Iraq war families warn they will 'hand back medals' as Tony Blair is knighted

Iraq through a series of concerts and other projects to support culture and education.The audience at the Iraqi National Theater were on their feet, overcome with emotion as Shamma played a night of classics from the Iraqi songbook and modern compositions.“We will work on lighting the stage, to get out of the darkness into the light,” he told the crowd, before kicking off the evening with, “Sabah El Kheir Ya Baghdad,” or, “Good Morning Baghdad.” Behind him, an orchestra, including young women musicians, played traditional instruments.The 59-year-old Shamma is considered a modern-day master of the oud, a pear-shaped stringed instrument similar to a lute whose deep tones and swift-changing chords are central to Arabic music.Born in the southern city of Kut and raised in a conservative family, he received his first oud lesson at the age of 11 and later graduated from the Baghdad Academy of Music in 1987.He fled Iraq in 1993 during Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and gained international fame, performing around the world and receiving dozens of awards. In Cairo, he founded the House of the Oud, a school dedicated to teaching the instrument to new generations.Shamma, who currently lives in Berlin, returned to Iraq for the first time in 2012 to perform in a concert hosted by the Arab League.

There are many ways to "do" Eurovision successfully, but the most obvious path to success is one many people actually overlook: just enter with a good song. Brooke Scullion - a former Top 3 finalist in The Voice UK's 2020 series - has thankfully chosen to follow this advice.

On July 7, 2017, former Marine Brian Brown-Easley, dressed in a grey hoodie, brandishing a bruised cheek underneath his glasses, walked into an Atlanta area Wells Fargo bank claiming to possess a bomb. Politely he allowed the majority of the bank’s customers and employees to leave, except for two.

Norwegian-Irish artist Tara Nome Doyle has released her new single, Caterpillar.

Prince Harry's request for police protection is the biggest sign yet that he and his family are planning to return to the UK, a royal expert has explained.The 37 year old argues his private protection team in the US does not have access to UK intelligence information that is necessary to keep his wife Meghan Markle and children, Archie and Lilibet, safe when in the country. And while many reports suggest his request is an excuse for he and Meghan to not return to the UK, Duncan Larcombe says he think it means the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could be plotting an imminent return.

Alison Hammond has revealed she will never take part in ITV's hit show Dancing On Ice.The 46 year old, who recently opened up on her "naughty" dad who used to "smuggle drugs from the Caribbean", was seen speaking to host Holly Willoughby while sitting in the audience to watch the show on 16 January.This Morning presenter Alison shared her support for her colleague Ria Hebden, 39, who will be the first to face the dreaded skate-off with her pro partner Lukasz Rozycki. She then told Holly, 40, that while she has been in pretty much every competition show in the UK, including Big Brother, she would never compete in the rink. Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox with OK!'s daily newsletter.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iraj Pezeshkzad, an Iranian author whose bestselling comic novel, “My Uncle Napoleon,” lampooned Persian culture's self-aggrandizing and paranoid behavior as the country entered the modern era, has died. He was 94.The travails of Uncle Napoleon, whose delusions have him seeing Britain's hand in the troubles plaguing his waning days of his aristocratic family during World War II, became one of the most-beloved television serials ever in Iran when it aired in 1976.The fervor of the 1979 Islamic Revolution saw the book banned and the series never aired again on Iranian state television.

EXCLUSIVE: Myriad Pictures has licensed Irish comedy Deadly Cuts to Level 33 Entertainment for distribution in North America.

Tony Blair “deserves the honour” of a knighthood, Keir Starmer has declared.

At age 70, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou is showing no signs of slowing down.

A mum whose soldier son was killed in Iraq told of her “disgust” that former prime minister Tony Blair is to be knighted.