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Looming Kurdish vote

Thursday, 21 September 2017 9:23 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 21 September 2017 9:24 AM ]

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These are the headlines we are tracking for you in this episode of On the News Line:

Looming Kurdish vote

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region is to hold a referendum on independence in less than a week. The central government in Baghdad has in recent days stepped up efforts to prevent the referendum from taking place. Iraq’s Supreme Court has issued a verdict suspending the upcoming vote saying it has received multiple requests to block it. Prime Minister Heidar al Abadi has described any such plebiscite as unconstitutional arguing that all Iraqi people must be involved in deciding whether the Kurdish region should go its separate way. Abbadi has warned that the Kurdistan region’s independence drive is in fact playing with fire. One of the most serious warnings ever issued by Iraqi officials came from vice president Nouri al-Maliki. The vice president who served as prime minister for eight years said Baghdad will not allow the creation of a second Israel in the north of Iraq. Maliki’s comments came a few days after Tel Aviv backed the divisive Kurdish independence drive.

Corbyn stands up to Saudi Arabia

It’s been described as an unexpected move by the Labor party in Britain: Labor has decided to bar Saudi Arabia and Sudan from attending its conference. A spokesperson for the party has told reporters Saudi Arabia has been banned from attending the ceremony because of evidence of war crimes committed by the Kingdom in Yemen. And that has prompted an angry response from the League of Arab States. The group decided to cancel a reception and dinner hosted by Arab ambassadors and boycott the Labor party event : “Our council has decided to refrain from attending the Labour party conference this year due to rejection of both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Sudan’s application to attend the conference”. This is not the first time labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has taken a tough stance against Saudi Arabia and criticized the conservative government for selling arms to the Kingdom.

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