Iraq

The Minister made the remarks at a press conference with her Turkish counterpart Suleyman Soylu on the second day of her two-day visit to Ankara, reports Xinhua news agency. "It is necessary to take into account the protection of civilians and we believe that it is necessary to be careful, especially in terms of preventing violence from escalating," she added, referring to Turkey's recent cross-border military operations in Syria and Iraq.

Rashid received 162 votes in the second round of voting, defeating Barham Salih who gained 99 votes, while eight votes were considered invalid, according to the media office of the parliament on Thursday. In the first round of voting, none of the 39 presidential candidates garnered two-thirds of the votes of the total 329 parliament members, but Rashid got 156 votes and Salih came in second with 99 votes, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Iraqi Ministerial Council for National Security announced the decisions after holding an emergency meeting on the artillery strikes that killed at least nine tourists and wounded 23 others earlier on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. Iraq accused Turkiye of striking the resort in Duhok Province of its semi-autonomous region, a charge Ankara has denied. The council also decided to pause dispatching a new ambassador to Turkiye in protest of the attack, and order the filing of a complaint to the United Nations Security Council.

At the beginning of the session, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives (Parliament) announced that the quorum set at two-thirds of the house's 329 members had not been achieved to elect the President, Xinhua news agency reported, citinag a statement by the Parliament's media office. The Parliament continued its regular session and adjourned it without giving a new date, the statement said.

The Iraqi Parliament or Council of Representatives has voted to reopen the nomination for the post of President of the country. A statement by Parliament said that 203 lawmakers voted in favour of opening the candidacy, while 62 deputies abstained, reports Xinhua news agency. The decision came after the Federal Supreme Court ruled that the reopening decision for nomination might be valid if it was made through the legislative body instead of the speaker.

The decision was made after a meeting between Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi and his two deputies, during which they agreed to hold another parliamentary session to continue constitutional processes toward forming a new government, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement issued by the parliament. The meeting also decided to announce the names of the candidates who are eligible to run for Iraqi president on January 31, it said.

The incident took place on Wednesday evening when gunmen threw a hand grenade at Abdullah's office in the Rahim Awa neighborhood in central Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua news agency.

The attack took place in the evening, when the rockets landed in Ayn al-Asad Airbase without knowing the casualties, an Iraqi army source told Xinhua news agency on the condition of anonymity. The rockets were fired from a village located some 15 km east of the airbase.