Is Iraq Building Concrete Security Wall Around Baghdad?

-
0
Is Iraq Building Concrete Security Wall Around Baghdad?

Christian Post Report – People gather at the site of car bomb in New Baghdad, July 22, 2015. Iraqi security forces and Sunni tribal fighters launched an offensive on Tuesday to dislodge Islamic State militants and secure a supply route in Anbar province, police and tribal sources said. As well as the bombing in New Baghdad, two others were killed in bomb attacks in Zafaraniya, the predominantly Shiite southern district of the capital.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday denied reports that his country is constructing a concrete wall around the capital city of Baghdad to prevent attacks from the Islamic State terror group.

“Baghdad is the capital of all Iraqis. There can be no wall or fence to isolate it or prevent other civilians from entering it,” Al-Abadi said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The prime minister’s statement comes days after Baghdad Operations Command said preparations were on for the construction of a security barrier around the city to restrict Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which controls areas north and west of Baghdad and has launched several attacks.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, earlier said a 65-mile stretch of the 10-feet high wall and trench around the capital was under construction, according to The Associated Press.

The plan is only to re-organize checkpoints and deal with other security issues without restricting transit in and out of the city, the prime minister added in the statement.

Due to tensions between Shias and Sunnis, there are areas within Baghdad that are surrounded by concrete fences.

Meanwhile, a U.S. defense official said the estimated number of ISIS fighters has come down, according to a new intelligence assessment of the terror group in Iraq and Syria.

Quoting sources, CBS News said the amount of fighters is now estimated to be around 19,000 to 25,000, down from previous estimates which usually ranged from 20,000 to 30,000 fighters and as high as 33,000.

The reduction is mainly due to battlefield deaths, trouble recruiting, desertions and increased difficulty getting into Syria, sources said.

“The enemy now controls about 40% less territory than it did at its zenith,” Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, commander of the U.S.-led coalition, was quoted as saying in another report.

However, the estimate of the number of ISIS fighters is going up in Libya – from 2,000 to 3,000 to 5,000 fighters, according to CBS News.

ISIS is an offshoot of al Qaeda and is working to establish a caliphate in the Levant region and beyond. Christian minorities in Iraq and Syria are among the main civilian targets of the Sunni terror group.

ISIS recently razed to the ground Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery, the 1400-year-old St. Elijah’s monastery in Mosul, where U.S. troops would once worship, in an apparent attempt to erase the region’s history. The terror group destroyed the structure months after taking over the Iraqi city.

Source : Christian Post

UK Christian Charity Campaigns against Relaxed Divorce Laws

CM Editor
-
0
UK Christian Charity Campaigns against Relaxed Divorce Laws

A Christian group is arguing that the UK’s current divorce laws should not be relaxed because a higher divorce rate will destroy families.

According to ChristianToday.com, The Christian Institute is against the effort to relax current divorce laws in the UK.

Taking the opposite view from The Christian Institute is Resolution, a family law company which is spearheading the effort to make divorce easier for couples.

Resolution organized a 100-lawyer march on Parliament on Wednesday (Nov. 30) to demand less stringent divorce laws.

Currently in the UK, in order to obtain a divorce, couples must have lived apart for more than two years or one party must attribute fault–such as adultery or unreasonable behavior–to the other.

Resolution argues that forcing couples to attribute fault can cause needless relationship conflict and make divorce “unnecessarily complex.”

“This often creates conflict and makes reaching a mutually acceptable agreement much more difficult,” a statement from the organisation read.

“For so many to descend on Parliament to lobby MPs and Peers shows that it is time for politicians to act, and bring an end to the blame game,” added Nigel Shepherd, national chair of Resolution.

The Christian Institute, however, argues that relaxed divorce laws would cause more families to split apart …read more

More Than 130 People Still Trapped in Quake-Hit Taiwan Tower

-
0
More Than 130 People Still Trapped in Quake-Hit Taiwan Tower

Christian Post Report – A soldier stands guard in front of a collapsed building after an earthquake hit Tainan, southern Taiwan, February 6, 2016.

TAINAN, Taiwan (Reuters) – Hundreds of Taiwanese rescuers swarmed over a collapsed apartment tower on Sunday, searching for more than 130 people believed trapped more than 24 hours after an earthquake toppled the 17-storey building, burying them in rubble.

Firefighters, police, soldiers and volunteers combed through the ruins, some using their hands, as temperatures dropped, watched anxiously by dozens of the victims’ family members who wore thick jackets, woollen hats and scarves.

“She’s not answering my phone calls … I am trying to hold my emotions and stay strong. I’ll do that until I find her,” said a woman surnamed Chang, 42, waiting to hear from her 24-year-old daughter who lived on the fifth floor of the complex.

“Nothing matters but to get her out. The lady living across the hallway was rescued yesterday. I know they will find her, but I have also planned for the worst. It’s been more than 20 hours now.”

A total of 132 people are still beneath the rubble of the Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building in the southern city of Tainan, said a city government official surnamed Chen, with all but about 30 of them trapped deep in the wreckage.

The building’s lower floors pancaked on top of each other in the 6.4 magnitude quake and then the whole structure toppled, raising immediate questions about the quality of materials and workmanship used in its construction in the 1990s.

At least 18 people are known to have died in the quake, which struck at about 4 a.m. on Saturday, at the beginning of a Lunar New Year holiday, including 15 found in the collapsed block, according to the latest official death toll.

Tainan Mayor William Lai told reporters that rescue efforts were difficult and it could take several hours to clear the rubble to get to where they think some of the people are buried.

“We will focus our resources on the 29 who are closest to the rescuers,” he said.

The extent of damage to the Golden Dragon Building has raised questions.

Liu Shih-chung, Tainan city government deputy secretary general, said television footage of the ruins of the commercial-residential building suggested the possibility of structural problems related to poor-quality reinforced steel and cement.

However, city officials have said it is too early to say for certain if poor construction was a factor in the collapse.

The dead taken from the collapsed apartment block on Saturday included a 10-day-old girl who was found in her dead father’s arms, media reported.

Authorities said the building had 96 apartments and 256 registered residents, though more people were inside when it collapsed.

Rescuers wearing red and yellow overalls pulled more than 240 survivors from the ruins and inserted huge supports under slabs of leaning concrete as they searched for additional survivors.

Buildings in nine other locations in the city of 2 million people had collapsed and five were left tilting at alarming angles, a government emergency centre said on Saturday.

(Additional reporting by J.R. Wu, Carol Lee and Pichi Chuang; Writing by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Ben Blanchard, Robert Birsel)

Source : Christian Post