The Latest Breaking News from Baghdad

Before she became a mother, Samantha Ellis secretly judged other parents who let their children subsist on white bread and pesto-pasta. And when her son was born she couldn’t wait to share the Iraqi Jewish food of her ancestors. Unfortunately, he had other ideas …

Public sector workers in Iraqi Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq, have endured irregular and delayed salary payments for more than a decade. Many of these people are owed staggering amounts of money – US$50,000 (£38,700) on average, and as much as US$120,000 for higher-level employees.

Washington has declined to renew a sanctions waiver that allowed Iraq to buy electricity from neighbouring Iran, a spokesperson for the American embassy in Baghdad said on Sunday.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has returned to Baghdad for the first time in more than two years despite ongoing security threats