Thousands of Iraqis being used as human shields near Mosul ADVERTISING Thousands of Iraqis being used as human shields near Mosul QAYARA, Iraq (AP) — For three months, as Islamic State militants ranged across farms and villages south of Mosul,
Thousands of Iraqis being used as human shields near Mosul
QAYARA, Iraq (AP) — For three months, as Islamic State militants ranged across farms and villages south of Mosul, they took Sayid Naheer, his wife and eight children with them. The family was among tens of thousands of people that the U.N. says have been rounded up to be used as human shields.
Their forced march covered more than 12 miles (20 kilometers), stopping in villages for days or weeks. When Naheer’s family finally escaped this week after an air raid and made it to a government checkpoint near the front lines, the children’s faces were caked with dust and their feet had been rubbed raw by their plastic sandals.
The U.N. human rights office said Friday that the tens of thousands of civilians were in the town of Hamam al-Alil, south of Mosul, doubling its population to an estimated 60,000.
The Associated Press reported earlier this week that IS militants had gone door to door in villages south of Mosul, ordering hundreds of people at gunpoint to march north into the city, the largest under their control. Mosul is the focus of a massive Iraqi military offensive launched Oct. 17 against the extremists.
“They said, ‘the army is coming, and they will kill you and rape your women, so you must come with us,’” Naheer said of the IS militants. He and his family were held in abandoned homes, and were allowed to bring their sheep along for food.
Dylan: I want to attend Nobel Prize ceremony if he can
NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Dylan says he “absolutely” wants to attend the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony “if it’s at all possible” in December, finally breaking his silence about earning the prestigious honor.
The 75-year-old was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature earlier this month. In an interview with U.K. newspaper The Telegraph posted Friday, Dylan says “isn’t that something.” and “it’s hard to believe” of getting the award.
The singer-songwriter was silent after the announcement and a member of the Swedish Academy that awarded him the prize said the icon’s silence was “impolite and arrogant.”
The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony takes place Dec. 10 in Stockholm. Dylan is the first musician to earn the Nobel Prize in literature.
Supreme Court to rule in Virginia transgender case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys’ bathroom at his high school.
The justices said Friday they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County school board sometime next year. The high court’s order means that student Gavin Grimm will not be able to use the boys’ bathroom in the meantime.
The court could use the case to resolve similar disputes across the country, said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “Obviously, for transgender people, the stakes of this case are incredibly high. Whatever the court rules in Grimm may ensure that transgender people are accepted and included as equal members of our society, or it may relegate them to outsiders for decades to come,” Minter said.
A lower court had ordered the school board to accommodate Grimm, but the justices in August put that order on hold while they considered whether to hear the appeal.
Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, was born female but identifies as male. He was allowed to use the boys’ restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm is backed by the Obama administration in his argument that the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.
Oregon case jury delivers blow to government in lands fight
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury delivered an extraordinary blow to the government in a long-running battle over the use of public lands when it acquitted all seven defendants involved in the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in rural southeastern Oregon.
Tumult erupted in the courtroom Thursday after the verdicts were read when an attorney for group leader Ammon Bundy demanded his client be immediately released and repeatedly yelled at the judge. U.S. marshals tackled attorney Marcus Mumford to the ground, used a stun gun on him several times and arrested him.
U.S. District Judge Anna Brown said she could not release Bundy because he still faces charges in Nevada stemming from an armed standoff at his father Cliven Bundy’s ranch two years ago.
The Portland jury acquitted Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five others of conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 300 miles southeast of Portland. The jury could not reach a verdict on a single count of theft for Ryan Bundy.
Even attorneys for the defendants were surprised by the acquittals.
Talc verdict winner: Money can’t make up for lost health
ST. LOUIS (AP) — When Deborah Giannecchini was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer four years ago, it didn’t make sense. She had no family history, nor did she seem a high risk.
But months later, when her daughter saw a TV ad for a law firm asking ovarian cancer victims who used talcum powder to come forward, Giannecchini realized a possible link: She had been using Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder for most of her life.
“I used it for 45 years, from age 15,” Giannecchini, now 63, said Friday. “I was still using it.”
On Thursday, a St. Louis jury awarded more than $70 million to Giannecchini, of Modesto, California, wrapping up a monthlong trial. It was the third big verdict awarded by a St. Louis jury against Johnson & Johnson in ovarian cancer lawsuits this year. Combined, the three awards amount to nearly $200 million.
Giannecchini said she was happy with the verdict, but it doesn’t make up for the cancer fight and ongoing health problems caused by chemotherapy.
