A Kurdish-American archaeological team has uncovered a prehistoric settlement southeast of Erbil, preserved for thousands of years by an ancient earthquake.

The confirmation of several cases of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in the Kurdistan Region has led many Muslims in Erbil to refrain from buying animals for sacrifice during Eid al-Adha. Additionally, the Iraqi government's recent decision to halt salary payments to the Region’s civil servants has made it financially impossible for many families to afford the ritual.

Farmers in Koya district, east of Erbil, have suffered losses exceeding 16 billion Iraqi dinars (approximately $12.2 million), as reduced rainfall and delayed planting left more than 36,000 dunams of wheat fields unusable, making it one of the worst agricultural seasons in the district’s history, local officials said.

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