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Groton Daily Independent
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 079 ~ 32 of 40
She walked six hours to get home and started aiding the rescue immediately after.
“I help because people need support. I don’t know them,” she said. “I remove debris, bring supplies and give food to scared animals. It saddens me to see the city like this, but the union between Mexicans
comforts me. I couldn’t stay at home knowing how the city is right now.” ___
VERONICA AGUILAR: computer sales
Aguilar was in a supermarket when the quake struck and rushed home to her 11-year-old daughter. At rst, she stayed home, but then concluded she had to do something. She took her daughter to a collapsed of ce building to help, and show the girl the importance of helping however possible in the face of tragedy.
“The rst days (after the quake) I didn’t leave my house because of fear. But I decided to leave so that my daughter could see what is happening, to make her aware. So that she sees when you can help, you should,” Aguilar said. “Among Mexicans, there is a lot of love. When something bad happens, we know that everyone chips in. “
___
MYRNA MOGUL: actress
After the quake, she went to work on a different stage: a collapsed apartment building. She put on a
construction hat and began digging through debris helping look for anyone still trapped inside. “Whether you are a man or woman, you must help as a human being,” she said. “Find people alive or dead but nd them so that people can continue with their lives. It doesn’t have to do with gender, age,
class or profession. It has to do with your ability as a human to help others.” ___
Associated Press writer Christine Armario contributed to this report.
Iraq’s Kurds vote on independence, raising regional fears By SUSANNAH GEORGE, Associated Press
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi Kurds voted Monday in a landmark referendum on supporting independence, a move billed by the Kurdish leadership as an exercise in self-determination but viewed as a hostile act by Iraq’s central government. Neighboring Turkey even threatened a military response.
To Baghdad, the vote threatens a redrawing Iraq’s borders, taking a sizeable part of the country’s oil wealth with it. For Turkey and Iran, leaders feared the move would embolden their own Kurdish populations. The vote — likely to be a resounding “yes” when of cial results are revealed later this week — is not binding and will not immediately bring independence to the autonomous region. Nevertheless, it has raised
tensions and fears of instability in Iraq and beyond.
Just hours after polls closed Monday night across the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the Defense Min-
istry announced the launch of “large-scale” joint military exercises with Turkey.
Earlier in the day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey threatened the Kurdish region with military
intervention. Iran — which also opposed the vote — held military exercises along their border Sunday. The Iraqi Kurdish push for independence has been made even more combustible because Kurdish forces captured extensive territory in ghting against the Islamic State group in the past year. Those areas run from northwestern Iraq to the Iranian border on the east — including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Baghdad claims those territories, but the Kurds say they are part of their zone and some residents there are par-
ticipating in the referendum.
An escalation in rhetoric within Iraq set the stage for increased tensions as Iraqi Kurds lined up to vote. The Kurdish region’s president, Masoud Barzani, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi both threatened
to use force ahead of Monday’s vote.
Barzani softened his tone before he voted. He told a news conference Sunday that he believed the vote
would be peaceful but acknowledged the path to independence would be “risky.”
“We are ready to pay any price for our independence,” he said.
Al-Abadi had said on the eve of the referendum that the vote “threatens Iraq” and “is a danger to the