AMBS Architects was commissioned with a highly confidential project - due to security reasons until recently - in Basra, Iraq. Home to a bulk of Iraq's oil reserves, the province is becoming one of the fastest-growing business centers in the world (and most precious per square meter). The new downtown master plan was assigned by the Basra governorate with an aim of maximizing the city's capacity by 2025. Avoiding urban sprawl was the top priority in order to protect the environment, thus posing the preference to build vertically, rather than outwards. The scheme for the downtown area will feature a one of a kind landmark to match its importance called The Bride tower. The brief developed into four conjoined towers creating a more logical and stable structure with multiple accesses and escape routes via horizontal and vertical circulations. Tower 1, located on the south side, is the tallest, and is shaded by a glazed canopy known as 'the veil'. The towers are connected at many levels creating "sky gardens" and "sky squares". The Bride will be the first vertical city in the world. It will also be the tallest structure there is and will break new ground in all disciplines of engineering: from structures to vertical transportation and services. It will keep a constant typical section from top to bottom, which gives maximum space efficiency and repetition, reducing the costs. Furthermore, it's designed to be a "round the clock" city, with offices, hotels, whole neighborhoods, commercial centers, sky-squares, parks, gardens and its own rail network. The design responds to the external environment strategically positioning the structures in a way that they can shade one another. The south facade of tower 1 will be almost completely cloaked by a canopy that extends over 600 thousand square meters, covering low-rise buildings, public areas and the first floors of the high-rise. Apart from shading and cooling for the south facade of tower 1, the "veil" will integrate hybrid solar cooling PVT panels (a photovoltaic-thermal combined system). The water heated within these panels will be used to increase the performance of the photovoltaics, and which will subsequently be fed to absorption chillers. the heat provided to the generator will drive a cycle that produces chilled water for cooling. The city of Basra and its surrounding lands have been historically fertile and capable of producing abundant vegetation and agricultural crops. This reputation earned it the name "the bride of the gulf" by local people. The "bride tower" project takes its name to reference this saying and aims to convey the idea at many levels.

As reported by the Armenian Weekly, earlier this month His Eminence Archbishop Avak Asadourian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Iraq, paid a pastoral visit to the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Northern Iraq, mainly to inspect the work of a new church which is being built in the village of Havresk (Hye Verejh) in the province of Duhok. Due to a state of insecurity, especially in Baghdad and Mosul cities since 2003, the Armenian communities in Iraq have been experiencing inner migration as is the case with other Christian denominations and minorities. As a consequence, a number of Armenians relocated to the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq. Hence, the Armenian Diocese of Iraq is faced with the obligation and Christian duty of building new churches for the faithful. Due to limited funding the church was not built in an entirely Armenian architectural style. The church is expected to be completed early next year. The new house of worship is being built through a generous donation by the Association of churches in Germany and Switzerland.

On July 25 Iran, Iraq and Syria agreed to build a major gas pipeline to transfer the country's natural gas from Iran's South Pars gas field to Eastern Mediterranean countries and Europe, reported ITAR-TASS. It should be noted, that this project would set a serious rival to EU gas pipeline Nabucco - from Central Asia and Caspian region to the EU. The construction of a new 5000km pipeline, which is also called the "Islamic Gas Pipeline", will cost about US$ 10 billion. It is expected that the new pipeline would ultimately have the capacity to pump 110 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. A 1500 km section from southern Iran to Damascus will be commissioned in the period between 2014 and 2016. New gas pipeline will ship gas from South Pars to Iraq then to Lebanon, eastern Mediterranean countries and Europe. International consortium is created for the pipeline construction. At the signing-ceremony of a gas pipeline agreement, Iran's caretaker Oil Minister Mohammad Aliabadi said that Europe is in dire need of Iran's gas, according to the official IRNA news agency. Aliabadi said this agreement would strengthen trilateral relations among the three Islamic countries and it will also lead to ensuring economic security in the region, said the report. According to research by BP, Iran has roughly 28 trillion cubic meters of natural gas - the second largest reserves in the world after Russia with reserves about 45 trillion cubic meters.

As reported by Reuters a five-year project for French engineering group Alstom to build an above-ground urban metro line in Baghdad will cost $1.5 billion and be funded by the French government and banks, according to Iraqi officials. The planned line, with a capacity to carry 30,000 passengers an hour, will have 22 km of track and 14 stations linking northern Baghdad districts with the city centre. France's Alstom signed a memorandum of understanding for the deal in January. A follow-up agreement signed in Baghdad on 30 May paved the way for French financing for the project. "The company has obtained agreement from several French banks and the French government to implement this project," Shaker al-Zamili, head of the Baghdad Investment Commission, told Reuters. A final accord on the Baghdad metro project would have to be approved by the Iraqi cabinet, he added. The loan would be repaid by Iraq after the railway started operating, through a mechanism yet to be determined, Zamili added. Iraq's roads, railways, ports and power plants have been badly decayed by years of war, economic sanctions and underinvestment. Alstom is a large French multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. Alstom is active in the field of hydroelectric power generation, in conventional islands for nuclear power plants, and in environmental control systems. Alstom is also present in the urban transport market, and is behind regional train models, signaling infrastructure equipment, and a number of associated services.