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UNITED STATES SPECIAL forces are providing support to the Philippine military battling to dislodge Islamist militants in a southern city, the US embassy said, as 13 Filipino marines were killed in fresh fighting.
Philippine troops are struggling to defeat hundreds of fighters, who rampaged through Marawi on May 23 flying black flags of the Islamic State (IS) group, and have used civilians as human shields, bomb-proof tunnels and anti-tank weapons to fortify their positions.
Yesterday’s ferocious, street-to-street gunbattles with the militants saw 13 troops killed, in a dramatic surge in the toll from the conflict, Philippine military spokesmen said.
A 15-year-old boy was also killed by a stray bullet as he took part in Friday prayers at a mosque in Marawi as the skirmishes raged outside, an AFP video journalist said.
It was among the heaviest fighting seen in mainly Muslim Marawi as the air force battered parts of the city with strikes to support ground troops. Some 40 marines were wounded in the gunbattles that lasted 14 hours, according to military spokesman Colonel Edgardo Arevalo.
As the conflict intensified, the US embassy in Manila said American forces were providing assistance to the Filipino troops, although it declined to give details for security reasons.
“At the request of the government of the Philippines, US special operations forces are assisting the (Philippine military) with ongoing operations in Marawi,” the embassy said in a statement.
‘Intense firefights’
Marawi-based military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-ar Herrera confirmed the US help, adding that the special forces were not fighting, but “providing technical support”.
He told AFP yesterday’s deaths amounted to the military’s biggest single-day loss in the campaign.
“There were intense firefights, house-to-house gunbattles,” Herrera said at a news conference in Marawi earlier, adding that the total number of government troops killed in the conflict was 58.
Over 20 civilians have been confirmed killed due to the fighting, according to the government, but the true number is likely to be higher with authorities yet to fully assess the roughly 10 percent of Marawi still being held by the militants.
Tens of thousands have fled Marawi, which is the Catholic country’s most important Muslim city, as the fighting ripped through residential neighbourhoods, with more than 200,000 displaced people now living in precarious conditions and vulnerable to deadly health risks, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned.
About 2,000 people are also believed to still be trapped in militant-held areas as insurgents continue to entrench themselves in the city two weeks ito the conflict, which saw them take a Catholic priest hostage, open up two jails and destroy many buildings.
Herrera said security forces were struggling to contain the fighters without causing civilian casualties.
Abolish the LPT occupied home tax and implement the law taxing over 183,000 vacant homes. https://www.money.co.uk/mortgages/empty-homes
@Sean Byrne: as you have linked to a UK site is the law you refer too applicable to the UK or Ireland?
@D. Memery: Maybe you should actually read the article first? It’s quite interesting in fairness.
@D. Memery: Ireland; There is a Vacancy Tax under the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act, 2015. Under this Act, from 1 January 2017 each local authority is obliged to introduce a vacant site register. With impunity, many councils refuse to comply with this law. As an example, reported in the 2016 census, County Galway had 10’279 vacant properties. The link at the bottom of this page; http://www.galway.ie/en/services/planning/planspolicy/vacantsites/ points to; http://www.galway.ie/en/media/Vacant%20Sites%20Template.docx, which is an empty template document and not a vacant register.
@Lee King Buckett: I did, but the article doesn’t make any mention of a vacant property tax, hence why I asked as a follow on to the link. Did you read the article?
@Sean Byrne: thanks
@D. Memery: Yes I did – it’s a source for the 183,000 vacant properties the OP referred to.
There’s no mention of any tax whatsoever in there nor did the OP mention any law at all so your comment confused me.
@Sean Byrne:
Revenue are guilty of maladministration by their coercing people to pay this despicable tax on their family homes which is contrary to all Canons of Taxation.
Revenue don’t collect taxes on other basic needs like : food, water, medicines, education, healthcare, clothes etc .. so why tax shelter (family homes) … a basic human need, essential to life.
Macron has just removed Tax Habitation on homes in France …
The Irish need to wake up …
https://www.change.org/p/abolish-property-tax-on-family-homes
Time to get rid of this silly recession-era tax. Fine Gael lied back in 2011 before they got into power saying they wouldn’t bring in property tax and as soon as they had a nice juicy five year mandate they brought it in anyway.
The entire ‘local’ thing is just propaganda, money goes to a central pot to pay for Zappone parties and national debt
@Quiet Goer: Most countries have a similar tax. Lived in France for years and paid two different property/local taxes.
@lelookcoco: Most counties provide services for the taxes that are collected. We pay again privately for our services here. You’re comparing apples and oranges.
@lelookcoco: and it covers bins and other services for the property
@Declan Doherty: All taxes pay for services. That’s how state finances work.
@Jason Walsh: Ask our UK neigbours how much they’re paying. Our LPT and bin charges come nowhere near their council tax and they get billed for water too.
@Reg: It’s okay to get billed for water, when there is a supply with clean water you can drink from the tap and accurate waste water treatment.
@Claudia Varell: I’m not against the principle of water charges Claudia, simply pointing out the difference in household charges between the UK and Ireland.
If 70% have yet to file for it, this looks like it could become another Water Tax. I hope it does.
@Zack Twamley: Or the age old habit of leaving things to the last minute. The vast majority already pay their LPT.
@Zack Twamley: If it does it’ll have to be replaced with a different tax
“It is morally wrong, unjust and unfair to tax a persons home” – Enda Kenny, 1994
This tax on family homes should never have been accepted. The only reason FG got away with it was because they got revenue to do their dirty work.
@Declan Doherty: Surely Revenue collecting taxes is their job?
@Declan Doherty: Agree.
—– RURAL HOME OWNERS —–
What Rural Home Owners get for their LPT Property Tax
No Mains Water
No Public Sewage system
No Street Lighting
No Footpaths
No Cycle Lanes
No Buses
No DART
No Luas
No Public Parks
No Subsidised Theatres
https://www.change.org/p/abolish-property-tax-on-family-homes
if You sign the petition an email is sent to Michael Martin …
@Thomas O’ Donnell:
Revenue don’t collect taxes on other basic needs like : food, water, medicines, education, healthcare, clothes etc .. so why tax shelter (family homes) … a basic human need, essential to life. Revenue are guilty of maladministration by their coercing people to pay this despicable tax on their family homes which is contrary to all Canons of Taxation.
Macron has just removed Tax Habitation on homes in France …
The Irish need to wake up …
https://www.change.org/p/abolish-property-tax-on-family-homes
Rang helpline today on 4 occasions told they were busy and ring back latet
The self assessment element of filing is difficult for people.This causes reluctance .
@Leonard O’mahony: yep. My dad is 80 and this is actually worrying him, even with me doing it. He’s convinced that if he doesn’t pay enough his house will be taken. He’s band 5 and he wanted to pay band 6 just to be safe. It’s a horrible tax. It’s practically two weeks off his pension.
@Jason Ebbs: My dad was the same. I had everything filled out he wanted to change it to higher band saying it’s better they owe him than him underpaying.
@Leonard O’mahony: There is a bit of a nuisance factor to it. They should have tied it in with An Post to allow people who don’t have a computer to take away a simple form with a free post envelope to return.
Even if they were worried about doing a bit of work, they could have posted a simple card out to each eircode with a punch hole system and a signature. They could have put the cards through a machine for tallying the bands against the eircodes with the signature checked if someone complains. (and this governmental big data trend is a disgrace, it’ll be a drop of blood for the DNA in twenty years time)
@Jason Ebbs:
Macron has just removed Tax Habitation on homes in France …
The Irish need to wake up …
https://www.change.org/p/abolish-property-tax-on-family-homes
Rang helpline today on 4 occasions told they were busy and ring back later
@Tony Mcgrath: 8 times?
Endentured slave tax to the grave
Why would anyone voluntary register for this ridiculous tax.
@Philip Cullen: https://www.change.org/p/abolish-property-tax-on-family-homes
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