Iraq’s electoral commission nullified results from over 1,000 polling stations after receiving hundreds of complaints. At the same time, parliament is discussing a bill that would require a manual recount of all votes. Acting on nearly 2,000 complaints of voting irregularities, the Commissioners Council of the electoral commission cancelled election results from 1,021 polling stations from nine provinces, overseas, and early voters. The stations affected include 73 in Erbil, 96 in Sulaimani, and 224 in Duhok.
In a shocking twist, the authorities in Ukraine have been sharply criticized for faking the murder of a Russian dissident journalist in Kiev. An official from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Ukraine was spreading “false information.” Babchenko, a 41-year-old critic of the Kremlin, sent shock waves around the news world when he arrived at a press conference in Kiev on Wednesday – the day after he was reported dead.
Lastly, the boy band BTS made history this week by becoming the first K-pop act to have an album debut at the top of the Billboard charts. BTS has inspired legions of devoted fans across the globe — who call themselves the ARMY — even though many don’t even understand Korean lyrics. The group was, collectively, the most tweeted-about celebrity in 2017 and they’re part of a larger music and culture trend that has become a global phenomenon.
