Basra port receives 3 cargo ships

Basra's port of Umm Qasr on Tuesday received three ships with varied cargo. The ships from Iran, Panama and Malaysia carried 2,000 tons of sugar and other assorted goods.

to find out more click here for Voice of Iraq

Scots find Iraqi allies

Scottish soldiers are playing a key role in restoring security to Basra, and as MORAG LINDSAY found out when she joined them on patrol, they are witnessing big changes for the better.

Back home, the prospect of sitting in traffic in temperatures of 50C would fill Lieutenant Colonel Felix Gedney with dread.

In Basra, where he is commanding the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the everyday congestion that now plagues the city is a welcome sign that life is gradually returning to something approaching normality.

For the full story from the Press & Journal click here

Dr Liam Fox takes a stroll in Basra

MP strolls around downtown Basra

Dr Liam Fox had a stroll around downtown Basra witnessing for himself, the improved security situation in the city.
An early morning helicopter trip into the Basra Operations Centre allowed the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence to meet with Major General Mohammed, the Basra Security Forces Commander, before taking a leisurely walk along the Sha’at al Arab riverside.

Grant Sherlock in Iraq

NOW more than five years after the invasion which deposed Saddam Hussein, Iraq is at a crossroads. As the UK plans the eventual withdrawal of its troops, the focus has shifted to helping the Iraqis take back control.

In the first of a series of special reports from the city of Basra, chief reporter GRANT SHERLOCK explains the roles a band of Suffolk soldiers are playing in that effort.

Suffolk soldiers on deadly desert route - full story click here

From shelf stacker to bomb survivor - full story click here
Convoy rescue put TA skills to the test - full story click here
Don't mess with my mastiff! - full story click here
Return to civvy street will be tough - full story click here

50 companies compete to design sports city in Basra

More than 50 global companies will arrived in Baghdad to present designs for a sports city in Basra.

“Representatives of more than 50 companies will arrive in Baghdad today to present their special designs of the sports city in Basra and then will head for southern city to view the location,” Mohamed Mosbeh al-Waeli told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

“The designing stage is one of the important stages,” he highlighted, noting that setting up some important projects will precede the main project to support and facilitate it.

“The project envisages the establishment of several sports institutions as it will be the largest establishment in Iraq since the establishment of the Iraqi state,” the mayor revealed.

Full story of Aswat al-Iraq

$62 million projects approved

The Planning Ministry’s strategic authority for reconstructing Iraq approved projects at a total cost of $62 million, a statement from the national media center said yesterday.

“The authority chaired by Planning Minister Ali Baban agreed, during its 45th meeting, projects for the agriculture, water sources, education, health, municipalities ministries in Iraq’s Kurdistan region,” the ministry said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq.

UK defence chief: Britain at turning point in Iraq

Britain has reached a turning point in its mission in Iraq, Britain's defence chief said yesterday, but he warned that troops face a long and arduous task in Afghanistan.

Des Browne, who visited the southern Iraqi city of Basra in May, said troops based in the country's south had defeated militias and restored security.

"We have reached a turning point in our involvement in Iraq," Browne told his Labour Party's annual rally. "The Iraqi armed forces, supported by British and U.S. forces, have taken on — and defeated — the militia in Basra."

Read the full articles in the
International Herald Tribune
Gulf Daily News
Xinhua, China
Reuters
GMA news

Trailer Park With International Flavours

Basra, Iraq may be the the only location in the world where an office of the US Embassy is located in a trailer park.

Known as the REO (Regional Embassy Office) the trailer park is home to 200 State Department personnel, contractors, security guards, and representatives of international agencies.

With people from Bosnia, Bangladesh, Jordon and Uganda is not suprising to hear a variety of languages within the REO. Living is crowded with some rooms housing up to four.

But despite the living conditions, or perhaps because of them, a sense of brotherhood and common mission exists in the REO. Maybe if the world lived closer together we'd be closer as a world.

Iraq, Royal Dutch Shell to ink gas deal

Iraq and Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Monday will formally launch plans to invest in a joint venture to tap natural gas in southern Iraq, a government spokesman said.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani will sign the deal with executives from the Anglo-Dutch company at the Cabinet's offices in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, his spokesman said.

A joint venture with the state-run Iraqi South Oil Co. will then be established to invest in natural gas in the southern oil-rich province of Basra, the spokesman Assem Jihad said.

Iraq will control 51 percent of the venture, while Shell will hold the remaining 49 percent in the company, which will exploit flared associated gas for domestic use and exports.

"Financial, legal and technical experts from both sides will start immediately to draw up the plans and basis for the new company that will run this operation," Jihad told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

"The agreement will help Iraq to make use of about 700 million cubic feet which is being flared everyday to process it and to meet the domestic needs and to export the surplus to the world gas market," he added.

Full story from AP
Iraq, Royal Dutch Shell to finalize gas deal - International Herald Tribune
Iraq expects to ink gas deal with Shell - Forbes
$4bn agreement between Shell and Iraq - The National

Iraqi VPs call for holding provincial election on time

Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdelmahdi and Tareq al-Hashimi have appealed that provincial elections are held on time.

Read the full text on Aswat Aliraq

New facilities in Basra University

A project has been launched by two local firms in Basra to set up a new building for the science departments in the vocational faculty at Basra University.

"A three-story rhombus-shaped building will be established over an area of 200 square meters,," said, Qays Khudeir, the project engineer

read the full story on Voices of Iraq

Basra's Khour al-Zubeir receives 3 ships

Today, Khour al-Zubeir Port received three Indian ships carrying a variety of cargo.

The Shiite province of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has five commercial ports and two oil ports.

More information is available on Voice of Iraq

Iraq to promote its tourist potential

Basra could become a jumping off point for tourists while its surrounding marshlands could become a haven for bird watchers, British officials have said.

The suggestion comes as the Iraqi government starts to explore ways to exploit the tourism possibilities in the war-torn country, including rides on Saddam Hussein's presidential train, following a reduction in the violence that has raged for the last five years.

Nigel Hayward, Britain's Consul General for southern Iraq, said Basra's port could be turned into a haven for cruise ships, offering a gateway to the historic sites of ancient Mesopotamia just a few hours north of the city.

They include the ancient city of Babylon - famous for its hanging gardens - and the town of Ur, located near the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

Read the full article on the Daily Telegraph web site here

30 suspects and an ammunition cache seized by Basra Police

Basra Police have arrested 30 criminals and siezed a significant quantity of ammunition in a recent operation.

IPS spokesman Colonel Kareem Az Zaydi announced that in the last few days the police department has arrested 30 terror and criminal suspects, seized 76 mortar rounds of varying sizes and diffused a locally made IEDs (improvised explosive device) in the Shat Al Arab district. The Police also took 25 medium-sized weapons with 70 rounds of ammunition, while impounding a stolen car.

The IPS emergency battalion in Al Qurna discovered a cache of ammunition in the An Najiriya area in the north of Al Qurna made up of 75 mortar rounds of differing calibres along with 5 ‘Katyusha’ rockets.

Japanese companies are ready to work in Iraq

Katsoki Nagazuka the economic consultant at the Japanese embassy in Baghdad, has been talking of the willingness of Japanese firms to work in Iraq.

The spokesman highlighted a number of sectors that are of interest including infrastructure (water, electricity and sanitation), communications and Iraqi Industry.

To read more from the Japanese Embassy on iraqupdates.com

Odierno warning on Iraq security

The new US military commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Ray Odierno, has said that recent security gains there are "fragile and reversible".

He was speaking in Baghdad at a ceremony to replace Gen David Petraeus.

Gen Petraeus, who implemented the "surge" of nearly 30,000 extra US troops in Iraq, is widely credited with driving down levels of violence there.

He has been promoted to oversee operations in Afghanistan and in the Middle East, including Iraq.

To see the full BBC report click here

General Ray Odierno profile guardian.co.uk

New US commander takes over in Iraq CNN

Ray Odierno, new US commander in Iraq TVNZ, New Zealand

Iraqi Army Search Op

Iraqi soldiers from the 50th and 51st Brigades were bolstered by commandos when they carried out a cordon and clear operation in the Hamden industrial estate. The search was aimed at disrupting any militia activity in this thriving area of Southern Basra.

During the search, workers continued their day to day business in garages and shop stalls. The soldier’s presence also gave workers a chance to highlight any concerns they might have about local services. One of the Iraqi officers in charge stated that these searches are welcomed as the local businesses also look forward to ongoing stability in the area.

Youth-into-work scheme at Khor Az Zubayr

Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Prentice, was in Basra this week to visit the Khor Az Zubayr VOTEC, a new youth-into-work scheme aimed at tackling the high levels of unemployment amongst the city's young people.

The Basra Development Commission has masterminded the project with 50 local employers. Up to 500 trainees aged 16 to 30 will start vocational courses in October at three colleges that are being supported by the city's private sector.

In time it is expected that each of the colleges will take between 3 to 4,000 trainees a year. The UK Government is providing funding of £250,000 to help the scheme get off the ground.

Iraq Oil Minister to Meet Oil Firms in UK

Iraq's oil minister will meet energy firms bidding for long-term oil and gas service contracts in London next month to discuss details of the fields on offer as well as contract terms, the oil ministry said on Sunday.

"The oil minister will meet representatives from international oil companies in London on October 13 to offer all the information they need to develop the oil and gas fields announced in the first bidding round," ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said.

The 41 companies which pre-qualified to vie for the contracts have all been invited to the meeting with oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani.

To read the full story on iraqupdates.com