ARticle for January 8th, 2016

It's Friday so more articles will come out later if any at all so come back later
Sistani: the reform has not been achieved in Iraq

LINK well so much for them listening to Sistani!! Twilight News / cross religious authority, Ali al-Sistani expressed regret for not achieving any reform steps on the ground since last year.  Parliament voted unanimously late last year in favor of preventing the government from passing the reforms without his consent in a bid to curb the efforts of al-Abadi, who announced these reforms unilaterally to change the system of government which he said encouraged a form of corruption.  After mass protests and a call for reform launched by al-Sistani Abadi announced measures in August 2015 in order to eliminate nepotism and inefficiency that undermined the battle for Baghdad with Daash.  Sistani said in a speech delivered on his behalf representative Ahmed Safi Friday "has not achieved anything in the follow-up of corruption and senior corrupt files during 2015".  "This is extremely regrettable."  The parliament reforms Abadi violation of the Constitution, including the dismissal of the Vice-President and reduce the salaries of government employees. Sistani had been in the late 2015's parliament from the exploitation of his concerns about legal reforms announced by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as a pretext to block it.  Sistani demanded last year in all the speeches about the prime minister Haider al-Abadi beaten "iron fist" Everyone involved in corruption.

China, Russia helping Zimbabwe ride out West’s bullying

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This is a good article but really long so I have some here but click the LINK to see the full text

January 8, 2016, 3:29 pm

The year 2016 promises to see the deepening of Zimbabwe’s relations with Russia and China, old friends who supported our quest to overthrow colonialism as long ago as the 1950s.

Both Russia and China are stepping up economic investment in Zimbabwe. They are also continuing to oppose the illegal sanctions the West has imposed on us — a blatant attempt to change an elected government by crippling our economy in the hope that the masses would rise up against it.

Yet this hope has proved utterly false, as the people of Zimbabwe refuse to adopt the West’s notions about how to conduct our sovereign affairs.

Russia’s biggest economic commitment to Zimbabwe to date was its agreement in September 2014 to invest $3 billion in what will be Zimbabwe’s largest platinum mine.

What will set this investment apart from those that have been in Zimbabwe for decades is that the project will see the installation of a refinery to add value, thereby creating more employment and secondary industries. The Darwendale operation near our capital of Harare is expected to produce 600,000 ounces of platinum a year when it reaches capacity.

We are confident that this is just the start of a Russia-Zimbabwe economic partnership that will blossom in coming years. Our two countries are discussing other mining deals in addition to energy, agriculture, manufacturing and industrial projects. Russia also continues to assist Zimbabwe in training young Zimbabweans in special-skills areas such as medicine, general engineering, agricultural engineering and many other disciplines.

Groundwork was laid for expanding trade and investment when Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in May 2015.

A few months after their meeting in December 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Zimbabwe, where he announced 10 economic agreements worth billions of dollars.

China is already our largest trading partner outside the continent, and the new investments will have a major impact on our economy.

Of particular importance is a billion-dollar deal that will help Zimbabwe overcome the critical shortage of electricity that prevents us from realizing our full economic potential.

Under the agreement, China will expand the capacity of our largest electric-generating facility at Hwange in western Zimbabwe, while the Chinese-funded Kariba South power extension project — adding 300 MW to the grid — will be commissioned within the next 18 months.

Another deal will involve China financing the installation of fiber-optic cable to help us expand our high-speed Internet system. It is the government’s desire to ensure that every corner of the country has access to modern communication systems, including the Internet. This will facilitate trade and commerce, as the better a country‘s Internet, the greater its chances of boosting its industrial efficiency and developing its own high-tech sector.

see more here

Iraqi officials in the assets of international banks stood at $ 220 billion and enough

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Date: 01/08/2016

Palm-news sites reported that the volume of solid US assets of Iraqi officials of previous governments as well as officials in the government of the Kurdistan Akulaik deposited in international banks reached so far (220) billion dollars.

She added that this amount alone is enough to budget for Iraq and for a period of three years without exporting barrels of oil and one showed that these shocking facts must be seen by the Iraqi people and the international community to let them know well Where did Iraq funds and wealth over the past years, and why endure the rigors of austerity in the presence of these amounts huge.

The parliamentary finance committee has revealed for the registration of about 228 billion dinars major losses in fictitious projects was supposed to be completed during the past year late walker, specifically before the end of the era of the previous government, indicating that there are political deals and financial corruption great behind those numbers with the growing presence phantom companies in the country.

Said Majida al-Tamimi (member of the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives) that "the Iraqi treasury has seen the loss of 228 billion Iraqi dinars (186.2 million dollars), in projects and fake over the past year, was supposed to be carried out by the competent authorities in the former government agencies (referring them to the state the second former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki). "

She added, "Most of the projects were awarded to the relatives of officials, managers of companies to be considered, while it was a fake companies do not exist."

According to a member of the Parliamentary Integrity Committee, Ribawar Taha, there are more than 4,600 fictitious project has not been implemented so far has spent amounts, though the Integrity Committee will work to verify the evidence of those involved in this project and then take the necessary right actions, pointing out that among those involved in this project Senior officials in the state, whether former or current.

END