The Iraqi central government has started sending reinforcement to the western Kirkuk areas since Saturday as the returning Islamic State (IS) militants challenge the security forces present in the area. 

More than a year after Iraqi Kurdistan's referendum on independence soured hitherto good ties with Turkey, relations are still very significant, particularly on the economic front. However, analysts anticipate that political relations are unlikely to once again become as close and cordial as they were before that referendum.

The Change Movement (Gorran) has rejected the final results of the Kurdistan parliamentary election held on September 30, saying results had been changed.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani called on political parties and blocs to back negotiations for forming government and reiterated " our duty is to improve the situation in Kurdistan Region."

The New Generation Movement (Newey Nwê) has rejected the final results of Iraqi Kurdistan parliamentary election, in which the two ruling parties secured first and second place.

The depreciation of the Rial against dollar has given a new boom to the Iranian carpets market in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, so that the volume of carpet imports from Iran to the Kurdistan region has multiplied several times.

The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU), an opposition party in Kurdistan Region, said on Sunday, October 21, it does not accept the results of the Kurdistan parliamentary election.

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) came first in a parliamentary election in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, winning 45 seats, the election commission said on Sunday, positioning it to lead the next regional government.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) stated that party accepts the final result of the 5^th parliamentary elections in Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Region’s election commission announced the official results of the Kurdistan parliamentary election held on September 30, with the two main ruling parties of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) securing first and second place.

A commander of the Kurdish forces of Peshmerga called for the peaceful withdrawal of the Iraqi forces from the northern disputed province of Kirkuk.

It should come as no surprise that this year’s Dahuk International Film Festival (DIFF) looks at women’s representation and contributions to Kurdish cinema, given that 2018 is a year of Kurdish women’s experiences being foregrounded on and off screen. The film “Girls of the Sun,” which competed for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, follows a battle-hardened Kurdish military unit in northern Syria comprised exclusively of women once held captive by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS). Yazidi activist Nadia Murad received the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Her tale of persistence in the face of deep trauma is told through a new documentary released this month, “On Her Shoulders,” by Alexandria Bombach.

The Kurdistan Region Ministry of Electricity will complete the switch from using gasoil to natural gas to produce electricity for the national grid over the next three days, but must halt production during that period.

Nadia Murad, the Iraqi Yazidi, has been awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. This has raised the expectations and hopes of Iraqi minorities, especially Yazidis, since she is the first Iraqi to win the prize.

Iranian film editor Mastaneh Mohajer and her fellow screenwriter, Khosro Sina, have been selected for the jury of the 6th Duhok International Film Festival running in the Kurdish city from October 20 to 27.