All posts tagged: Demolition

Japan could force demolition of ‘illegal’ mosque inaugurated by Pakistan’s ambassador

Japan could force demolition of ‘illegal’ mosque inaugurated by Pakistan’s ambassador

Published by Sam Flores

A mosque that officials say was illegally constructed in the northwest of Tokyo and approved for demolition has sparked scrutiny after it became operational following its inauguration by Pakistan’s ambassador to Japan. The “Ramadan Grand Mosque” was built on a 4,500sqm-plot in a rural area of Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture classified as mountain forest in an urbanisation control zone. Pictures of the mosque show a large white dome-shaped structure standing amidst a vast green field in a rural area. Kawagoe mayor Hatsue Morita said this week that the city “cannot tolerate the current situation” and is working to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. “It is an illegal building constructed without permission in an urban development control area, and we are working under the policy that we cannot tolerate the current situation,” she said, according to Sankei News. “We want this building to be demolished as soon as possible and we are considering how to guide them,” she said. The case has become one of the most contentious planning disputes involving a mosque in …

Israeli bulldozers raze about 50 Palestinian shops ahead of settlement-linked road project

Israeli bulldozers raze about 50 Palestinian shops ahead of settlement-linked road project

Published by Sam Flores

AL-EIZARIYA, West Bank (AP) — Israeli bulldozers tore down dozens of Palestinian shops on the edge of a town southeast of Jerusalem this week, clearing land ahead of a settlement-linked road project in the occupied West Bank. Israel says the demolitions are needed to make way for a road serving Palestinian communities. But Palestinian officials say the road is part of a broader plan to keep Palestinian vehicles off a new highway being built to serve nearby Israeli settlements. That project is part of a strategic section of the West Bank known as E1, which Israel is developing with the intention of preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. “The shops that were demolished are where Israel is planning to build a new road that will divert all Palestinian traffic to that road so that they can close down the whole area of E1 for Palestinians,” said Hagit Ofran, director of the antisettlement group Peace Now. Tuesday’s demolitions took place in the town of al-Eizariya, less than a week after some owners received notices to …

How Israel Is Using the Same Tactics in Lebanon That It Did in Gaza

How Israel Is Using the Same Tactics in Lebanon That It Did in Gaza

Published by Sam Flores

An entire street is leveled. Houses and shops are flattened, including a popular cafe. This is what is left of the town of Bint Jbeil, just a couple of miles from the Israeli border, nearly two months after Israel relaunched its ground offensive in southern Lebanon. The village of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon. Drone video from @amitseg, via Telegram. The destruction of this town, a Hezbollah stronghold, is repeated again and again across southern Lebanon, a lush region of undulating vistas, where Israel has razed border villages as part of an effort to lay the groundwork for a larger occupation. The approach, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said, was modeled on tactics the military used in Gaza, where the Israeli military reduced entire neighborhoods, buildings and streets to rubble. After the war between Israel and Hezbollah reignited in early March, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with Iran, Israel established a several-mile-deep “buffer zone” that it says it will continue to occupy until the threat from Hezbollah is contained. An analysis of satellite images, …

Historic London music studio where The Kinks, Adele and Sir Paul McCartney recorded faces demolition

Historic London music studio where The Kinks, Adele and Sir Paul McCartney recorded faces demolition

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This A historic music studio where the likes of The Kinks and indie rockers Foals have recorded has been threatened with demolition after standing tall for decades. Battery Studios, in Willesden north London, has been a community-led music studio since 1980 with artists such as Adele, Supergrass, Iron Maiden, Paul McCartney and more gracing its recording booths. Now, its producers are fighting to preserve the historic building and save it from being demolished and replaced with nine residential units and three commercial units. Park Investments, the landlord of Battery Studios since 2005, submitted a planning application to Brent Council on 26 February. Studio co-manager Mark Ellis, better known by his producer name Flood, said the group of business owners working in the studios were unaware of the planning application as they signed on for another year of subletting that same month. Planning applications intend …

Exclusive: As Anderson Cooper exits 60 Minutes expert calls CBS move a “controlled demolition”

Exclusive: As Anderson Cooper exits 60 Minutes expert calls CBS move a “controlled demolition”

Published by Daniella Wilson

The news that Anderson Cooper is stepping away from 60 Minutes after nearly 20 years sent shockwaves through broadcast journalism. The veteran correspondent confirmed he has chosen not to renew his contract with CBS, bringing to a close a tenure that began in 2006 and saw him report some of the most significant global stories of the past two decades. While he will continue anchoring Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN, his departure from 60 Minutes marks the end of an era for CBS. The move also comes at a significant time for the network, following the appointment of a new editor-in-chief – a shift that some industry observers believe signals a broader recalibration. © Disney via Getty ImagesAnderson on Live with Kelly and Mark PR and branding expert Eric Schiffer, Chairman of Los Angeles-based Reputation Management Consultants, believes the timing is telling. “The new editor-in-chief role is CBS admitting it stopped building trust,” Eric said. “The network’s revealing the product isn’t just quality stories, but belief. This means no sacred cows and more viral knives …

Eberechi Eze shows Mikel Arteta how Arsenal can unlock his best in Wigan demolition

Eberechi Eze shows Mikel Arteta how Arsenal can unlock his best in Wigan demolition

Published by Sam Flores

It should be stressed that Arsenal and Eze were doing this against highly accommodating opponents. Few teams in world football can cope when Arsenal play with the beautiful ferocity of their opening half hour and it was fathoms above the capabilities of the team 22nd in League One, who have conceded 14 goals in their past five matches. The match felt ripe to be seized by Eze for one of those Gareth Bale vs Inter Milan-type performances. Instead his moments of genius were matched by needless losses of possession, which might have been punished by a better counter-attacking team. His defensive contributions do not lack effort, but he is clearly more effective with time and space on the ball than when out of possession. Certainly he seems unlikely to thrive when his average position is deeper than anyone other than Declan Rice and Arsenal’s two centre-backs among their outfielders, as it was against Brentford. Even as the main man at Palace he could go quiet during games, but would often provide a defining moment from …

Donald Trump, Demolition Man – The Atlantic

Donald Trump, Demolition Man – The Atlantic

Published by Sam Flores

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Destruction is easier than construction. If Donald Trump’s decades as a real-estate developer didn’t teach him that, his time as president might. In October, the administration bulldozed the East Wing of the White House in order to build a ballroom he wants to put on the site. Although Trump had promised over the summer that the project wouldn’t “interfere with the current building,” workers razed the entire structure, which was constructed in 1902 and expanded in 1942. Trump managed this the same way he has so much in his second term: He simply didn’t ask permission from any of the possible relevant authorities, including Congress, and acted so fast that no court could restrain him. In order to circumvent the legislature’s power of the purse, he sought donations from private corporations and individuals. The demolition was hardly the most …

Two Months After Cease-Fire, Israel Is Still Demolishing Gaza

Two Months After Cease-Fire, Israel Is Still Demolishing Gaza

Published by Sam Flores

More than two months ago, Israel and Hamas signed a cease-fire agreement that offered Palestinians in Gaza a hope of respite after a punishing two-year Israeli bombardment that left much of their enclave in ruins. The destruction has continued. Israel has demolished more than 2,500 buildings in Gaza since the cease-fire began, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs. It says it is destroying tunnels and booby-trapped homes. This is what Israel’s actions look like. A nighttime video from Oct. 30, when the cease-fire was in effect, shows what appears to be a large-scale controlled demolition in a part of Shejaiya, a neighborhood in Gaza City, that is under Israeli military control. As part of the cease-fire agreement reached earlier that month, the Israeli military withdrew its forces beyond an agreed-upon boundary inside Gaza, represented on maps published by Israel as a yellow line. That left Israel in control of about half of the enclave. Most of the demolitions since the cease-fire began have been in those Israeli-controlled areas. …