BAGHDAD: Turkiye’s foreign minister on Tuesday denounced a separatist Kurdish group that operates in northern Iraqi territory as an enemy of both Turkiye and Iraq, and urged the Iraqi government to ban the group as a terrorist organization as Ankara has done.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged Iraq to label the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, a terrorist organization during his first visit to Baghdad since taking office.

WASHINGTON: The United States believes an understanding on Iran eventually releasing five US citizens remains on track, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday but declined to offer any timeline.
Iran on Aug. 10 released four imprisoned US citizens into house arrest, where they joined a fifth already under home confinement, in the first step of a deal under which $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea would be unfrozen and the five would eventually be allowed to leave the Islamic Republic.

TRIPOLI: United Nations Libya envoy Abdoulaye Bathily said on Tuesday that “a unified government, agreed upon by the major players, is an imperative for leading the country to elections,” an apparent shift from an earlier position that elections should come first.
Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli has not been accepted by the eastern-based parliament since early 2021 after a failed attempt to have national elections.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s oil minister and his Turkish counterpart did not reach an agreement to immediately resume Iraq’s northern oil exports but agreed to hold more talks in the future, said two energy sources with knowledge of the ministers’ meeting in Ankara on Tuesday.

Turkiye halted flows on March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2014 and 2018.

CAIRO: About 500 children have died from hunger in Sudan — including two dozen babies in a government-run orphanage in the capital of Khartoum — since fighting erupted in the East African country in April, a leading aid group said on Tuesday.

Save the Children also said that at least 31,000 children lack access to treatment for malnutrition and related illnesses since the charity was forced to close 57 of its nutrition centers in Sudan.