Valentine’s Day may not have been a big deal in Kurdistan but in New Yorkers got to know Kurds a little better on this day.
Kurdishmedia.com reported that on V Day, director Jalal Jonroy’s film David & Layla began showing at the Quad City Cinema in NYC.
Inspired by a true story, the film is about David, a secular Jew from New York, and Layla, a Muslim Iraqi Kurdish refugee and orphan from Halabja, a city, which was gassed by Chemical Ali.
The questions are evergreen and classic: will the Jewish boy become a Muslim and will they get married. Find out this Valentine season.
Kurdishmedia.com also had an interesting interview with Kani Xulam, Director of the American Kurdish Information Network , who in a previous interview with Dan Rather’s said “let Iraq break up” and is a fierce proponent of a free Kurdistan.
When asked, “Can a super power (America) be a friend of a people without a state like the Kurds?” he answered. “Nope. Nation-states deal with nation-states and stateless Kurds have to deal with stateless others.” “The jury is still out on this decision,” he responded to the question “Will America hit Iran?”
The Alsumaria website spruced up it’s website by adding “cultural Shows” and “socio-Political” section. There is even a “forum” segment and subject for discussion is about the visa restrictions Jordan has imposed on Iraqis.
Purple with a bluish tinge is the new color of the website.
Oil dominates the economic news. The website reported that the Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani announced that the oil contracts with foreign companies did contradict the constitution.
A contract is expected to be signed with a South Korean company in the next two months. DNO a Norwegian Oil company, the first foreign company to drill out of Iraq after the war from Tawke field in Kurdistan is still waiting to get an export license.
The website also reported that Iraq is to buy 40 Boeing airplanes with a value of 6 billion dollars that are to be delivered to Iraq in 2013 and 2014. No major developments on the sports scene.
There was some news on the Iraq Basketball Super League. “Kahruba team maintained its place in the first rank after beating Al Shurta team with a score of (79-75) and Al Jaish team achieved an important win against Al Hudud team and Al Karakh easily won over Al Anbar,” reported the website.
U.S. army’s botches
Azzaman had news of the “massacre” in which a US helicopter gun opened fire on a house in the small town of Zab in northern Iraq, killing eight people, five of them children from the same family. “Many incidents like these go unreported in the violence-plagued country as reporters are afraid to leave their highly-protected hotels and offices in the capital Baghdad,” said the report.
The New York Times carried the same story with the additional information that the American military denied having operations in the area at the time.
Aswat-aliraq reported another incident in which US soldiers killed three tribal fighters of the The Sahwa (Awakening) an anti-terrorist group in Jerf al-Sakhr.
Soon after the killings, the Sahwa fighters announced their withdrawal from any activities in Hilla, 60 km south of Jerf al-Sakhr and 100 km south of Baghdad.
The U.S. forces have killed Sahwa fighters before, incidents which are under investigation.
“After each incident, the U.S. forces claim that it occurred by mistake. The U.S. side promises to offer an apology and compensations for the victims’ relatives but does not fulfill these pledges,” said Sabah al-Janabi, the chief of the Sahwa forces in the area
Azzaman.com also reported power failures and maintenance problems have disrupted running water supplies to almost half of the capital, Baghdad.
