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June
23, 2012 - Sulaimaniyah,
Erbil-Hewler, Duhok, Kirkuk, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq'
Most contesters for women
beauty pageant from Sulaimaniyah "The Paris of
Kurdistan"
Sulaimaniyah: Some 44 women, most of them from
Sulaimaniyah (Suli), have registered their names as
candidates for the first women beauty pageant in the
Kurdistan Region, due June 28. Most of the women are
from Suli, followed by candidates from Kirkuk
province, said Sirwan Tofiq, who runs the Hala Erbil
Festival. Today onwards a committee will choose 12
candidates for the final contest next Thursday,
according to Tofiq. The beauty pageant is an episode
in the festival which is intended to boost tourism
in Kurdistan, in particular its capital, Erbil.
Tofiq added a committee of Lebanese experts will
supervise the pageant and choose the 12 candidates
depending on their age, languages they know, their
academic certificates, the shape of their body,
their intellectual level and some other criteria.
Agatha Wozniak, Miss Poland 2005, will also attend
the ceremony. aknews.com
Barzani urges parliament to
speed up region’s budget
Erbil:: President of Iraq’s Kurdistan region,
Massoud Barzani, said on Wednesday he sent a message
to speaker of the Kurdistan parliament regarding the
general budget, urging the parliament to speed up
presenting it. The president said in his account on
Facebook that he asked the parliament’s speaker to
discuss the subject in details in a transparent way.
He underlined that the delay in approving the budget
will not be good for any part. aswataliraq.info
Govt. to employ 17,000
people in 2012
Erbil: This year the Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG) employs only 17,000 people, MPs sanctioned the
decision Friday. The number is less than the
previous year, 25,000 employees. The MPs agreed in
recruiting new permanent employees the priority
should be given to the contracted employees in the
KRG. Kurdistan Parliament is still debating the 2012
budget bill. The delay has led to public discontent.
The budget bill that is currently being worked on in
the parliament is IQD 12.6 trillion (approximately
USD 10 billion), out of which IQD 10.75 trillion
goes for operating budget and less than IQD 4
trillion is left for investment, which leads to
running a IQD 2 trillion deficit. aknews.com
Adviser refutes reports of
Barzani's objection to Talabani's Germany trip
Erbil: Kurdistan Region's President Massoud Barzani
has not objected to the recent visit of the Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani to Germany, Barzani's
adviser said. Faysal Dabbagh made the statement to
counter a report which alleged that in his meeting
with Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) MPs to the
Iraqi House of Representatives, Barzani said that
Talabani's visit to Germany now arouses many
questions. Reports said that Talabani's trip to
Germany was for medical tests and he had a surgery
on his knee there. Barzani has not met with the KDP
MPs at all, Dabbagh said. He continued
"President Barzani has not made such a remark… the
report is entirely baseless and we refute it."
Barzani's KDP and Talabani's Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) are allies in the Kurdistan Blocs
Coalition (KBC) in the Iraqi House. While Barzani is
pushing along with Ayad Allawi of Iraqiya List and
Muqtada Sadr of Sadr Current to withdraw confidence
from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Talabani
is trying to act "impartial" and calls for more
dialog and negotiations. aknews.com
Committee demands doubling
employment of Ministry of Education to 8,000
Erbil: Committee of education and scientific
research at Kurdistan Parliament has made some
demands in the interest of teachers so that they are
fixed in 2012 budget law. The committee has demanded
that Ministry of Education recruit 8,000 employees
and teachers instead of 4,000 in 2012, said Omar
Nuraddini, head of the committee said. The committee
has also demanded that standards for recruiting
teachers and employees of the Ministry be set,
Nuraddini said. Nuraddini added the committee has
also proposed to allocate 150b IQD ( $126.970m) to
the construction of schools and 40bIQD more to
($33.858m) to cleaning the schools. The committee
has also asked to allocate a share from the Human
Capacity Development Program of the Ministry of
Higher Education and Scientific Research for
training sessions for teachers and employees of the
Ministry of Education. The program is intended for
scholarships and so far more than 2,000 individuals
have benefited from it. Another demand by the
committee is that the Ministry of Finance eliminates
the differences in the salaries of the teachers who
have the same status. It has also demanded that a
fund from the oil revenues be established for
granting loans for the teachers who wish to continue
their study for the diploma, master and doctorate
degrees. The MPs are still debating the 2012 budget
bill. It is feared that further delay in ratifying
the bill may lead to a public protest. aknews.com
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