with an outstanding award balance.
With this payment, the Commission has paid out $50 billion of the $52.4 billion in awarded compensation, leaving approximately $2.4 billion to be paid to the only claim with an outstanding award balance.
The Commission had been on track to pay the outstanding compensation award in 2021. In light of the effects of the pandemic, the Council noted that the timeline for the completion of the Compensation Commission's mandate is now expected to extend into 2022.
Funds to pay compensation are drawn from the United Nations Compensation Fund, which currently receives 3 per cent of the proceeds generated by the export sales of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products.\
butterfly https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2020/11/26/experts-discuss-fate-of-the-iraqi-dinar/ Experts discuss fate of the Iraqi Dinar 26th November 2020 in Iraq Banking & Finance News, Politics
By John Lee.
At a webinar hosted by the Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) yesterday, a team of experts presented and discussed their insights on the Iraqi government's recent White Paper, and on the challenges and opportunities facing the country.
On the subject of the Iraqi currency, Frank Gunter, Professor of Economics at Lehigh University, commented:
"As the international reserves of Iraq decrease ... this is going to put pressure for a depreciation or loss of value of the dinar ... and that might be a good thing.
"The dinar was deliberately appreciated, increased in value, by almost 20 percent. It has made exports from Iraq uncompetitive; it has led to a huge amount of imports into Iraq because the foreign products are so cheap.
"Maybe a possible reaction to the fiscal constraint is to devalue the dinar, so that every dollar of oil sales will buy more dinar, which will allow payment of the salaries and pensions and the infrastructure."
While agreeing that the dinar was overvalued, Hadi Al Damirji, of MIT's Sloan School of Management, urged some caution, in case a devaluation would lead to a further run on the dinar:
"I totally agree with the philosophy of keeping the dinar lower, but when is the right time to move it?
Suggesting a conrolled devaluation, in combination with incentives to reduce public sector salary commitments, Shwan Aziz, former Chief of staff to the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, said:
"[We must] protect those groups that have dinars in the banks, or those contractors who have not been paid for so many years ... [but] controlled devaluation, it seems, is unavoidable."
butterfly Posted November of last year
butterfly More here: https://iraqbritainbusiness.org/news/ibbc-discuss-government-of-iraqs-white-paper
Butterfly ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Fear of the US-led global coalition is keeping the Islamic State (ISIS) from recapturing cities it invaded in 2014, the Kurdistan Region’s Vice President Sheikh Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa has told Rudaw, adding that the terror group is "very strong" in Iraq.
“I believe that Daesh [ISIS] can even recontrol cities if it was not for fear of the coalition. Daesh is currently very strong … in terms of quantity, quality, weapons and everything,” Mustafa told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman during an interview aired on Wednesday.
“For example, now they have a kind of weapon with night vision and thermal binoculars with which they can easily kill and martyr those [Iraqi] soldiers or Peshmerga forces one by one from a long distance. They previously did not have these weapons. Therefore, Daesh is very strong now in all aspects,” added the vice president, a former Peshmerga commander.
ISIS took control of swathes of Iraq and Syria in summer 2014. It was announced territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017. However, the terror group ISIS remains active across the country, especially in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.
The vice president also said that ISIS is “very strong” in the vicinity of cities it used to control, warning they are regrouping there and receiving more fighters from Syria.
“They have tunnels and huge military bases on Mount Hamrin and they have a large number of forces on Mount Qarachogh” he said, referring to disputed territories near Erbil.
A lack of coordination between security forces has created a security vacuum in the disputed territories, exploited by ISIS, where it carries out regular ambushes and attacks.
“The lack of coordination between Peshmerga forces and Iraqi army has caused a great security vacuum where Daesh carries out its activities as per its desire. It also regroups in there, especially behind Iraqi army. This vacuum is small in areas located between us and Iraqi army,” acknowledged Sheikh Musta
butterfly https://gov.krd/english/government/the-prime-minister/activities/posts/2021/february/readout-of-pm-masrour-barzani-s-call-with-french-foreign-minister-jean-yves-le-drian/ Readout of PM Masrour Barzani’s call with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
butterfly Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (GOV.KRD) – Prime Minister Masrour Barzani spoke by phone today with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to discuss the terror attack on Erbil last week.
During the call, the Prime Minister thanked Foreign Minister Le Drian for France’s prompt condemnation of the attack. He said that new information has been learned from the joint investigation with the federal government in Baghdad. Both agreed to stay in close contact in this regard.
On regional developments, Prime Minister Barzani and Foreign Minister Le Drian agreed that ISIS remains a serious threat to regional security and called for stronger cooperation between the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the Global Coalition.
They also reaffirmed the strong friendship between the peoples of the Kurdistan Region and France.
butterfly https://gov.krd/english/news-and-announcements/posts/2021/february/prime-minister-masrour-barzani-convenes-council-of-ministers/ Prime Minister Masrour Barzani convenes Council of Ministers
butterfly Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (GOV.KRD) – Prime Minister Masrour Barzani today headed a meeting of the Council of Ministers to discuss recent developments with Iraq and ongoing efforts by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, heading the delegation leading negotiations with Baghdad, updated the cabinet on the latest progress in talks with the federal government regarding the 2021 federal budget and the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements. He also affirmed the delegation will continue pursuing discussions to find a sustainable solution based on the constitution.
As part of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s agenda, the Minister of Finance and Economy, Awat Janab, and the Minister of Planning, Dara Rashid, discussed preparations for the Kurdistan Region’s 2021 budget bill, noting that collected data from most of ministries will help draft a transparent and realistic budget.
During the meeting, Minister Rashid also presented a draft for the Kurdistan Region’s private-public partnership initiative, which was approved following deliberation among the cabinet. The Council also approved a draft law presented by Electricity Minister Kamal Mohammed Salih.
On the subject of the government’s response to the pandemic, Health Minister Saman Barzinji presented a report on the new strand of coronavirus arriving to the Kurdistan Region and the ministry’s plans to curb the spread.
Minister Education Alan Hama Saeed also assured the school year would continue, with strict health measures being taken into account to protect the safety and lives of students, teachers, and school staff.
The Council of Ministers thanked the Ministry of Health and other relevant ministries for their dedication to the health and safety of the people, and urged ministries and government offices to continue following official health guidelines, as well as asked citizens to cooperate with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s measures and guidelines to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus variant.
Zig Now here is some wild stuff: https://dinarrecaps.com/our-blog/judy-militiaman-lynette-zang-and-more-thursday-2-25-2021 Anyone out there believe this stuff??
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