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While Iraq has started to slowly recover from the several waves of conflict that the country has experienced in the past decades, COVID-19 and its social and economic impact has exposed people to new risks, perpetuated existing vulnerabilities and has put additional strain on an already fragile public sector. With petroleum accounting for 92% of the countrys exports, declining oil prices have plummeted the country into a financial and economic crisis, with the World Bank projecting a contraction of the Iraqi GDP of 9.7% in 2020.1,2 While the Iraqi government has been struggling to pay the salaries of the countrys six million public sector employees, millions of others working in the private and informal sector have lost their employment and livelihoods as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.UNICEF and the World Bank are estimating that an additional 4.5 million Iraqis will be pushed below the poverty line in 2020.

With an increase in the unemployment and poverty rates, humanitarian needs across various sectors and population groups are expected to increase drastically in 2020, imposing further hardship on the countrys 2.3 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and 4.8 million returnees.

As the first nationwide household-level assessment following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Iraq, the Multi-Cluster Needs Assessment (MCNA) VIII is well placed to provide context to the current humanitarian situation and the impact of COVID-19. In conjunction with the MCNA VIII dataset and findings, this factsheet aims to provide a evidence base for the humanitarian response to the COVID-19 crisis in Iraq. The factsheet presents secondary data as well as MCNA VIII findings across various sectors that have been impacted by COVID-19 or by the measures that the government has implemented to contain the spread of the virus.

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COVID-19 Context - Iraq - Overview of the humanitarian situation and the impact of COVID-19 - Iraq - ReliefWeb

ROSCOESometimes the things you least expect are the things you are supposed to be doing.

Thats what Chad and Melissa Burgess of Roscoe learned after pouring their lives into their candle and fragrance company. They never imagined they would be hand-pouring candles and shipping them off all over the world.

It was kind of an accident, Chad Burgess said.

Craft + Foster, 9958 N. Alpine Road, Suite 101, Machesney Park, offers unique and modern scents from Bergamot & Oud, Cedar & Cypress, Leather and Teak, Vetiver Woods to Harvest Bourbon, Mistletoe and more that have been picked-up by several well-known brands and companies including Neiman Marcus, FabFitFun, The Skinny Confidential and more.

In Beloit, they are selling their products at Bushel & Pecks Local Market, and partnering with Geronimo Hospitality to provide scents at its hotels.

Chad, originally from Rockford, met his wife in Oceanside, California in 2009, got married and had four children. Melissa, an Iraq War U.S. Army veteran, was working for a church and Chad was in ministry and corporate marketing and sales when the twos talents collided.

Melissa had already encountered some challenges, having grown up in and out of foster care. Having seen what she considered healthy families and their friends over the years, she wanted to one day have a successful family of her own.

I got to see glimpses of what life could be, she said

With a patriotic bent, she had served in the military from 2002 to 2010, including work as a medic for the infantry in Iraq from 2003-2005.

In the early days of their marriage Chad and Melissa were house parents, working with a program for junior high and high school students in foster care.

However in 2015, after Melissa had her third child, her PTSD kicked in full force and she sought out therapeutic solutions.

Melissa said she liked the calming act of pouring candles and the chance to be creative. Soon she sold a batch of candles at a local makers market.

From start to finish, I was making everything with my hands and others were taking it into their worlds, she said.

Within a year and a half their items were sold in hundreds of retail locations across the country. Chad had quit his corporate job to join her in the business.

Making the leap from markets to big retailers was a stretch, including plenty of 16-hour days.

We put our hands to the plow and just did it, she said.

Despite the daunting workload, the couple kept close to their mission of growing the business in hopes of one day using it to help fund a non-profit that would help foster children and veterans. Melissa hopes to hire veterans and eventually get them running their own businesses.

Within a year and a half their products sold in Neiman Marcus and they were collaborating with Hugh Jackmans Laughing Man Coffee Company. They were featured at the Golden Globe Awards, when gift sets including the candles were given to more than 100 A-listers at the event. Their products were also featured on E!.

An avid networker, Chad was often parading the products around which led to mentions by social media influencers.

We will scroll their sites, and see our candles on an A-listers table, Chad said.

Their candles are made with soy wax. Chad and Melissa have created a rinse free hand spray which were big sellers last spring during the early days of the pandemic.

We sold 1,000 of them when we first put them on the website, Melissa said.

They have formulated room sprays and will be launching them in the next months.

Although they have had some challenges getting needed materials such as glass, lids and wicks due to supply chain issues during the pandemic they have carried on.

Melissa still struggles with PTSD but has recently signed up to start counseling. She said the unexpected path of candle making was what finally gave her the firm footing to move forward, something she hopes to share with other veterans in the future.

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Iraq War veteran finds candle business therapeutic | Covid-19 - Beloit Daily News

Chaldean Catholics in Iraq are praying that Pope Francis really will be able to visit their country in March.

Cardinal Louis Sako, the Baghdad-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, composed a prayer for all his faithful to recite together at Masses beginning Jan. 17.

Agenzia Nova, an Italian news agency specializing in international political and economic reporting, published a story Jan. 12 saying that a security and intelligence delegation from Italy had arrived in Iraq to tour possible sites for papal events with Iraqi security officials.

While the Vatican announced the dates for the planned trip -- March 5-8 -- a formal program had not been released as of Jan. 14, and Pope Francis said in an interview Jan. 10 that he was not certain the visit would be possible. There are obvious security concerns, but also questions about the making such a trip in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, reported Jan. 14 that the Chaldean Catholics were asking "the Almighty Lord to make possible the announced visit of Pope Francis to the land of the two rivers," the Euphrates and the Tigris.

The text of the prayer begins: "Lord our God, grant Pope Francis health and safety to carry out successfully this eagerly awaited visit. Bless his effort to promote dialogue, enhance fraternal reconciliation, build confidence, consolidate peace values and human dignity, especially for us Iraqis who have been through painful events that affected our lives.

"Lord, our Creator, enlighten our hearts with your light to recognize goodness and peace, and to realize them," the prayer continued. "Mother Mary, we entrust Pope Francis' visit to your maternal care so that the Lord may grant us the grace of living in a complete national communion and cooperate fraternally to build a better future for our country and our citizens. Amen."

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Chaldean Catholics in Iraq praying that pope visit will be possible - Union of Catholic Asian News

After a record-setting 2019, annual oil output fell by about 760,000 bpd as Iraq made extraordinary cuts to help support global prices.

The Iraqi Drilling Company completes drilling at the Gharraf oil field, Dec. 6, 2020. (STAFF/Iraq Oil Report)

UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect a new production estimate, which was revised upward based on new reporting.

Iraq's nationwide crude production rose slightly to about 4.05 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, capping a year of OPEC-related constraints that yielded the lowest output since 2015.

Fields managed by the federal government produced about 3.57 million bpd in December an increase of 3 percent compared to November while those under the authority of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) rose slightly to 477,000 bpd, according to an Iraq Oil Report analysis based on data gathered independently from each producing field. *

All sources quoted or referenced spoke to Iraq Oil Report directly and exclusively, unless stated otherwise. Iraq Oil Report typically grants anonymity to sources that can't speak without risking their personal safety or job security. We only publish information from anonymous sources that we independently corroborate and are important to core elements of the story. We do not provide anonymity to sources whose purpose is to further personal or political agendas.

Iraq Oil Report strives to provide thoroughly vetted reporting and fair-minded analysis that enables readers to understand the dynamic events of Iraq. To meet this goal, we always seek to gather first-hand information on the ground, verify facts from multiple angles, and solicit input from every stakeholder involved in a given story.

We view our independence as an integral piece of our competitive advantage. Whereas many media entities in Iraq are owned or heavily influenced by political parties, Iraq Oil Report is wholly owned by several of its employees. In a landscape that is often polarized and politicized, we are able to gather and corroborate information from an unusually wide array of sources because we can speak with all of them in good faith.

To fund this enterprise, Iraq Oil Report depends on revenue from both advertising and subscriptions. Some of our advertisers and subscribers ‐ including companies, governments, and NGOs ‐ are also subjects of our reporting. Consistent with journalistic best practices, Iraq Oil Report maintains a strict firewall that removes business considerations from editorial decision-making. When we are choosing which stories to report and how to write them, our readers always come first.

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UPDATE: Iraq production rises in December, capping an OPEC-constrained year - Iraq Oil Report

The United States has imposed counterterrorism sanctions through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on five individuals from Iraq, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, the US Department of the Treasury announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The five individuals are Muhammad Abbatay born in Morocco, Isma'il Fu'ad Rasul Ahmed from Iraq, Sultan Yusuf Hasan al-Arif from Saudi Arabia, Fuad Ahmad Nuri Ali al-Shakhan from Saudi Arabia and Niamat Hama Rahim Hama Sharif, orginally from Iraq, the statement said.

US has designated them each as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), according to the US Treasury Departments website.

US media reported on Monday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to use newly declassified US intelligence to publicly accuse Iran of ties to al Qaeda in a speech on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said, as part of his last-minute offensive against Tehran before handing over to the incoming Biden administration.

(With inputs from agencies)

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US targets 5 individuals from Iraq, Morocco and Saudi Arabia with counter terrorism sanctions: Treasury department - WION