Angelina Jolie visits children and families in Iraqi camp for 33,000 refugees fleeing war in Syria

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Published on Sunday, 17 June 2018 16:38

Written by Daily mail

           A day after walking bombed out streets of war-torn Mosul, Angelina Jolie toured a refugee camp holding 33,000 refugees as a result of seven-year conflict in Syria.The Hollywood star called the scene of destruction in Iraq as 'the worst' she's ever seen during her 17-year humanitarian work with United Nations.'This is the worst devastation I have seen in all my years working with UNHCR. People here have lost everything,' Jolie said in a statement.She also highlighted a lack of medical aid for inhabitants of the Domiz camp, a site she has visited three times in the past six years.
         'They are destitute. They have no medicine for their children, and many have no running water or basic services.' 'I hope there will be a continued commitment to rebuilding and stabilising the whole of the city,' she said.'I call on the international community not to forget Mosul.' The actress spent the morning visiting families in the Domiz, a UN official said.Her statement comes a day after she was greeted by fans in parts of Mosul where many of the buildings had been reduced to rubble.Normality has returned to parts of the northern Iraqi city as it rebuilds, but getting displaced residents back home has been slow. Islamic Satte militants had occupied Mosul for three years and turned it into a stronghold of a 'caliphate' in a campaign that saw 900,000 residents flee.Two years after it was retaken from ISIS, more than 70 per cent of the city remains damaged or destroyed, according to the provincial council.In 2017, a Kurdish intelligence chief told the Independent that some 40,000 lives had been claimed in a devastating battle to retake Mosul from ISIS.Residents of the besieged city were killed by Iraqi ground forces attempting to force out militants - while airstrikes razed buildings with hundreds of souls inside according to Kurdish intelligence services. Jolie has worked for UN High Commissioner for Refugees since 2001, visiting uprooted civilians from Iraq to Cambodia and Kenya. This is her fifth visit to Iraq. 

 source : Daily mail  

Angelina Jolie visits Mosul: A-lister meets families in city where up to 40,000 civilians died in bloody battle with ISIS

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Published on Sunday, 17 June 2018 16:35

Written by Daily mail

         Oscar winning actress Angelina Jolie has traded the bright lights of LA for war torn Mosul to meet with the victims of Iraq's recent bloody conflicts which have claimed the lives of thousands and displaced millions of innocent people.The Hollywood star, known for her impressive humanitarian credentials, is a United Nations special envoy and met up with starstruck youngsters and parents as part of her role.Victims of the bloody battles to retake the Iraqi city from ISIS flocked to meet the megastar who flashed her trademark megawatt smile at adoring children. In a city condemned by gunfire and shelling, the enormity of the rebuild cannot be under-estimated. Two years after it was retaken from ISIS, more than 70 per cent of the city remains damaged or destroyed, according to the provincial council.In 2017, a Kurdish intelligence chief told the Independent that some 40,000 lives had been claimed in a devastating battle to retake Mosul from ISIS.
         Residents of the besieged city were killed by Iraqi ground forces attempting to force out militants - while airstrikes razed buildings with hundreds of souls inside according to Kurdish intelligence services.A senior minister in Bagdad said that many bodies 'are still buried under the rubble' and that the  'level of human suffering is immense.''Kurdish intelligence believes that over 40,000 civilians have been killed as a result of massive firepower used against them, especially by the federal police, air strikes and Isis itself,' Mr Zebari added.Nearly 8,300 homes - almost a third of the houses in the city - were destroyed or suffered major damage, according to UN Habitat. All five of Ramadi's bridges over the Euphrates River were damaged; only three are currently under repair. Three-quarters of the schools remain out of commission.   But funding is far lower than what Iraq says it needs. So far, stabilization has received some $392 million in contributions. The United States has given the lion's share, some $115 million. Germany is the second biggest donor at $64 million. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have also contributed, but no other Gulf nations are among the list of donors.Overall, Washington has contributed $265 million to reconstruction since 2014, on top of $1.7 billion in humanitarian assistance in Iraq. But it is a fraction of the $14.3 billion that the U.S. spent in fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.  But Douglas Silliman, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, blamed the destruction of Iraqi cities squarely on IS fighters.'Had they not been here, had they not conducted a completely brutal and inhumane campaign against the Iraqi people, this destruction would not have happened,' he said.

 source : Daily mail  

Billy Bob Thornton Says There Is Only One Reason He Is Not Still Married to Angelina Jolie

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Published on Thursday, 21 June 2018 18:53

Written by People

             Billy Bob Thornton is getting candid about his highly-publicized marriage to Angelina Jolie.“I look at that time as a great time,” the Goliath star, 62, said during the latest HFPA in Conversation podcast episode of Jolie, 43, whom he was married to from 2000 to 2003.“Angie is still a friend of mine and she’s a great person and she’s done so much,” he added. “She makes movies that are important to her whether they succeed or fail, she still does what she believes in and I’ll always respect her for that.”The actor also spoke about the media coverage of the relationship. “A lot of the things they said about us at the time were exaggerated,” he explained, adding, “It wasn’t as crazy as people wrote about it.” Specifically, he addressed the coverage surrounding the necklaces he and Jolie wore at the time, which contained vials of each other’s blood.“The necklaces were a very simple thing, ‘Hey let’s poke our fingers with a pen and smear a little blood on there and when we’re away from each other we’ll wear the necklace,’ ” he said. “It was that easy. But by the time it came out in the press it sounded like we were wearing a bucket of blood around our necks.” As for why they split, Thornton said, “We just had different lifestyles. Hers is a global lifestyle and mine is an agoraphobic lifestyle,” he said with a laugh. “So that’s really, that’s the only reason we’re probably not still together, maybe. There was a different path in life we wanted to take.”In 2016, during Jolie’s high-profile split from Brad Pitt, Thornton also spoke about his marriage to Jolie.“I never felt good enough for her,” he shared, adding that despite his many years in Hollywood, he’s “real uncomfortable around rich and important people.”And he wasn’t looking to change his ways.“I like how I am,” he said.Thornton is now married Connie Angland, his long-time partner and mother to his 13-year-old daughter Bella.

 source : People  

Did Angelina Jolie Adopt More Kids?

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Published on Monday, 11 June 2018 06:42

Written by Gossip Cop

           Angelina Jolie has not adopted more kids, despite a report a year ago that falsely claimed she was adding more children to her family of six. Gossip Cop busted the story 365 days ago. Now the passage of time has shown our reporting was correct.On June 9, 2017, we called out the National Enquirer for wrongly claiming Jolie was giving estranged husband Brad Pitt the “ultimate brush-off” by “expanding her brood without him.” The narrative was concocted after the Oscar winner and some of her kids were seen with “several unidentified children of Asian descent” at the La Brea Tar Pits. The outing led the supermarket tabloid to speculate that she planned to “grow her family without Brad.”“Angie’s moving on with her life, and she’s encouraging the kids to do the same,” a so-called “insider” was quoted as saying. But the magazine had no proof that Jolie was indeed adopting again, and it only jumped to that conclusion, somewhat offensively, because she was seen with “children of Asian descent.” This was an inaccurate assumption.
          As Gossip Cop pointed out back then, and as widely reported by reputable media outlets, the children with Jolie were daughter Shiloh’s friends from Cambodia, who came to America to help her celebrate her 11th birthday. The tween wanted to show her pals different aspects of American life, which included not just the trip to the La Brea Tar Pits, but also a visit to Disneyland. This wasn’t a permanent move or a sign that they were officially joining the Jolie family. It was simply a U.S. vacation.Significantly, Jolie hasn’t been seen with the group of Cambodian kids since then, which is evidence that she didn’t adopt them. In the last 365 days, she hasn’t adopted any other children, either. The star is still just a mom to three girls and three boys, and all six kids are currently with Jolie as she films Maleficent 2 in London. And while it’s certainly possible she could decide to add to their family in the future, particularly once her divorce from Pitt is finalized, it’s abundantly clear the National Enquirer was entirely wrong when it claimed Jolie was adopting a year ago.Of course, that’s not the only misinformation the tabloid has spread about the actress over the last year. This past September, for example, the magazine laughably claimed Jolie was wearing a special ring in hopes of getting Pitt’s attention and winning him back, even though she was the one who filed for divorce in the first place. As we were told then, the story was “nonsense,” and that’s still the case today. Neither Pitt nor Jolie has any interest in reconciling, which is why they’re still negotiating a divorce settlement. It’s obvious the outlet’s reporting doesn’t reconcile with the facts.

 source : Gossip Cop