Iraqi Kurdistan

Supporters of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition celebrate after preliminary election results were announced in Baghdad, Iraq, on 12 November 2025.

Iraq's establishment triumphs over hopes for change

A revised electoral law and the fragmentation of civil groups contributed to an election result that saw no clear parliamentary majority and the return of established parties

Ayad Al-Anbar 17 November 2025

A peshmerga fighter poses in front of a wall with a large fresco of the flag of Kurdistan. The fort overlooks Artush, a major oil refinery.

Getty

Baghdad cuts Kurdistan’s oil revenue and independence hopes

Erbil voted to go it alone in 2017, but that was when it controlled its own oil to sell through Turkey. Today, it does neither. With no partners on the horizon, it is left seeking central handouts.

Baraa Sabri 16 September 2024

A Kurdish man walks past debris following a missile strike launched by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the Kurdistan region’s capital of Arbil, on January 17, 2024.

AFP

Is Iraqi Kurdistan turning into an arena to settle regional scores?

Friday's drone attack on one of Iraq's largest gas fields has led to a temporary suspension of production, resulting in major power cuts across the country's northern Kurdistan region.

Rustum Mahmud 27 January 2024

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Editor's Pick

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Donald Trump at the White House, Washington, on 18 November 2025.

SPA

Politics

Saudi Arabia scores ally upgrade in Washington

19 November 2025

Trump elevates Saudi Arabia to 'major non-NATO ally' status, but bigger issues of normalisation with Israel and a binding security treaty need more time. Nonetheless, this is a huge step forward.

Abdullah F. Alrebh

Culture & Social Affairs

Basem Khandakji on exile, imprisonment, and purpose

26 November 2025

The Palestinian novelist who won the Arabic Booker Prize in 2023 from behind Israeli prison walls speaks to Al Majalla about his extraordinary life and literary journey

El-Sayed Hussein

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) looks on during a meeting with US Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 20 November 2025.

AFP

Politics

Trump presents Ukraine with a ‘very tough choice’

24 November 2025

Zelensky said he's being asked to decide between Ukraine losing its dignity or losing a key partner

Sam Skove and John Haltiwanger

AFP-Reuters-Al Majalla

Business & Economy

UK chancellor aims to strike a balance with her 2025 budget

27 November 2025

Policymakers' main worry ahead of Rachel Reeves' announcements this week centred on the reaction of the bond markets. So far, they have received a cautious welcome.

Bassam Mahfouz

US political commentator Tucker Carlson speaks during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 18 July 2024.

ANGELA WEISS / AFP

Politics

How Tucker Carlson put Arab Christians on America's map

25 November 2025

Prominent conservative journalists and politicians have broken ranks to call out Israeli crimes against Arab Christians. The effects continue to ripple through Donald Trump's support base.

Kamal Alam