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  H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, affirmed the UAE' s keenness to support all efforts to achieve security, stability and prosperity for Iraq and its people, as well as to counter foreign interventions in its internal affairs. In his statement, while heading the Emirati delegation participating in the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, which began today in Jordan, Sheikh Saud said that the UAE is continuing to support the efforts to promote peace and the culture of tolerance, moderation and coexistence, as well as combat violence, hate and extremism. He also affirmed the importance of Arab and regional cooperation to create a stable region and prosperous future while pointing out the efforts of the Iraqi government to organise the first Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership. Its success is a major step in Iraq's efforts to regain its natural role in the Arab region.

  Four people were killed and 33 injured in a gas explosion in the northern Iraqi city of Duhok. A college student and a senior police officer were among the victims of Monday night's blast at a bakery above a college dorm, Gov. Ali Tatar said. local media. The police officer and another emergency responder died  trying to rescue the students inside the building. Several people are in  critical condition and the death toll is expected to rise,  authorities said. It comes just days after 15, people were killed. in the explosion of a petrol tank  in the city of Sulaymaniyah. Both cities are in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.

     O n Thursday   Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi and his Jordanian counterpart laid the cornerstone for an electricity grid interconnection project aimed at tackling Iraq's chronic power shortage. The project is part of a larger plan to establish a pan-Arab power market by connecting the Gulf Co-operation Council, comprising Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, with Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. Mr Al Kadhimi said the project on the Iraq-Jordan border in western Anbar province was a reflection of "the policy of openness and co-operation" adopted by his government, according to a statement released by the prime minister's office. Mr Al Kadhimi and Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh also discussed "ways to develop bilateral relations and regional co-operation", it added.