Fleeing Iraqi civilians wait to be taken from Mosul's Old City during fighting of Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants today. @felipedana: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 8 July 2017
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Mosul, July 2017: photo by Felipe Dana / AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 6 July 2017
Mosul endgame: Felipe Dana, AP blogs, 6 July 2017
The
Islamic State group is striking back as Iraqi forces are on the cusp of
full victory in Mosul, sending women suicide bombers to target soldiers
as the battle for the country's second-largest city nears its end. The
attacks underscore the intense violence still plaguing the battered
nation and the perils that will remain even after IS militants are
pushed out of Mosul.
Mosul, July 2017: photo by Felipe Dana / AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 6 July 2017
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Mosul @felipedana: image via Quentin Sommerville @sommervillebbc, 8 July 2017
More photos of destruction around Mosul's Old City. Old doors riddled with bullets, bodies of ISIS fighters left to rot in the sun.: image via Louisa Loveluck @leloveluck, 8 July 2017
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More
photos of destruction around Mosul's Old City. Old doors riddled with
bullets, bodies of ISIS fighters left to rot in the sun.: image via Louisa Loveluck @leloveluck, 8 July 2017
More photos of destruction around Mosul's Old City. Old doors riddled with bullets, bodies of ISIS fighters left to rot in the sun.: image via Louisa Loveluck @leloveluck, 8 July 2017
More photos of destruction around Mosul's Old City. Old doors riddled with bullets, bodies of ISIS fighters left to rot in the sun.: image via Louisa Loveluck @leloveluck, 8 July 2017
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More photos of destruction around Mosul's Old City. Old doors riddled with bullets, bodies of ISIS fighters left to rot in the sun.: image via Louisa Loveluck @leloveluck, 8 July 2017
Big Heads
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#Nigeria A man looks at potatoes displayed on a stall at the Monday-Market, one of the biggest markets, in Maiduguri. Photo @HeunisStephan.: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 7 July 2017
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#India Farm labourers plant paddy seedlings in a field on the outskirts of Amritsar. Photo @nanuworld #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 7 July 2017
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#Indonesia A bird flies in front of the cloud-covered sunset in Jakarta. Photo @b4yismoyo #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 7 July 2017
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#India An Indian family travels on a bike as heavy rain falls in Jalandhar. Photo @shammiphotos #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 7 July 2017
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#Spain Moroccan migrants sleep at the port of Barbate after being rescued in waters of the Strait of Gibraltar. Photo Marcos Moreno #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 7 July 2017
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SYRIA - Smoke rises from buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held town of Ayn Tarm. Photo @amer_almohibany #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 July 2017
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#Spain People watch the parade of "Gigantes y Cabezudos" as part of the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona. Photo @CesarMansoFoto: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 July 2017
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#India A youth carries a container of drinking water through floodwaters in Padderpar. Photo Lovely Ghosh #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 8 July 2017
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An anti-G20 protester stands in front of a burning barricade as police fire tear gas to disperse crowds in Hamburg: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 7 July 2017
Sur
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In this June 30, 2017 photo, newlywed Lionel Messi flashes a thumbs up as he and his bride Antonella Roccuzzo come out on to a red carpet to pose for photographers, after tying the knot in a civil ceremony in Rosario, Argentina. About 250 guests, including teammates and former teammates of the Barcelona star, attended the highly anticipated ceremony.: photo by Victor R. Caivano/AP, 30 June 2017
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In this June 27, 2017 photo, Emma Karina Cruz Velasquez, 16, of Honduras, prepares dinner for the household in the two-bedroom apartment shared by two refugee families headed by single mothers, in the Iztapalapa district of Mexico City. Laura Maria Cruz Martinez and another single mother fled Honduras with nine children in their care, when gang members threatened them hours after they reported to police that gangsters had been harassing her niece. They chose to settle in Mexico, since crossing the country and trying to enter the United States, risking deportation all along the way, seemed unnecessarily risky. As Emma explained: “If they sent us back to our country it was certain death.”: photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP, 27 June 2017
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In this July 4, 2017 photo, Indigenous leaders from across Ecuador march to the government palace to meet with President Lenin Moreno in Quito, Ecuador. Moreno is calling for a national dialogue with all sectors of Ecuador, including business leaders, opposition politicians and union leaders.: photo by Dolores Ochoa, 4 July 2017
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In this early Thursday, June 29, 2017 photo, numbers placed by investigators sit on top of two of bodies found lying on a road in the town of Navolato, Sinaloa state, Mexico. 59 AK type and AR-15 casings were found in the area. Early Saturday, July 1st, Mexican authorities said that at least 19 people died in clashes between armed men and security forces earlier in the town of Villa Union, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of the beach resort of Mazatlan. Violence has spiked dramatically in the gang-plagued northwestern state of Sinaloa following the capture and extradition of convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.: photo by Enric Marti/AP, 29 June 2017
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In this June 30, 2017 photo, residents sit in shock next to the place where Marlene Maria da Conceicao and her daughter Ana Cristina da Conceicao were killed by stray bullets during police operation at the Mangueira favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Marlene Maria da Conceicao was shot in the neck in the doorway of her home. Neighbors told The Associated Press that her daughter, 42-year-old Ana Cristina da Conceicao, was also shot and killed when she tried to come to her mother’s aid.: photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP, 30 June 2017
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In this July 4, 2017 photo, young men who were serving time inside the Juvenile Correctional Center “Gaviotas” when a riot broke out the previous day stand inside a shared cell at court where they will be read the charges against them, in Guatemala City. Monday’s riot began when two inmates were found dead, hanging in an apparent suicide, according to authorities. Apart from the two dead, 10 inmates were reported to have escaped from the center and six recaptured.: photo by Moises Castillo/AP, 4 July 2017
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In this July 5, 2017 photo, opposition lawmakers brawl with pro-government militias who are trying to force their way into the National Assembly during a special session coinciding with Venezuela’s independence day, in Caracas. At least five lawmakers were injured in the attack. Despite the violence, lawmakers later approved a plan by the opposition to hold a symbolic referendum July 16 to give voters the chance to reject President Nicolas Maduro’s plans to draft a new political charter.: photo by Fernando Llano/AP, 5 July 2017
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In this July 5, 2017 photo, opposition lawmaker Americo De Grazia is led away by bodyguards and a National Assembly employee after he was injured in a melee with supposed government supporters who tried to force their way into the National Assembly during a special session coinciding with Venezuela’s independence day, in Caracas. At least five lawmakers were injured in the attack. De Grazia had to be taken in a stretcher to an ambulance suffering from convulsions, said a fellow lawmaker.: photo by Fernando Llano/AP, 5 July 2017
Reaching Out
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A
police officer tries
to hold onto a member of a counter-protest group against anti-Shariah
protesters in Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday, June 10, 2017. Demonstrators at
small but raucous gatherings around the country Saturday raised the
specter that extremist interpretations of Islamic law might somehow
spread across the U.S., but many of the rallies drew even more
boisterous counter-protests by people who called such fears unfounded.:
photo by Sean Simmers/PennLive dot com via AP, 10 June 2017
At Dakar Fashion Week
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Models sit backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday June 30, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 30 June 2017
At Dakar Fashion Week: Finbarr O'Reilly, AP, 6 July 2017
When it launched 15 years ago, Dakar Fashion Week had a handful of aspiring local designers and models gathering in often run-down hotels. Now dozens of designers from around the world present their creations to thumping DJ mixes as drone cameras hover above the runway shows that are broadcast live on national television.
Among the guests last week was Jenke Ahmed Tailly, an Ivorian and Senegalese stylist who has worked as Beyonce’s creative director and now advises Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Africa’s fashion scene has grown steadily over the past two decades, with sub-Saharan Africa’s apparel and footwear market now worth $31 billion, according to data by Euromonitor. Michelle Obama and Beyonce have worn labels such as Nigeria’s Maki Oh.
Models sit backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday June 30, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 30 June 2017
Johannesburg,
Lagos, Nairobi and Casablanca are at the forefront of African fashion
but Dakar is an equally creative hub, with much of its energy driven by
Adama Ndiaye, the 39-year-old organizer of Dakar Fashion Week.
“When I started it was a young girl’s dream to build something in my country,” she said.
Industry challenges include managing clothing production costs, quality control, distribution logistics and reaching large markets. Such concerns, however, were an afterthought as stylish crowds gathered for the fashion spectacle that ran June 27-July 2.
A model has her make up done
backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday
June 30, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 30 June 2017
One
evening, a street show was held for free in a low-income neighborhood
to allow other Dakar residents to sample the glamor and hype.
Amid
the excitement was a strain of concern. After attacks on hotels by
al-Qaida-linked militants elsewhere in West Africa, security was tight
at the various fashion events.
And organizer Ndiaye was compelled
to address the issue of Africans migrating to Europe after one of her
friends and collaborators was among 180 people who drowned when a boat
sank off the coast of Libya earlier this year.
Senegalese youth watch a
runway show during Dakar Fashion Week in the capital's Niari Tali
neighborhood, Thursday June 29, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 29 June 2017
“It
was heart-breaking to hear that we lost someone so close to us and so
modern and working in this industry and he had a name,” Ndiaye said. “I
still can’t figure out why someone like that would try to go to Europe
by boat.”
A panel discussion titled “Our African Dream” was part
of Dakar Fashion Week’s program and featured a Senegalese entrepreneur
who spoke of a failed crossing to Europe that almost cost him his life.
Students and local youth were invited to share the message that
opportunities also exist at home.
“I hope that this is only the
beginning of inspiring more young people to educate them on how hard
work and struggle and pain and loneliness is all part of becoming
successful,” said Ndiaye, who will host similar talks later this year in
Ivory Coast, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. “It’s important for we
Africans to tell our stories to help others to realize what we have here
is good.”
A model eats a sandwich
backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday
June 30, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 30 June 2017
A model waits backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday June 30, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 30 June 2017
Models wait backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday June 30, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 30 June 2017
Designer Oumar Dicko, right, of Mali and Belgium, laces up a model in one of his creations backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Saturday July 1, 2017.: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 1 July 2017
Models wait backstage during Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Saturday July 1, 2017: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 1 July 2017
Models remove their wigs after the finale of Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday July 1, 2017: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 1 July 2017
A model ties her sandals after the finale of Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday July 1, 2017: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 1 July 2017
A dress hangs on a clothes rack at the end of Dakar Fashion Week in the Senegalese capital, Friday July 1, 2017: photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/AP, 1 July 2017
Trouble Every Day
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Your idea
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Your idea: photo by Andrew Murr, 7 July 2017
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Los Angeles: photo by Andrew Murr, 7 July 2017
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Demolition arch [Eastside, LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 6 July 2017
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A La... [Eastside, LA]: photo by Andrew Murr, 6 July 2017
2 comments:
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Trouble everyday (1965)
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: More Trouble Every Day (live, Edinburgh, 1974)
You know we got to sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won't be many live
To see it really end
'Cause the fire in the street
Ain't like the fire in the heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don't you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now's the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain't no Great Society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just won't amount to nothin' more
Gonna watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor
The salient inconvenient truth lost amid the general lamentation over the rise of IS -- the fact that the group rose out of the "general population" in American military prisons following the 2003 invasion of Iraq -- has gone pretty much without comment here. For excellent reasons, of course.
But it was not missed, for example, by Kofi Annan, who in 2015 said this:
"The... much more proximate cause of the instability we are witnessing today was the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I spoke against it at the time, and I’m afraid my concerns have been proved well-founded. The folly of that fateful decision was compounded by post-invasion decisions. The wholesale disbandment of security forces, among other measures, poured hundreds of thousands of trained and disgruntled soldiers and policemen onto the streets."
Neil Young: Rockin' in the Free World (live)
Almost enough to make a young person grow old too soon... even if not American...
Neil Young: Old Man (live, BBC, Shepherd's Bush London, 23 February 1971)
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