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The Iraqi officials initially described the attack as a hostage situation, estimating that 50 people were trapped inside the complex. But Iraqi forces soon surrounded the building and landed troops on the roof. They clashed with the attackers inside, killing two of them, arresting another four and declaring the standof...
At least four police were among those killed in the assault, which lasted around an hour and a half, according to the police and medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
Following the attack, authorities shut down the city's highly fortified Green Zone, home to a number of foreign embassies and most of the country's political elite. A number of major roads, shopping malls and bridges around the Iraqi capital were also closed for fear of follow-up attacks.
Also on Monday evening, a car bomb in southeast Baghdad in a crowded market area killed five and wounded 12, according to hospital and police officials.
The Islamic State group often targets the country's Shiite majority with bombs in crowded marketplaces that are designed to kill large numbers of civilians.
The Islamic State group controls much of northern and western Iraq, but suffered a major defeat last month when Iraqi forces drove the extremists out of the western city of Ramadi, capital of the sprawling Anbar province.
The IS rampage across Iraq in the summer of 2014 was halted several miles away from Baghdad, but the extremist group has claimed a number of attacks in the heavily guarded capital since then.
The Ontario government is assisting four northwestern Ontario communities with flood recovery efforts.
Through the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program, funding will help the municipalities rebuild critical infrastructure such as roads.
The Ontario government will continue to work with the municipalities to assess the full extent of flood damage and determine all eligible costs.
The province is providing up to $2.47 million to support flood recovery efforts in the Township of Emo, the Town of Fort Frances, the Township of La Vallee and the Town of Rainy River.
Considerable rainfall in spring 2014 caused water levels to rise on Rainy River and Rainy Lake, resulting in flooding and threatening public infrastructure in affected communities.
The Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program offers public support for municipalities to respond to emergencies and repair public assets.
This document was published on November 10, 2014 and is provided for archival and research purposes.
Thai immigration police chief Surachate Hakparn speaks to journalists at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok on the case of Rahaf Mohamed al-Qunun.
Thailand’s immigration chief vowed not to force refugees to return home “involuntarily”, after a Saudi woman’s desperate plea for resettlement drew global attention to a country that does not recognise asylum-seekers.
The country is not a signatory to a UN convention on refugees and has long come under fire for holding them in detention centres or deporting them back to repressive regimes where they face prison or worse.
Many cases do not make headlines but that changed earlier this month when 18-year-old Saudi runaway Rahaf Mohamed al-Qunun arrived in Bangkok and staved off deportation by barricading herself in a hotel at the airport, live-tweeting the standoff to an international audience.
She was handed over to the UN refugee agency within days and resettled to Canada within a week, where she was welcomed by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland after landing in Toronto on Saturday.
Qunun said she suffered abuse in the ultra-conservative kingdom and refused to see family members who came to Thailand after her flight.
The lightning-fast processing of her case was unprecedented for Thailand and was overseen almost from start to finish by immigration chief Surachate Hakparn, a blunt-talking media-savvy official nicknamed “Big Joke” who was recently appointed to the role and vowed reforms.
Responding to questions about Thailand’s treatment of refugees, Surachate told an audience at the foreign correspondents’ club he would take a new approach and that under his supervision “there will be no one involuntarily sent back to the country if they don’t want to go back”. He added that as chief of the department...
But the claims were met with scepticism given the November arrest in Thailand of refugee footballer Hakeem Alaraibi, who had been granted permanent residency in Australia but was stopped at the airport in Bangkok while trying to go on vacation. Alaraibi, a former player for Bahrain’s national team, is wanted on charges...
That’s a tougher one. Some regions of the country seem to have something in the water that causes a disproportionate segment of the population to take risks and establish new businesses.
But there must be some way to teach the concept. After all, the reverse is true. Many communities have unlearned how to be entrepreneurial.
Whether you can actually inculcate an environment of entrepreneurialism has long-term implications for Tacoma’s economy, especially since someone is going to try.
The Tacoma College Entrepreneur Network was launched in November with a competition in which students were challenged to come up with a business plan to address a specific problem. That’s to be followed by formation of entrepreneurship clubs at participating schools (Puget Sound and UW Tacoma are in, Pacific Lutheran a...
The term entrepreneur doesn’t apply just to flashy, tech-driven start-ups.
But there are different levels, types and goals of entrepreneurial ventures. Independent businesses that not only sustain an individual or a family but create a few other jobs as well are vitally important to a community, even if those businesses never grow beyond a single storefront.
Another level of entrepreneurship consists of the companies that grow to be major players in their industries (sometimes creating or dramatically reshaping their own categories). Almost every major private-sector enterprise in this region that is a national or global player in business and that is significant to the re...
Those success stories are vitally important to a region’s long-term vitality too, because regions can lose what were once their economic mainstays, and when that happens they need to have replacements.
Your columnist grew up in the Midwest, which 100 years ago was what Silicon Valley is today – a regional hotbed of startups. Every tinkerer, mechanic and inventor wanted to get in on newfangled industries such as automobiles. A couple of bicycle-shop mechanics from Dayton Ohio, dabbled in aviation. The Midwest thrived ...
The Puget Sound region has added to its portfolio of industries to create companies, jobs and wealth. Blame it on the water, the weather, some intangible quality, but the region hasn’t lost the ability to be entrepreneurial.
Tacoma needs a slice of that for its long-term economic well-being. Whether efforts like the Tacoma College Entrepreneur Network can foster a thriving entrepreneurial climate here won’t be evident for a decade or two. It’ll take time to know whether not just the specific lessons of business formation but the spirit of ...
Norwich City fans know finishing above Sheffield United could be crucial in their promotion challenge - but a former Canary has added some extra spice to that top of the table rivalry.
Harry Maguire playing for England. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire.
The two sides fought out a 2-2 draw at Carrow Road on Saturday, with Daniel Farke’s side taking the lead twice, only for two goals from the Blades’ striker Billy Sharp to cancel out wonderfully-worked strikes from Onel Hernandez and Teemu Pukki.
But keeping a close eye on proceedings were two old boys from the two clubs. James Maddison left Carrow Road for Premier League Leicester in the summer, but still holds his former club and teammates close to his heart.
When Norwich City’s official Twitter account reported that Argos-loving winger Hernandez had put the Canaries in front, Maddison retweeted it and wrote: “Come on the boyssss”.
That prompted a response from his Leicester and England team-mate Harry Maguire, who replied with ‘Come on the Blades’. The Sheffield-born defender played almost 160 games for Sheffield United in a career which took him to Hull and Wigan before he established himself as an England international at the King Power Stadiu...
Maguire agreed: “Deal. The winner picks the charity.” He included the Twitter handle of Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice in his tweet, suggesting he’s already decided the Sheffield charity which will benefit if Chris Wilder’s side finish above the Canaries.
However, some fans have questioned whether the bet will be allowed to stand, pointing out that a worldwise ban on betting on football was introduced for all those involved in the game at Premier League, English Football League, National League and Women’s Super League levels.
The FA’s Betting rules do not make any reference to exceptions for charity bets between individuals.
Thousands of migrant workers live in Gulf country illegally after their work visas run out.
Indonesia has sent a special team to Saudi Arabia after thousands of undocumented Indonesian workers rioted outside its consulate in Jeddah.
The workers are trapped in Saudi, living illegally, because either their visas have run out, or they have lost their jobs.
Part of the problem is a new law which forces companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers, pushing many foreigners out of work.
Qassim Jassim, political analyst from Rusiya Al-Yaum TV channel, spoke to Russia Today about the ongoing summit on Iraq in the Egyptian town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Russia Today: Russia is willing to write off the Iraq state debt which is US$8 BLN in exchange for the access to oil fields. Do you think this is likely to happen?
Qassim Jassim: In the current term I do not think this is going to happen, mainly because most oil fields there are already contracted by Americans. They are 100% America controlled. Probably, when Iraq gets stabilised with the economic prosperity in the future there might be a chance for Russia to go back to Iraq, esp...
RT: So, at the moment this is not likely to happen?
Q.J.: At the moment I do not believe so because this is not only business in Iraq is controlled by the Americans. Upon the independence of the Iraqi government Russia might get back.
RT: So, a little later in the future and not now?
Q.J.: Yes, not now. I do not believe that now.
RT: What is Russia's role in stabilising the situation in Iraq?
Q.J.: Definitely Russia has a great role in stabilising if it wants to play it because Russia is an old friend of the Arabs, not only the Arabs but of Iran at the same time. So it has a substantial influence over the Arab states neighbouring Iraq. And Russia can press on these countries to stop violence by cancelling s...
RT: So Russia plays a significant role in the region and in Iraq in particular?
RT: We know that the U.S. and Syria held talks on Thursday and there is speculation that Iran and the U.S. may hold talks on the sidelines of the meeting? How significant are these talks and what role will they play in stabilising Iraq?
Q.J.: They are definitely significant; they are very significant in fact because sitting together and talking will clarify viewpoints of both parties. We know that the U.S. has long been accusing Syria and Iran of being states sponsoring terrorism. So talking together will clarify viewpoints and as Condoleezza Rice her...
It is no secret that the United States has a mass incarceration problem. While the U.S. represents 4.4 percent of the world’s population, it houses 22 percent of the world’s prisoners. In 2014 a Rutgers University study reported that more than 2.7 million, or 1 in 28, children in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent. O...
These facts and figures translate into the U.S. not only having a mass incarceration problem, but a crisis of Black and Brown people finding themselves caught up in the vicious cycle that is the criminal justice system from youth to old age at an alarming rate. Yet, even with these facts and studies available to the pu...
Yet, now there exists a way for audiences to experience this crisis first hand. Project Empathy, a virtual reality (VR) film series, explores the U.S. prison system. Through three virtual reality films by award-winning directors, the project invites audiences to walk in someone else’s shoes, in order to better understa...
Virtual Reality (VR) film and content is quickly gaining traction in the entertainment industry, as companies such as Oculus, Sony, HTC, Samsung, and Google are creating total immersion experiences in 360 degrees that viewers can have right in the comfort of their own homes. VR is an immersive experience in which your ...
Left Behind, the second piece in the series, is a scripted short film shown through the eyes of a 9-year-old Black girl. You watch, and experience, what begins as a normal day in the park quickly unravel into tragedy as the girl’s mother is arrested and taken to prison. The audience experiences the heartbreaking prison...
Calhoun, who is currently the Co-Executive producer for the hit television series Empire, also wrote the script for Left Behind. “We don’t hear enough of these stories that give voice to women and mothers,” Calhoun explained at the premier. Although the film is fictional it was explained by Calhoun and Wong that it is ...
Susan Burton, Founder and Executive Director of A New Way of Life– a re-entry project that seeks to advance multi-dimensional solutions to the effects of incarceration- also spoke at the premiere. “Black children are disproportionately impacted,” Burton explained. “[There are] really traumatic layers of all this on wom...
Photo: Screen shot from the film that can be found on projectempathyvr.com.
BEIJING: Blizzards in Tibetan areas of western China have left thousands of head of livestock dead and roads covered in up to 45 centimetres (18 inches) of snow, state media reported Saturday. Local authorities had sent veterinarians, medicine and animal feed to the hard-hit areas in Qinghai Province's Yushu Tibetan Au...
Harsh winters are routine in the Himalayan region that long fell within Tibet's traditional borders.
Snow was also expected in other parts of northern and central China over coming days, leading to some travel disruptions as millions of Chinese returned home after the past week's Lunar New Year holiday.
Falling rocks killed one person and injured 12 others at an ice lantern show at Longqing Gorge on Beijing's outskirts, the local government reported.
CALLING a plumber to clear a clogged toilet or other drain in an emergency can be a nuisance, but most homeowners and apartment dwellers can usually repair such problems themselves.
To clear a blocked toilet, use a flange-type plumber's plunger. Its cup has a projecting sleeve that fits snugly into the opening at the bottom of the bowl. Never use chemical cleaners. They can cause injury if splashed onto the skin.
Don rubber gloves, mop up any overflowed water and remove any solid material from the bowl. Place the plunger over the drain opening -- the larger opening if two are visible -- and pump vigorously up and down about 12 times. Lift the plunger away.
If plunging pumps out the water or if the water drains when the plunger is removed, the blockage probably has been dislodged. Flush the toilet. When the bowl is half full, plunge again rapidly while the water rises. Remove the plunger when the water nears the toilet's rim. The bowl should then empty normally.
Repeat the process if the toilet empties sluggishly. If such emptying is chronic but the toilet tank fills completely, the problem may be that mineral deposits in the water have clogged the small inlet holes beneath the toilet's rim. Poke the holes with a bent coat hanger to clear them.
If plunging does not work, bail out the bowl. Place a hand mirror in the bottom, and by angling the mirror while shining a flashlight on it, inspect the inside of the drain passage, which slants upward.
If you spot a blockage, use a bent coat hanger to snare it and pull it backward into the bowl. If the passage is clear, suggesting that the problem lies further inside the toilet, use a closet auger to withdraw the blockage.
A closet auger consists of a metal cable with a crank at one end and a corkscrew-shaped tip at the other. The cable is enclosed in a metal or plastic tube with a curved lower end. Instructions for using the tool are included.
If the toilet still cannot be cleared, the only solution may be removing it from the floor, usually a job for a plumber.
Bathroom basin drains typically consist of a pop-up stopper attached to rods that connect it with a knob or handle between the faucets. If the drain is clogged, first remove the stopper either by lifting it or by twisting it a quarter turn in whatever direction it will rotate and then lifting it.
If you cannot lift the stopper, find the horizontal rod entering the rear of the drain pipe underneath the sink. Unscrew the circular nut through which the rod passes, and while squeezing the flat metal clip at the rear of the rod, slide the rod out of the pipe. This will free the stopper.
Usually, the material clogging the drain clings to the stopper. Clean and reinstall it. Then pour half a cup of baking soda, followed by the same amount of vinegar, into the drain to loosen soap and other material further along the pipes. Wait about 10 minutes and then flush the drain with hot tap water.
Baking soda and vinegar often clear a kitchen drain if administered at the first sign of clogging. If the clog remains, try plunging. Using a flange-type plunger, fold the sleeve into the cup before proceeding.
To plunge a sink drain, first plug any overflow openings with wet rags. With multibowl sinks, also plug any additional drain openings. If a dishwasher is attached to the drain pipe or a garbage disposal, seal the hose connecting the nearest of these appliances to the drain pipe by sandwiching the hose between two block...
Spread petroleum jelly around the rim of the plunger so that it will seal tightly, and make sure that enough water is in the sink to cover the plunger's cup. Then place the plunger over the drain by inserting it at an angle into the water so that no air is trapped inside the cup.
Plunge vigorously about a dozen times, keeping the cup sealed over the drain. Then remove the plunger and see if the drain clears. If necessary, repeat the process; otherwise, flush the cleared drain for at least a minute with hot tap water. Afterward, administer the baking soda and vinegar remedy or use a chemical dra...
If plunging does not work, clean out the U- or J-shaped trap pipe beneath the fixture. Many traps have a cleanout plug that can be unscrewed with a wrench or pliers. After removing the plug and letting the water drain into a bucket, poke inside the trap through the cleanout hole with a wire hanger or a plumber's auger,...
If there is no plug, unscrew the large nuts joining the trap's ends to the drain pipe. Pull the trap free, empty it and reinstall it. If it leaks afterward, replace the rubber gaskets under the nuts and wrap the trap's threads with Teflon plumber's tape before reassembling.
To clear a clogged bathtub, pull out the pop-up stopper if there is one. Even if there is not, unscrew the plate covering the overflow vent near the top of the tub and wiggle out any linkage attached to the plate.
Chances are that the blockage, usually hair and soap, will be clinging to the removed parts. Clean them without disassembling them further or altering their adjustments.
Run water into the tub before reinstalling the parts to see if it drains. If it does not, probe the drain pipe with a plumber's auger inserted into the vent opening, not the opening in the bottom of the tub. If that does not work, call a plumber.
2nd floor, 2 bedroom plus den, condo located at upscale Coconut Point Mall. Very close to shopping and the movie theater. Open H floor plan with a spacious balcony. Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and wood cabinets. New A/C and water heater in 2018. Secured under building parking garage for your protect...
BERLIN (IDN) – With new sanctions, the U.S. wants to make breathing difficult, if not impossible, for Iranians. The sanctions were threatened in May, when President Donald Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from a 2015 deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), aimed at limiting Iran's nu...
The sanctions that existed before the nuclear deal were affirmed three days ahead of a long-announced November 5 deadline for nations to cease importing Iranian goods, particularly oil or face financial penalties. Washington wants countries not to buy a drop of oil from Iran. To ensure that this happens, the Trump Admi...
Against this backdrop, people in Iran are talking about "black November", in spite of the government shunning no efforts to play down the severity of the situation. People have enough to do cope with serious supply bottlenecks, and the U.S. efforts to curb Iran's oil exports could affect people's lives to the point whe...
Two weeks before the oil sanctions against Iran became effective, the Trump Administration put more than 20 banks, organizations and several military and paramilitary units under punitive measures. If one takes into account the previous sanctions, things would become chokingly tight for Iran.
Nevertheless, revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani are trying hard to play down the dangers and demonstrate that the government is in a position to ensure the security of the country, also by by way of removing the holdups in supplies.
Rouhani says the sanctions against Iran are not new: "We will overcome the difficulties this time as well." The President of the Islamic Republic told a gathering of scholars and students in Tehran: "We know that America is trying to overthrow the regime in Iran." He added: "The team that governs America today is the w...
He went on to say that the Trump team began with a psychological warfare and then moved on to economic warfare to prove that the government of Iran is unable to fulfil people's needs and, in the end, underline that Islamic rulers are unable to solve today's problems.

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