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By the end of October, only 10 weeks into the campaign, the allies had already dropped 500 more bombs and missiles in Iraq and Syria than in Afghanistan across all of 2014. Even so, Air Forces Central Command, the Air Force division of Centcom, reports 9,450 ISR missions over Afghanistan between August and October. Dur... |
Casualty monitors believe Centcom’s claims are not credible. U.K.-based Iraq Body Count, another independent monitoring group, estimates that up to 100 civilians may have died in U.S. and allied airstrikes in Iraq — though these represent less than 2 percent of civilians reported killed in Iraq during the same period, ... |
Lily Hamourtziadou, a casualty recorder with Iraq Body Count since 2006, said that of around 6,800 civilians killed in Iraq’s violence since August, more than 2,500 are believed to have died at the hands of the Islamic State and its allies. A further 600 or more civilians have been reportedly killed in aggressive opera... |
Across the border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that has gained a reputation for balanced reporting of Syria’s civil war, uses a network of locals to track civilian and combatant deaths caused by the Assad regime, rebel groups, and now coalition airstrikes. More than 900 people were killed by the Un... |
As allied airstrikes have shifted from rural battlefields like Mount Sinjar and the Mosul Dam to the Islamic State’s urban strongholds, they are now often targeting the same locations as the Assad regime or the Iraqi government, adding to the confusion. The Islamic State’s self-declared capital of Raqqa, Syria, was the... |
While there is no love lost between Assad and the allied Arab and Western forces, airstrikes in Iraq are being conducted with the full knowledge and approval of Iraq’s security forces, both Centcom and the British Defense Ministry told Foreign Policy. Yet how much this represents any safeguard for civilians is unclear. |
According to Iraq Body Count’s Hamourtziadou, Iraq’s military has itself killed hundreds of civilians during operations in Sunni cities such as Mosul and Tikrit. “There have been nightly airstrikes by the Iraqi Army [in 2014], and these raids have reportedly caused civilian casualties almost every time,” she said. The ... |
The claim that religiously exclusive roads exist in the West Bank needs to be debunked, suggests Adam Levick. |
AN op-ed by Hanan Ashrawi headlined 'Ireland can make history by backing human rights in Palestine in Seanad tomorrow', included the claim that, in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, there are roads “for Jewish use only”. |
The claim that there exists such religiously exclusive roads is a charge typically levelled to evoke the greater lie that Israel is an apartheid state. |
Today, if you were to travel across the green line, you would see Palestinian license plates on roads from Jenin to Hebron, on settlement bypass roads which Ms. Ashrawi would suggests are for Jews only - such as the Qalqilya bypass, the southern Nablus bypass, and the Ramallah bypass roads, as well as on main roads lik... |
There are not, nor have there ever been, anywhere in Israel or the West Bank, roads exclusively for Jews or settlers. |
Such false allegations over the years, suggesting the existence of such religiously exclusive roads, have been refuted repeatedly by commentators and media watchdog groups familiar with this myth. |
In fact, multiple media outlets, including Associated Press (AP), The Washington Post and Financial Times, have been forced to amend articles which initially included some variation of this false accusation. |
* The overwhelming majority of roads in the West Bank are open to all traffic. However, for security reasons, a very small percentage of West Bank roads around Israeli settlements (about 40 km in total according to the Israeli human rights organisation B’tselem) are prohibited to Palestinian traffic. But, even these 40... |
* Moreover, even the 40 km of restricted roads in Israeli controlled sections of the West Bank (Area C) should be placed in context. Israelis, for instance, are not permitted to drive on roads in the Palestinian controlled West Bank (Area A). This is because PA security personnel (and the IDF) can’t guarantee the safet... |
Does this mean that there’s apartheid being practised against Jews? Of course not. |
All such West Bank restrictions – placed on both Israeli and Palestinian drivers – are imposed not for racial reasons, but to mitigate the security risks stemming from an intractable and historically violent conflict involving two people who both lay claim to the same land. |
Whilst pro-Palestinian commentators in Ireland, or elsewhere, are free to criticise Israeli actions in the West Bank, such criticism – by activists and journalists - should be based on facts and empirically based arguments, not propaganda, agitprop and categorically false allegations such as the myth of ‘Jews only road... |
The Lakers made a roster move but not one of the ones fans are eagerly anticipating. |
The team waived guard Tyler Ennis, who had a $1.5 million contract that could have become guaranteed for the 2018-19 season had he been on the roster beyond July 5. |
During Ennis’ stint with the Lakers, who was acquired in a Feb. 2017 trade with the Houston Rockets, he started 13 of 76 games he played in and averaged 5.2 points per game. He averaged 4.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 12.6 minutes last season, shooting 42 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point r... |
The Lakers also face upcoming deadlines regarding the contracts for big men Ivica Zubac and Thomas Bryant for the upcoming season. |
Bryant’s contract, worth $1.3 million, does not become guaranteed until July 5. Zubac’s $1.5 million contract is not guaranteed until June 30. |
Shares of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) retreated 5% on Tuesday afternoon after one analyst downgraded the controversial nutrition company due to concerns the KPMG insider-trading scandal will lead to decreased financial flexibility. |
The bearish note from D.A. Davidson comes after Herbalife said KPMG has resigned as its auditor and withdrawn three years of audit reports because a partner at the Big Four accounting firm allegedly disclosed nonpublic information to a third party. |
Ramey said the KPMG episode means Herbalife will be out of compliance with New York Stock Exchange requirements, which could mean the company is in violation of its loan covenants and limit its ability to buy back stock due to a lack of financial liquidity. Herbalife may be able to obtain a covenant waiver due to the u... |
Herbalife may also receive a delisting notice from the NYSE, though it is “highly unlikely they will be delisted,” Ramey said. |
FOX Business's Charlie Gasparino reports Herbalife officials "doubt" the loss of audits will lead to a NYSE delisting. NYSE told Gasparino the company is likely to receive a "cure period" to get new audits. |
After initially dropping just about 1% on the KPMG news, shares of Herbalife experienced heavier selling after the Davidson downgrade and were recently off 5.26% to $36.37. By comparison, shares of Skechers (NYSE:SKX) traded higher than before disclosing KPMG was withdrawing its audits as well due to the insider-tradin... |
It’s not clear whether the third party bought or sold shares of Herbalife based on the nonpublic information that the KPMG partner allegedly disclosed to it. |
“KPMG’s 22,000 partners and employees unequivocally condemn this individual’s rogue actions,” KPMG said in a statement. |
Herbalife, like Skechers, stressed that KPMG resigned as its auditor “solely” due to the scandal and not because of other issued related to Herbalife itself. |
Herbalife has been one of the most talked about stocks on Wall Street in recent months, ever since billionaire investor Bill Ackman disclosed a short position and called the company a “pyramid scheme.” Other hedge-fund giants like Carl Icahn and Daniel Loeb have come to Herbalife’s defense, squeezing Ackman’s short bet... |
Sweden’s defense ministry has refuted reports that it has softened its stance on the use of Karlshamn as the base for the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream-2. |
“The government’s assessment remains unchanged. We will meet representatives of Karlshamn community tonight to receive information from them. If they decide to rent out the port, we will need to take measures,” Marinette Nyh Radebo, press secretary of Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist, said ahead of an official decision... |
Nyh Radebo said that any approval of the project would be accompanied by a strengthening of the coast guard, armed forces, customs, and tighter surveillance over the strategic Baltic port, which is located 50 km away from the key Karlskrona naval base. |
The official was responding to a report disseminated by state-owned Swedish Radio, which claimed that the government had its concerns assuaged, noting there is already a significant volume of Russian maritime traffic at the port. |
The center-left alliance that controls the municipality of about 20,000 people had lobbied for project, which will follow the path of the first Nord Stream pipeline, completed in 2011, to be given the green light. |
The original 1,200-km pipeline, which runs ashore in Germany, was vehemently opposed by several Eastern European states, alarmed by Moscow’s potential grip on the continent’s energy security, but it was approved in Sweden. |
The second pipeline, which will double the capacity of Nord Stream to 55 million cubic meters, is being built against an even fiercer backdrop of resistance, considering that Russia is still under EU sanctions. |
If all goes to plan, Nord Stream-2, which is expected to cost around €10 billion, will come online in 2019. It will be majority-owned by Russian state giant Gazprom, with minority stakes held by Basf, E.On, Engie, OMV, and Shell. |
Crime queen Agatha Christie invented more detectives than just Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, writes Tony Spittles. |
Among her many other creations were Tommy and Tuppence, whose amateur detective work always seemed fair and friendly compared to today’s testesterone-fuelled crime busters. |
Partners In Crime, starring with Jessica Raine and David Walliams. |
Their 1920s-era investigations in word and on film - the 1980s TV series starring with Francesca Annis and James Warwick still stands the test of time - have now been given a timely revamp with the near-perfect teaming of David Walliams and Jessica Raine as the husband and wife sleuths Tommy Beresford and Prudence ‘Tup... |
Their latest forays, neatly updated to the 1950s, have just finished their Sunday-night screenings on BBC1 and are now available on RLJ Entertainment’s Acorn label, price £24.99. |
The two-disc set, which has bonus cast interviews and more than 90 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, has a seven-hour running time and sees the couple involved with murder, undercover agents and conspiracies in two separate cases - The Secret Adversary and N or M? |
The former sees the couple on the trail of a girl who goes missing on a train, while in N or M the pair are commandeered by Tommy’s uncle, Major Carter (James Fleet from The Vicar of Dibley), to investigate which person in a Cromer guesthouse has stolen a nuclear bomb. |
n Already out in the Simply Media label are two classics which celebrate the life and career of award-winning actor Sir Richard Attenborough on the first anniversary of his death. |
This double release is a DVD debut for the 1947 thriller Dancing With Crime (PG) in which Attenborough as taxi driver Ted gets caught up with the police and gang bosses when his ex-Army comrade, Dave (Bill Rowbotham, aka Bill Owen from Last of the Summer Wine) is found dead in the back of his cab. |
The set, both of which are priced at £12.99, is completed by the aviation drama Jet Storm (PG) from 1959 in which ‘Dickie,’ bereft at the death of his daughter in a hit-and-run accident, tracks down the driver to an airport where he boards the same plane armed with a homemade bomb that he threatens to detonate in mid-a... |
This star-studded thriller co-stars Stanley Baker (Hell Drivers), Hermione Baddeley (Mary Poppins), Paul Eddington (Yes, Minister and The Good Life) and Diane Cilento (The Wicker Man). |
Top-seeded Brockton used its speed and skill to beat No. 8 King Philip, 6-1, in a Division 1 South Sectional quarterfinal on Monday night. |
BROCKTON – Speed and skill is a tough combination to match in soccer, and the King Philip High boys soccer team discovered that on Monday night at Marciano Stadium. |
Top-seeded Brockton used its speed and skill to beat the eighth-seeded Warriors, 6-1, in a Division 1 South Sectional quarterfinal. |
Brockton (17-1-2) will play host to fourth-seeded Silver Lake (15-3-3) in a semifinal on Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. |
“We have a lot kids with good skill,’’ Brockton coach Herminio Furtado said. “This group of kids loves to play with each other and they love assisting each other and can’t wait to get on the field together. |
The Boxers were patient in the first half and the patience paid off with the game’s first goal in the 33rd minute. |
Edson Lopes stole the ball from King Philip’s defense at midfield and dribbled through two defenders before sending a thru pass to Leonardo Teixeira, who made a move and ripped a shot along the ground inside the left post for a 1-0 lead. |
Lopes gave the Boxers a 2-0 lead 42 seconds into the second half. King Philip keeper Nicholas Beltramini (14 saves) made a diving save, but Lopes was there to blast the rebound under the crossbar. |
Lopes scored his second goal of the second half in the 49th minute. Erick Brito beat his defender down the left sideline and sent a cross that Lopes headed home for a 3-0 lead. |
Five minutes later, Brockton’s Junior Gomes headed home a Odair Monterio corner kick, and three minutes later Mario Mendoza buried the rebound of a Monterio shot for a 5-0 Brockton lead. |
Jonathan Rodrigues scored the final Brockton goal in the 65th minute on a penalty shot. |
King Philip (11-8-2) avoided the shutout with eight minutes left in the game when Tony Bozza took a pass from Evan McEvoy and blasted a shot under the crossbar. |
Historian John Schmidt tells us the story of how one of the driest and warmest countries on earth got covered in snow. |
By early 1972, Iran had been going through a four-year-long drought. Then, on February 3, the drought ended—but not in the way anyone expected. |
NEW MILFORD - After their youngest child left home for college, Dr. Beth Overmoyer and Dr. Joseph Frolkis found they had lots of free time. They promptly filled that up with lots more work. |
Case Western Reserve University and the University Hospitals of Cleveland - she as the hospital's director of breast cancer clinical research, he as the hospital's director of cardiovascular disease reduction. |
Surrounded by workaholics, they joined in. For a while. |
"But we realized we were living to work, not working to live,'' Overmoyer said. |
Frolkis is New Milford Hospital's director of preventive cardiology. He teaches people to cut their risk for heart disease. |
This week, Overmoyer will start work at the hospital's cancer center as an oncologist specializing in breast cancer treatment and research. |
Bringing both doctors to town took some quick decisions by hospital officials. |
The cancer center staff knew it wanted a female oncologist as it had with the now-retired Dr. |
Howard said the hospital had been carefully reviewing candidates for about two years. After interviewing Overmoyer for about five minutes, he said, "I knew she'd be a perfect match'' not only because of her clinical skills and dedication, but because of her national reputation in breast cancer research. |
The hospital also is expanding its cardiac care program. Last year, it received permission from the state to open a cardiac catheterization lab and to offer emergency angioplasty - a service it hopes to start by autumn. |
While it hadn't planned to open a preventive cardiology program so soon, the chance to bring a physician of Frolkis' stature to the community was too good to pass up, said hospital president Richard Pugh . |
For Frolkis, starting the program means building a team that will include a dietitian, an exercise physiologist, a pharmacist, and a person to run a stop-smoking program. |
People can reduce their risks of a heart attack by losing weight, getting more exercise, eating healthier foods and stopping smoking. They also can take drugs to reduce cholesterol levels and blood pressure. |
Frolkis said his work in Cleveland is proof this collection of medical problems are best addressed as a whole, using a team approach. |
His work in New Milford will involve public education programs about heart disease, because Americans are eating more and exercising less. |
For Overmoyer, her work at the cancer center will involve an assessment of available breast cancer services. |
"I'm in the information-gathering stage,'' she said. |
However, Overmoyer said, the national trend is to bring cancer research programs to community cancer centers, rather than confining them to the major urban centers. That's a trend New Milford Hospital, its affiliated partner, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, and the medical practice Overmoyer plans to join -... |
Both Frolkis and Overmoyer praised New Milford Hospital's desire to offer top-quality care to the community. |
The couple also may have opportunities to not work - to drive to New York or Boston, to spend time along the Atlantic shoreline, or to enjoy the beauty of Litchfield County. That's a prospect Overmoyer and Frolkis are relishing. |
MANCHESTER UNITED are closing in on Marcos Rojo after the Sporting Lisbon defender apologised to his club for refusing to train. |
Rojo, 24, effectively went on strike last week after asking to leave when United bid £16m. |
That initial offer was rejected by Sporting and Rojo has now apologised in a bid to calm the situation. |
United do not want the player and club to be at war because it could make what is already a complex deal even more difficult. |
Doyen Sports own 75 per cent of the player which is making the situation messy. |
The company want Sporting to give them their cut of the rejected bid - around £12m - or sell the player for a bigger fee. |
They cannot push them to sell, but believe they are entitled to their cut and will take legal action if needed. |
Sporting felt they were being pushed into a deal by the company and the player, and they were prepared to be stubborn. |
However, United now hope that the apology from Rojo and his return to training will ease negotiations. |
Rojo said: "I was hot-headed and I'm sorry. I'll be back with the rest of the squad. |
"Sporting signed me when I was not at my best and gave me the opportunity to play for a big club in Europe. |
"I would like to thank the trust they had in me and I will resume training." |
Nani could yet be used as a makeweight in the deal with United willing to let him go on loan to the club. |
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