A survivor of the deadly shipwreck off the coast of Italy decried on Wednesday that their screams for help were ignored by several boats that passed close by, with two capsized ships in the Mediterranean leaving at least 70 dead and missing.

The Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has informed Iraq’s electoral commission of its willingness to participate in the upcoming Kurdistan parliamentary elections, the commission told Rudaw on Sunday, paving the way for the vote to be held after repeated delays.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was confirmed dead in a Sunday helicopter crash in a mountainous region of northwestern Iran, state media said.

Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday doubled down on claims that the deadly Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) strikes on Erbil targeted bases of the Israeli intelligence despite Iraqi and Kurdish authorities’ categorical denial of such claims. His Iraqi counterpart strongly denied the accusations and condemned Tehran’s “aggression”.

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