BAGHDAD: The images are both haunting and inspiring, transforming a once dreary, grim underpass into a vivid, colorful wall of art.
“We want a nation, not a prison,” says one painting that depicts a man bursting free from behind bars. “Plant a revolution, and you will harvest a nation,” reads another showing a hand flashing the victory sign over protesters heads.
Some of the messages are less sentimental. “Look at us, Americans, this is all your fault,” declares one.
The Saadoun Tunnel has become an ad hoc museum for Iraq’s massive anti-government protest movement. Along its walls, young artists draw murals, portraits and graffiti that illustrate the country’s tortured past and the Iraq they aspire to.
The tunnel passes under Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests where thousands of people are camped out in a giant sit-in that has taken on the feel of a vibrant mini-city.
Almost daily, clashes erupt with security forces not far away firing tear gas, live rounds and stun grenades to prevent protesters from crossing bridges over the Tigris River to the Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s government. Tuk tuks — three-wheeled motorcycle transports — often zip back and forth through the Saadoun Tunnel, rushing wounded protesters from the front lines to medical clinics.
Saadoun Tunnel, the tuk tuks, the square and a nearby 14-story Saddam Hussein-era building on the Tigris that protesters took over have all become symbols of what has become the largest grassroots protest movement Iraq has seen. The protests erupted Oct. 1 over longstanding grievances at corruption, unemployment and a lack of basic services and quickly escalated into calls to sweep aside Iraq’s sectarian system imposed after the 2003 US invasion and its entire political elite.
Young protesters, men and women, throng the tunnel — actually a long underpass, most of which is open to the air except for enclosed portions directly beneath Tahrir — and pass time there hanging out or taking selfies in front of the murals. Caricatures on the walls mock Iraqi politicians; other paintings praise the tuk tuks; a woman with an Iraqi flag on her cheek flexes her bicep, recreating the famed US “We Can Do It” poster; faces in drawings shout in anger or pain.
Haydar Mohammed said he and a group of other medical students were partly responsible for the murals. They met in Tahrir and saw the tunnels walls were a perfect medium to send a message to those who are suspicious of the protesters, he said.
“We are life-makers not death-makers,” he said. “We decided to draw simple paintings to support our protester brothers and to express our message, which is a peace message.”
Many of the murals carry calls for anti-sectarianism, peace and a free Iraq. In one painting, a little girl cries, declaring “They killed my dream,” referring to the group of men behind her, some in religious clothes.
Another shows an Iraqi protester wearing a helmet against tear gas with the Arabic words: “In the heart is something that cannot be killed by guns, which is the nation.” Nearby is scrawled, in English, “All What I want is life.”
“Sitting in front of these portraits, people and candles is better than being in any coffeeshop. Every time I look at them I am hopeful that the revolution will not end,” said Yahya Mohammed, 32, smoking a hookah in the tunnel and observing the scene.
“This tunnel gives me hope.”
Baghdad tunnel becomes a museum for Iraq’s protest movement
Baghdad tunnel becomes a museum for Iraq’s protest movement
- The Saadoun Tunnel has become an ad hoc museum for Iraq’s massive anti-government protest movement
- Haydar Mohammed said, “We decided to draw simple paintings to support our protester brothers and to express our message, which is a peace message.”
Authorities seize ailing alligator kept illegally in New York home’s swimming pool
- The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator
- The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications
NEW YORK: An ailing alligator was seized from an upstate New York home where it was being kept illegally, state officials said.
Environmental conservation police officers seized the 750-pound (340-kilogram), 11-foot-long (3.4-meter-long) alligator on Wednesday from a home in Hamburg, south of Buffalo.
The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator and allowed people, including children, to get into the water with the reptile, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications, among other health issues. The reptile was sent to a licensed caretaker until a place is found where it can receive permanent care, according to a release from the agency.
The owner’s state license to keep the alligator expired in 2021. The state determined at that time the alligator’s holding area failed to meet safety standards. Officers took action this week after learning the “extent at which the owner was seriously endangering the public,” according to a statement from the agency.
State environmental officials haven’t decided whether to bring charges.
Officials believe a lethargic 4-foot (1.2-meter) alligator found in Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn in February 2023 was likely an abandoned pet.
McDonald’s hit by system failure at Asian outlets
- In Japan, the US fast food giant said it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”
TOKYO: Hungry McDonald’s customers in parts of Asia had trouble ordering at stores, on cellphones and at electronic kiosks on Friday after a system outage.
In Japan, the US fast food giant said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”.
China was also affected for several hours, with the outage a hot topic on social media platform Weibo, but the firm later said its online ordering system had been fully restored.
McDonald’s in Hong Kong wrote on Facebook that its “mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning” but later said its system was “gradually returning to normal”.
Singapore was also hit, as were Australia and New Zealand according to media reports.
India, Indonesia and Thailand were unaffected.
‘Miracle’ birth on Jordan-London flight thanks to junior doctor
- Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action to deliver baby after crew appealed for help
- ‘I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all’
LONDON: A “miracle” baby has been born on a flight from Jordan to the UK thanks to the help of a junior doctor, Metro newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Wizz Air flight from Amman to London’s Luton Airport recorded an extra passenger in the manifest after Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action and helped deliver the newborn.
Two hours into the flight, a pregnant woman on board went into labor, with the crew appealing for a doctor to help.
Khan, who had been holidaying in Jordan with friends, used his experience working at Basildon Hospital’s neonatal resuscitation unit.
He said: “I told the flight attendants what equipment I needed — which would include a neonatal-sized oxygen mask, a clamp for the umbilical cord and a stethoscope — none of which they had on a plane, of course.”
But the lack of equipment did not deter Khan who, with the help of a fellow passenger to translate Arabic, delivered the baby girl using only towels.
The flight was diverted to Italy’s Brindisi Airport so the mother and newborn could receive postpartum medical care.
The family later contacted Khan to thank him and report the good health of mother and child, which he said caused “a big sigh of relief.”
His employers “were very impressed,” he added. “My consultant congratulated me and said it was a really good job.
“People were saying it was miraculous — I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all.”
It is just the 75th instance in aviation history of a baby being born on a commercial flight. The rarity can be attributed to medical guidance, which recommends that pregnant women avoid flying past the 36-week mark, or 32 weeks with twins or triplets.
Several births have taken place on flights in recent years. In 2017, a baby was given free air tickets for life after being born on a flight from Saudi Arabia to India.
Princess Kate says sorry for manipulated family photo, saying she was experimenting with editing
LONDON: Kate, the Princess of Wales, has apologized for “confusion” caused by her editing of a family photo released by the palace.
In a post on social media, Kate said that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” the post said.
The Associated Press and other news agencies withdrew the photo of Kate and children George, Charlotte and Louis, which was issued by Kensington Palace on Sunday to mark Mother’s Day in Britain. It appeared to have been manipulated, in violation of AP photo guidelines.
The palace said the photo was taken by Prince William.
It was the first official photo of Kate since her abdominal surgery nearly two months ago, and followed weeks of speculation about her whereabouts. Designed to quell speculation, it has sparked even more conjecture.
2 women drove a man’s body to a bank to withdraw his money, US police say
- The two women were charged in court with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class
ASHTABULA, Ohio: Two Ohio women have been accused of driving the body of a deceased 80-year-old man to a bank to withdraw money from his account before dropping his body off at a hospital.
Karen Casbohm, 63, and Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, were charged Tuesday in Ashtabula with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class, according to Ashtabula Municipal Court records.
Police said they were called Monday evening and told that two women had dropped off a body at the Ashtabula County Medical Center emergency room without identifying the person or themselves. A few hours later, one of them contacted the hospital with information on the deceased, who was then identified as 80-year-old Douglas Layman of Ashtabula.
Officers responded to Layman’s residence and made contact with Casbohm and Feralo, who told them they had found Layman deceased earlier at the home where all three resided. Police allege that, with the help of a third unnamed person, they placed Layman in the front seat of his car and drove to a bank where they withdrew “an undisclosed amount of money” from his account.
Layman’s body “was placed in the vehicle in such a manner that he would be visible to bank staff in order to make the withdrawal,” Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell said in a news release Thursday. Stell told the (Ashtabula) Star Beacon that the bank ”had allowed this previously as long as they were accompanied by him.”
Lt. Mike Palinkas told WEWS-TV that one of the women had been in a live-in relationship with Layman for several years while the other had been staying there for a few months. The women said it was normal for them to take money from the account, but Palinkas said he didn’t have a full explanation for why they went there that day.
“Allegedly, they wanted to pay some bills but outside of that, there wasn’t a specific motivation provided,” Palinkas said.
Casbohm was arraigned and ordered held on $5,000 bond while Feralo is scheduled for arraignment next week. It’s unclear whether they have attorneys; numbers listed in their names had been disconnected. A message was sent to the county public defender’s office seeking comment if the office was defending one or both.
Police said they continue to investigate and other charges are possible. The coroner’s office said an autopsy to determine the cause of Layman’s death could take up to eight months.