Sunday, November 12, 2017

More bad news for Iraq



"Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes is one of the 19 number one pop songs (BILLBOARD US singles chart) that Diana Ross has sang on.  November 19th, she'll be on the live broadcast (ABC) of The American Music Awards to perform and to receive the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Motown Classic is issuing DIAMOND DIANA: THE LEGACY COLLECTION November 17th to note this monumental achievement.


Meanwhile an earthquake has left many dead and wounded.



  2.  9m9 minutes ago
    Replying to 
    UPDATE: More than 200 people killed and an estimated 1,800 injured after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish region of northern Iraq
    4 replies74 retweets35 likes


  3.  2h2 hours ago
    Video captures bar patrons fleeing in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, when a 7.3-magnitude struck the city. About 130 people have died in Iraq and across the border in Iran
    4 replies167 retweets184 likes


  4.  4h4 hours ago
    At least 130 people are now dead after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck near the Iraq-Iran border, officials say. At least 1,000 are injured.
    78 replies1,021 retweets668 likes


  5.  5h5 hours ago
    Damage caused by the 7.3-magnitude Iran-Iraq earthquake is captured on mobile. At least 135 people have died and hundreds more are injured . Landslides are hindering rescue efforts
    Quake damage captured on mobile
    3 replies276 retweets93 likes







In other sad news, Chris Harris (EURONEWS) reports on the move in Iraq to lower the age of marriage -- for girls -- to nine:


Iraq has moved a step closer to allowing girls as young as nine to marry, human rights campaigners have claimed.
The proposal is part of a draft law recently approved by 40 MPs that would see the restoration of religious courts, says Equality Now (EN).
Government courts have, since 1959, ruled on such matters, setting the official age of marriage to 18, although a judge can allow it at 15.
But the proposed legislation – which will have to be approved by a full parliament to go ahead – would instead see religious courts decide.
“The nine-year-old thing comes from the different interpretations of the wife of the Prophet Muhammad,” said Suad Abu-Dayyeh, EN’s Middle East consultant.
“Some interpretations say she was married at the age of nine. That is why some religious sects in Iraq are following that.”
UNICEF says one-in-five girls are married as children in Iraq and that the practice often sees them abandon education and fall pregnant. If the mother is under 18 when she gives birth her infant’s risk of dying in the first year is 60% higher. Underage marriage also puts the girl at greater vulnerability to domestic violence, the NGO says.
“Iraqi women are outraged,” Abu-Dayyeh told Euronews. “We’re very concerned and it will affect all women’s issues in their daily lives.
“I think we will see an explosion of child marriage in Iraq if it’s passed. It’s not logical, we’re in 2017 and we’re still going backwards in terms of women’s rights.”





















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