We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
A ROADSIDE BOMB exploded under an Afghan bus southwest of Kabul today, killing nine people and wounding at least 22 others in an attack blamed on Taliban militants, officials said.
The bus bombing in the flashpoint province of Wardak came as Afghanistan endures a bloody few days at a time of year that often sees a surge in violence as the cold winter recedes and the so-called “fighting season” begins.
A woman was among the dead and children among the wounded, officials said.
“Today at around 8:00 am an IED (improvised explosive device) hit a bus,” Attaullah Khogyani, the governor’s spokesman in Wardak province, told AFP.
“At least 22 people are wounded and nine others, including a woman, are dead.”
Khogyani said the Taliban, who have been fighting for 11 years against the US-backed Kabul government, were behind the attack.
The bus was a government service making daily trips between the capital Kabul and Ghazni, the neighbouring province further to the southwest.
“I helped evacuate several dead and wounded. There were lots of people in the bus. Only a few survived unhurt, others were killed and wounded,” witness Mohammad Sarwar told AFP by telephone.
Critical condition
Ghulam Farouq Wardak, the public health director of the province, confirmed that nine people had died and said there were three children among the wounded.
Several of those taken for medical treatment were described as in a critical condition.
Wardak is a Taliban hotbed close to Kabul and seen as a key strategic battleground in the fight against the Islamist extremists.
US-led coalition forces are winding down their operations before a scheduled withdrawal of the bulk of their 100,000 troops by the end of 2014, with Afghan security forces gradually taking over the battle against the Taliban.
In February, Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded US elite troops withdraw completely from Wardak, accusing US special forces of harassing civilians and their Afghan militia colleagues of torturing and murdering people.
On March 30, the US military pulled out of one district in Wardak as part of a deal with Karzai although no dates have been announced for the transition of the rest of the province to Afghan government control.
Taliban attack
Last Wednesday, Taliban gunmen killed 46 people at a court in the far-western town of Farah to try to free insurgents standing trial, another incident raising questions about the Afghans’ ability to secure the country.
Late Saturday a NATO air strike in the eastern province of Kunar, bordering on Pakistan, killed 11 children during a joint Afghan-NATO operation.
The deaths put further pressure on strained ties between Karzai and the US as the transition of security responsibilities to national forces gathers pace.
An Afghan official involved in the operation said air support was called in after local and coalition forces came under attack.
The strike came after five Americans, including a young female diplomat, were killed in two Taliban attacks in the country’s east and south on Saturday.
A suicide car bomber struck a NATO convoy in the southern province of Zabul, killing three US soldiers and two civilians, one of whom was the US diplomat.
They were travelling with Afghan officials to distribute books to students.
- © AFP 2013.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
There is no one happy with ‘flexible’ hours, that’s utter spin.
@scoop delivery: I’m happy. It suits me perfectly. But I know I am not the majority so I do think it needs more legislation so it’s not abused by employers but I certainly wouldn’t want it got rid of entirely.
What about those working 19 hours and getting dole to top them up. Employers are being subsidised by the taxpayer. Very common for retailers to pull this one.
Prop joe. Like those on CE.Scheme’s working 19 hours for a little over 1 euro per hour. Slave wage’s.
Zero hour contracts are widespread in the private care companies Bluebird home instead etc. Its used by employers ruthlessly if you refuse to be called in at short notice then you will be punished over the following weeks with less hours. The Government are very happy to see this continue as they don’t have to pick up the extra hours and 3 people will be given contracts with only enough hours for 1 full time job. Heps massage the unemployment figures.
Worked on these zero hour contracts for over 3 years,The companies hire people via agencies some of these companies would be well known Irish and international firms. Working on a day to day basis can be stressful not knowing how many hours you would get for the week. One company I did work for would have me start at 5am and finish at 9am. There was no OT or shift allowance for working nights weekends etc.
These contracts are sickening. From weekly planning to getting a mortgage. Some of these contracts have evolved into minimum hour eg 30 hour contracts per month or minimum salary that is the equivalent of little hours per month.
No plans YET the headline should read!
Zero hour contracts is the same as being indentured.
Most private hospitals in Ireland have care staff on zero hour contracts, they call them bank staff.
Zero hour contracts are widespread in Ireland.
I won’t mention the airline but most pilots and cabin crew are on zero hour contracts.
Don’t work = No pay.
No pressure on a pilot then to work when he’s sick?
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say