Let the campaigns begin. The owner of Nalia Media Corporation, Shaswar Abdul Wahid announced on Tuesday a new movement ahead of the planned referendum on independence. In an interview with NRT, which the media conglomerate owns, Abdulwahid said that a campaign to urge people to “Vote No” in the independence referendum set for Sept. 25 will be announced in the next few weeks. He expressed his opposition against holding the Kurdistan Region’s referendum on independence on the scheduled date, describing it as a move to “gamble with people’s lives.”
Congratulations to Omer Said Ali. Members of the Gorran, or Change Movement’s Executive Council on Tuesday elected Ali as the new General-coordinator of the party to take on the mantle of their previous leader, the late Nawshirwan Mustafa. Gorran’s new leader has vowed to stand firm on the party’s commitment to the parliamentary system and has said the party’s objectives can be achieved through “dialogue, and mutual understanding” with other parties. Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani, head of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), congratulated Ali on his victory.
Lastly, do as I say, don’t do as I do seems to be the new slogan for Iranian state television presenter Azadeh Namdari. Namdari has faced accusations of hypocrisy on social media after a video emerged showing her drinking beer and not wearing her hijab while on holiday in Switzerland. The TV host is known in Iran as a proponent of the Islamic dress code. In response to the revelations, Namdari published another video of herself in which she offered reasons for not wearing a hijab but gave no explanation about drinking beer in the video.
