List of All Articles with Tag 'o'

Members of the public are reported as wearing unofficial, hi-vis vests onboard trains in Dublin.

The best team in the National League will face the best team in the American League for the first time this season. The Atlanta Braves hold the best record in baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays are only a few games back in the loss column. Now, they will meet for a three-game weekend series in Tampa....

The United States is expected to announce it is sending cluster munitions to Ukraine to help its military push back Russian forces entrenched along the front lines. The administration of Joe Biden is set to say that it will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth $800m (£630m). The move will likely trigger outrage from some allies and humanitarian groups that have long opposed the use of cluster bombs. Proponents argue that both Russia and Ukraine have already been using the controversial weapon in Ukraine and that the munitions the US will provide have a reduced dud rate, meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths. Here is a look at what cluster munitions are, where they have been used and why the U.S. plans to provide them to Ukraine now. What is a cluster munition? A cluster munition is a bomb that opens in the air and releases smaller "bomblets" across a wide area. The bomblets are designed to take out tanks and equipment, as well as troops, hitting multiple targets at the same time. The munitions are launched by the same artillery weapons that Western allies have already provided to Ukraine for the war — such as howitzers — and the type of cluster munition that the US is planning to send is based on a common 155 mm shell that is already widely in use across the battlefield. Why are they so controversial? In previous conflicts, cluster munitions have had a high dud rate, which meant that thousands of the smaller unexploded bomblets remained behind and killed and maimed people decades later. The US last used its cluster munitions in battle in Iraq in 2003, and decided not to continue using them as the conflict shifted to more urban environments with more dense civilian populations. On Thursday, Brigadier General Pat Ryder – the Pentagon press secretary – said the US Defense Department has "multiple variants" of the munitions and "the ones that we are considering providing would not include older variants with [unexploding] rates that are higher than 2.35 per cent." A convention banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by more than 120 countries, which agreed not to use, produce, transfer or stockpile the weapons and to clear them after they've been used. The US, Russia and Ukraine haven't signed on. Why provide them now? For more than a year the US has dipped into its own stocks of traditional 155 howitzer munitions and sent more than two million rounds to Ukraine. Allies across the globe, including the UK, have provided hundreds of thousands more. A 155 mm round can strike targets 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 kilometres) away, making them a munition of choice for Ukrainian ground troops trying to hit enemy targets from a distance. Ukrainian forces are burning through thousands of the rounds a day battling the Russians. Yehor Cherniev, a member of Ukraine's parliament, told reporters at a German Marshall Fund event in the US this spring that Kyiv would likely need to fire 7,000 to 9,000 of the rounds daily in intensified counteroffensive fighting. Providing that many puts substantial pressure on U.S. and allied stocks. The cluster bomb can destroy more targets with fewer rounds, and since the US hasn't used them in conflict since Iraq, it has large amounts of them in storage it can access quickly, said Ryan Brobst, a research analyst for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. A March 2023 letter from top House and Senate Republicans to the Biden administration said the US may have as many as three million cluster munitions available for use, and urged the White House to send the munitions to alleviate pressure on American war supplies. "Cluster munitions are more effective than unitary artillery shells because they inflict damage over a wider area," Mr Brobst said. "This is important for Ukraine as they try to clear heavily fortified Russian positions." Tapping into the US stores of cluster munitions could address Ukraine's shell shortage and alleviate pressure on the 155 mm stockpiles in the US and elsewhere, Mr Brobst said. Is using cluster bombs a war crime? Use of cluster bombs itself does not violate international law, but using them against civilians can be a violation. As in any strike, determining a war crime requires looking at whether the target was legitimate and if precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties. "The part of international law where this starts playing [a role], though, is indiscriminate attacks targeting civilians," Human Rights Watch's associate arms director Mark Hiznay said. "So that's not necessarily related to the weapons, but the way the weapons are used." Where have cluster bombs been used? The bombs have been deployed in many recent conflicts. The US initially considered cluster bombs an integral part of its arsenal during the invasion of Afghanistan that began in 2001, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). The group estimated that the US-led coalition dropped more than 1,500 cluster bombs in Afghanistan during the first three years of the conflict. The Defense Department had been due to stop use of any cluster munitions with a rate of unexploded ordnance greater than 1 per cent, by 2019. But the Trump administration rolled back that policy, allowing commanders to approve use of such munitions. Syrian government troops have often used cluster munitions — supplied by Russia — against opposition strongholds during that country's civil war, frequently hitting civilian targets and infrastructure. And Israel used them in civilian areas in south Lebanon, including during the 1982 invasion. During the month-long 2006 war with Hezbollah, HRW and the United Nations accused Israel of firing as many as four million cluster munitions into Lebanon. That left unexploded ordnance that threatens Lebanese civilians to this day. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has been criticized for its use of cluster bombs in the war with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels that has ravaged the southern Arabian country. In 2017, Yemen was the second deadliest country for cluster munitions after Syria, according to the UN. Children have been killed or maimed long after the munitions originally fell, making it difficult to know the true toll. In the 1980s, the Russians made heavy use of cluster bombs during their 10-year invasion of Afghanistan. As a result of decades of war, the Afghan countryside remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Associated Press Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine Muslims across Pakistan hold anti-Sweden rallies to denounce burning of Islam's holy book Ukraine claims new gains made against Russia’s troops near Bakhmut - live

Fan representatives will meet with the Football Association over the next two weeks amid concerns over the FA Cup’s future. The FA is in talks with the Premier League over a long-term partnership to sell overseas Premier League and FA Cup rights collectively in the future, the PA news agency understands. It has been reported the partnership would effectively lead to the FA handing control over its most prestigious competition to the Premier League. The Football Supporters’ Association expressed its concern at the reports on Thursday and said it had written to the FA to request a meeting. PA understands the fans’ group got a swift response from FA chief executive Mark Bullingham. No date has been fixed, but it is understood the intention is for the meeting to take place over the next couple of weeks. The FSA has been encouraged by the level of engagement it has had with the FA in recent years, with FA chair Debbie Hewitt becoming the first person in her position to attend one of the FSA’s events in person when she helped open the European Football Fans Congress in Manchester last month. Fan sources hope the governing body will be able to allay concerns over what any deal with the Premier League might mean for the FA Cup. Reports have suggested it could mean the scrapping of replays, making the cup a midweek competition and stripping the final of its own slot at the end of the domestic season. Talks around how the domestic calendar could look from 2024-25, when the expansion of UEFA’s club competitions will create extra pressure, were already part of the ‘New Deal For Football’ discussions involving the FA, the Premier League and the EFL. Those talks are aimed at finding an ‘all game solution’ to various issues including financial distribution from the Premier League to the EFL and the pyramid, cost controls and work permits. The FSA’s most recent fan survey found 70 per cent of supporters wanted replays to remain a part of the FA Cup, while fewer than 10 per cent backed the idea of all FA Cup ties being played in midweek. The meeting is likely to come after the new tender process for the overseas rights has closed, with the deadline for invitations set at July 17. The Infront Sports and Media agency had been given preferred bidder status for a portion of the overseas rights by the FA in early May in the original tender process, but said the FA had abruptly paused negotiations after receiving a third party offer which it needed to assess. PA understands the new tender is much longer term than the original, and includes all overseas rights when existing deals expire. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lauren James thanks Emma Hayes for ‘helping me get back to being myself again’ Willie Peters: Big win at MKM Stadium counts for little in Hull derby rematch Alun Wyn Jones joins Toulon on short-term contract

Merv Griffin was the creator of shows like 'Jeopardy!', 'Wheel of Fortune' and 'Click'

Australia strengthened their grip on the third Ashes Test by removing local heroes Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow cheaply as they reduced England to 87-5...

NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) -Israeli security forces on Friday killed two Palestinians who carried out a shooting attack against police

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul late on Friday as

By Andrew Hay TALPA, N.M. Physiotherapist Spencer Bushnell lives less than a mile from farmer Carlos Arguello in

Appeals court judges in Amsterdam say the Dutch government can order Schiphol Airport, one of Europe’s busiest aviation hubs, to reduce the number of flights from 500,000 per year to 460,000

By Tom Wilson and Jaiveer Shekhawat (Reuters) -A string of executives have quit Binance, according to their tweets and media

A Bob Marley biopic is making its way to the big screen more than 40 years after his death -- and a trailer just dropped.