US soldiers and airmen fighting in Iraq are to receive a new weapon in their arsenal: a pack of playing cards to help them identify ancient ruins before creating new ones.
The Pentagon's move, echoing its post-invasion production of a deck of cards depicting "Iraq's most wanted," is part of a belated Pentagon scheme to prevent further war damage to the country's 11,000 archeological sites.
More than four years after priceless antiquities housed in Iraq's National Museum were looted and much of the country's ancient heritage was despoiled, 40,000 packs of the playing cards will be dealt out to US troops -- roughly one deck for every four soldiers.
The cards are illustrated with pictures of rare artefacts or sites of special interest, in the hope that soldiers will avoid turning them into battlefields.
Each suit has a theme: diamonds for artefacts, spades for digs, hearts for "winning hearts and minds" and clubs for heritage preservation.
The cards also carry handy slogans. The five of clubs says: "Drive around, not over archeological sites." Another asks: "This site has survived 17 centuries. Will it and others survive you?"
In what may be seen as an optimistic initiative, troops are asked to consider taking up alternative firing positions if historical treasures are at risk. Likewise, air force pilots are urged to bomb sensitively.
In one infamous incident in 2003, a site at Nebuchadnezzar's ancient city of Babylon was used as a helicopter landing pad and a camp for 2,000 troops.
Last year Donny George, Iraq's most prominent archeologist, fled the country saying growing insecurity was making preservation work impossible.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS