RIP Phil Everly, 1939-2014

Global grief at the passing of Phil Everly was aptly soundtracked in more ways than one by the music he and elder brother Don made together, for the Everlys were the – sweet – sound of sadness.

Don’s voice may have been a bit more of a drawling caw, and occupying more of the solo stretches, but it was ideally complemented by Phil’s plaintive high harmonies prettying up the upbeat songs or turning even more winsome the almost-unbearably tender ballads.

The pair were not the first to bring such close-knit harmonies into then-emerging rock’n’roll, following in the countrified footsteps of, say, the Carter Family and later the Louvin Brothers among several.

Yet they provided a mainstream pop snap – and success – that would inspire future artists, such as their future touring partners Simon and Garfunkel or a young Lennon and McCartney.

That Everly influence can be heard resonantly on, for example, The Beatles’ intimately intricate "If I Fell" or – a few long years on - their swansong-album track "Because".

Don and Phil were also an early prototype for rock’n’roll’s feuding-brothers narrative, waging wars of words – or decade-long silences – to make Ray and Dave Davies or Noel and Liam Gallagher resemble the Jonas Brothers by comparison.

And yet their special chemistry was such as to produce, say, their chillingly instinctual revisit of “Let It Be Me”, at a 1983 Royal Albert Hall reunion gig following ten years estranged.

Perhaps that sibling tension, simmering beneath the surface of those perfectly-blended voices, actually enhanced their harmonies – inspiring each to conjure intriguingly-divergent melody lines that nevertheless sounded so right together. 

Like John and Paul, Phil and Don gifted each other - and us - through harmonious rivalry.

Growing up the son of a folk music fan dad and a rock’n’roll-loving mum means remembering an Everly Brothers greatest hits cassette being among those most-played on long car journeys way back when in the, er, Eighties.

Back then much of the appeal here came not necessarily from those interwoven vocals, but the choppy yet chiming steel-string guitar chords, the high school hi-jinks of “Bird Dog” or “Wake Up Little Susie” and the rat-tat-tat-tat of “Claudette” or “Donna Donna”.

But there were also those chirpily catchy hooks, delivered so precisely, as well as the lovelorn ballads that even at their most potentially lachrymose – say, “Ebony Eyes” – remained just about gently earnest enough.

Those simple melodies with their to-the-point sentiments and deftly-constructed cadences came from and spoke of love, to all aspiring towards or affected – even, or especially, afflicted – by it.

Love at its most hurt or unrequited, rueful or bitter, joyful or yearning.

Few singers tug at the heartstrings, while shuddering shivers down the spine, like Phil and Don, and their music to woo to, cry over or simply, bittersweetly wallow in.

The irresistible middle of their take on "Love Is Strange"has Phil asking his older brother how he might convince a lost lover to return, prompting a swooning: ‘Baby, oh sweet baby, my sweet baby, please come home.’

"Yeah, that oughta bring her home, Don", admiring Phil warmly replies.

If only the mourning elder could now do the same for the missed younger, allowing him once more to, well, walk right back. 

So sad.

Anatomy of a scam: how banks and police help fail to fend off hefty fraud

Santander: aware of, while obviously not responsible for, spreading scams (PA Wire/Press Association Images)

What sort of a police force would send an anxious fraud victim an apologetic bouquet of dying flowers – and then a letter whose envelope window displays to the watching world not only name and address but crime number?

What kind of a bank would boast on one hand of knowing about a scam gang nearby, moments after staff had admitted ignorance – and then compliment the fraudsters as ‘very clever’?

And, yes, what kind of a person would follow the instructions of a self-proclaimed police officer on the phone and not only withdraw £5,000 from their bank account but then feel a sense of relief handing it all over to a stranger courier?

These bemusing questions cannot help but be pondered, over and over again, having learned from a Finchley local over the past week – while hearing of similar scams attempted in the surrounding area, stretching across the borough of Barnet to that of Camden.

What police and banking documents dub ‘courier fraud’ appears to be on the rise – yet those documents seem to be for very few eyes only.

To quote one case, with no family or friend link declared: one victim was phoned on Thursday last week by someone claiming to be a detective at a local police station, claiming to have evidence of fraud at Finchley Central’s Santander bank branch.

He went on to persuade the – dazed, for various recent family and health reasons – dupe that that Santander branch was flagged up as an inside-job crime-scene.

As a result of which, this Santander customer would be helping the cause of justice – and trying to repair her allegedly-compromised account, plus others even more vulnerably – by withdrawing cash from a phony account to try to draw out those Ballards Lane scamsters.

This particular victim, woozy from recent invasive health checks and bombarded by various existing family difficulties, could not help but feel willing to help the ‘authorities’ – especially when urged to check credentials by dialling 999, unaware that such conmen can keep telephone lines open.

The apparent veracity of those calling her was boosted when they suggested there would be ‘activity’ at this particular Finchley branch, coinciding with the victim arriving to find what transpired as a power cut was keeping the office closed.

Only then, once she got in to face staff well-used to talks with her going back decades, was the fatal transaction made – no questions asked, let alone cautious warnings broached.

What has followed since has included an incessant bombardment of silent phone calls – whether from the police, Victim Support, Santander or the fraudsters themselves – leaving no member of the victim’s family at ease. Quite the reverse, the already-chastened victim now feeling watched on top of daft.

And also, confessed regrets from the police for a series of botched – ever-insensitive – communications.

And, from the police, criticism for blasé Santander. And, from Santander, sympathy yet little apparent will to appear more outgoing.

A Santander spokeswoman insisted: 'We are extremely sorry to hear of this experience. Unfortunately as she personally withdrew the monies we are unable to refund her.

'We have taken steps to raise awareness and help educate customers about this type of scam.

'We take every precaution we can to help protect our customers' funds and will always provide every assistance to the police to support their investigation.'

Warnings about this particular fraud appear in an anti-scam booklet printed online - yet distributed nowhere beyond that. No wonder staff members, and the customers with whom they deal, feel in the dark.

No matter how clued-up their managers might feel, when dispensing words of sympathy … yet rebuke.

Ah, but it's only money - or, even more so, trust. Lost.

Framed mum 'tortured and raped by troops' rallies backers for UN Human Rights Day

A mother of four allegedly tortured and raped by soldiers trying to frame her for drug crimes is among millions of abuse victims hoping this week's UN Human Rights Day might bring some solace - and even long-awaited justice.

Miriam Lopez and supporters are urging Metro readers to help finally win an investigation into the gruesome attack she suffered in February 2011 - and also many more human rights crimes, especially against women and children.

Her call comes amid a 16-day campaign against unpunished attacks on women across the world.

Amnesty activists say not only Mrs Lopez’s homeland of Mexico, but also Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Syria and Sudan are failing female victims.

Next Sunday will mark the two-year anniversary of 30-year-old Mrs Lopez filing a complaint about her treatment to the Mexican Federal Attorney General’s Office.

Many more are feared to have suffered similar ordeals in a country where torture and ill-treatment allegations rose by 500 per cent between 2006 and 2012.

Amnesty's ‘Write For Rights’ campaign is part of ‘16 Days of Activism’ running from International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 to the United Nations’ Human Rights Day.

Other targeted countries include Bangladesh, where victims include activist Kalpana Chakma - abducted by security personnel in 1996 and missing ever since.

Amnesty is also highlighting DR Congo, where human rights defenders face intimidation, and Sudan, where women can be sentenced to public floggings for wearing trousers or having hair uncovered.

Mrs Lopez wants police action against her alleged attackers, both of whom she has identified - though still no one has been officially questioned.

Her nightmare began just after dropping three of her children at school on February 2, 2011, near their home in the northern city of Ensenada.

Two balaclava-clad men suddenly seized her, bundled her into a van and drove her to a military barracks in nearby Tijuana where she was held for a week.

She has described how she spent the next seven days being tortured with electric shocks and water poured over her face - and also repeatedly raped.

The soldiers detaining her wanted her to confess to trafficking drugs through a military checkpoint.

Mrs Lopez was not released from custody until September 2 that year, when her case collapsed due to a lack of evidence.

Despite filing her complaint on December 15, 2011, and submitting to medical tests which showed evidence of torture and sexual assault, she has heard nothing more.

She said: ‘I try to live normally but I’m always scared - for me, for my family - that something is going to happen to them.’

'Write For Rights' is urging people to pen letters not only to comfort abuse victims but also to authorities to demand action.

Mrs Lopez told sympathisers: 'It is a source of strength to receive so many messages of support.

'I truly thank all of you who are supporting my cause so much.

'I know each signature, the campaign and your support will help achieve what I want so much - justice.'

Haiyan aid agencies merit support, sympathy - and, with respect, future scrutiny

Residents gather coins and other salvageable materials from the ruins of houses after Haiyan battered Tacloban (Picture: Reuters)

So far, so standard. A horrific humanitarian disaster strikes, aid agencies rush what workers they can in the right direction as hurriedly as possible while appealing for donations, then the British public (and government) generously obliges.

And, next, the odd cynic on the sidelines wonders not only how such money should be spent, but whether. Then, what then?

The wrenching scenes from the Philippines after the onslaught of typhoon Haiyan can hardly help but tug at the heart- as well as the purse-strings.

As ever, the donations pouring in via the Disaster Emergency Committee’s umbrella appeal are heartwarmingly impressive, as is the £10million pledged swiftly by David Cameron’s government plus another £5million matching DEC bids.

Comparisons have been raised, however, with previous catastrophes and what followed – especially in Haiti, following that already-impoverished nation’s 2010 earthquake.

For all the aid offered by so many dedicated agencies out there, easy and obvious criticism followed the cholera outbreak blamed on United Nations staff and the perception  that charities withdrew within privileged compounds once the worst disorder reigned.

Yet without wishing to encourage any complacency or misdirected indulgence, to witness aid work on the ground in some of the world’s worst-off settings is to appreciate the value of any pound donated and spent.

Of course, proper scrutiny should be applied to where and how resources are distributed, perhaps demanding greater transparency from charity accounts and especially over-arching government authorities.

Among the many strengths of Britain’s international charity sector is its breadth, and willingness to work together – for the most part – within such auspices as the DEC or else the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign.

Yet sceptics may well feel a little bemused by the contrasting – if not quite competing – appeals for funds, and activist interventions, publicised by so many agencies especially over recent days.

At best, one issue appears to involve so many vitally-effective and affecting individuals offering their own insights, from nearby, on such distant miseries – suggesting not so much who to believe, but who to back, if and when more than any other?

Beneficiaries should or could be one of the bigger beasts – no, beauties – of the aid industry, such as Oxfam, the Red Cross, Save The Children or Medecins Sans Frontieres -  or more modestly mid-ranking institutions including Tearfund or Islamic Relief, any or all meriting admiration and support.

Recent experiences on the Lebanese-Syrian border taught – at least, even more than before – that in or around warzones everyone has a tragic and harrowing tale to tell while still welcoming  any support whether food or shelter or ‘merely’ practical advocacy.

There are many helpers there – and yet, with an estimated 6.5million Syrian refugees and 9million in need while aid remains blocked by Assad-ruled regions, any gains still feel insubstantial. And yet life-changing for those fortunate few happily affected while afflicted.

Again - amid the wasteland conditions within which many in the Philippines are now attempting to stagger on - prospects look bleak, pathways seem narrow and challenges appear intense, both short- and long-term.

Yet let’s just - still - hope all and any aid not only manages to get through, but gets properly followed through.

Learning to eye the future: Syrian children attempt to rebuild their lives

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/learning-to-eye-the-future-syrian-children-attempt-to-rebuild-their-lives-3970860/

Death continues to stalk Syrian children even as they mourn already-lost friends and neighbours at funeral services.

Majed Al-Saati not only narrowly escaped being gunned down during a neighbourhood massacre, he then saw his best friend shot through the stomach and die at his feet.

What made the scene all the more poignant was that the pair were part of a funeral procession, paying tribute to 15 fellow villagers struck down in a killing spree days earlier.

The death toll rose yet higher just two days later when a brother of Majed's friend was shot dead outside a mosque where relatives were already praying in grief.

Yet Majed appears both sprightly and defiant, with childlike features seeming younger than his 13 years even as he speaks eloquently - at times gravely - about his ordeals growing up.

Among his classmates is fellow 13-year-old Jamilah Maalouf, with her own gruesome memories of seeing her cousin and uncle dead when a neighbouring field hospital was demolished.

Majed and Jamilah are among thousands of traumatised Syrian children who have endured not only personal tragedies, but gruelling and dangerous escapes across the border.

Some 52.5 per cent of the 716,000 registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon are children, with 200,000 of them thought to be outside school.

Even those who are offered an education in their new surroundings often struggle, since Syrian children were taught in Arabic and English back home yet Lebanese schools prefer Arabic and French.

Yet the Save The Children-backed El Baddawi school in Lebanon's second city Tripoli is dominated by Syrian pupils, many appearing to gradually regain some confidence despite their experiences. 

Majed made it across with his mother Ahlam, 38, and six siblings, though only after the family had endured a series of tragedies.

Two of his uncles, and two great-uncles, were abducted by pro-regime fighters, tortured - with one having a leg cut off - before being left to burn to death in a flaming car.

Majed became accustomed to snipers stationed in nearby buildings, taking potshots at people venturing out of their homes - but the worst violence came on a day tanks arrived.

A lieutenant who accused residents of poisoning local water supplies advanced his tank slowly down the street before opening fire on all around him.

Some 15 people died that day, though Majed managed to take shelter in a neighbour's house - and watched as one of his brothers was shoved to the ground just as a bullet whizzed by.

Majed said: 'He hid for two-and-a-half hours under a car - we thought he was dead, but he later said he didn't call out when we were shouting for him because he didn't want to be caught.

'For the next few days he refused to eat or drink, or do anything - and one night he woke up screaming and trying to attack my father.'

The victims' funerals sparked even more violence, when the graveyard was surrounded by more tanks.

Majed said: 'When I turned my back and started walking away, I heard shouting - then I saw the tanks were shooting at the graveyard and people started falling on top of each other.

'Suddenly a bullet came through my friend's back and through his stomach - one second he was talking, then I saw the blood.'

Majed and his father dragged the body to their nearby home but were unable to save him, before having to break the news to the boy's sobbing mother and father.

Their pain was intensified two days later when the victim's older brother was taken out by a sniper while outside the mosque where the family were praying.

Majed said: 'He didn't see the shot - he was hit in the head from behind.'

He was more fortunate, at least, though his family's decision to flee meant several days sleeping in the fields without any cover on their way to the border.

While wishing he could return home, Majed added: 'There's no Syria right now - it's all destroyed. What's happening is so horrific.

'The people there are suffering from a lack of food and basic needs and the army are even cutting down trees and taking away anything that could be used for heating.'

Schoolmate Jamilah has only been attending lessons for a week - but is tentatively starting to reawaken her dream of becoming a teacher.

Still, she remains haunted by images of carnage the day, five months ago, a neighbouring field hospital in Baba Amr was hit by a rocket.

She said: 'We were sitting in our house when we heard a very big explosion. My dad ran to see what was happening and I followed to the sound of the screaming.

'I knew my uncle and my cousin had been helping doctors at the hospital. 

'As soon as I stepped in, I saw many bodies - we couldn't recognise my cousin and uncle at first because of all the blood, but they were there in pieces.'

Her father swiftly sent her home, where she spent the rest of the day sitting in silence - or occasionally praying - with her brothers and sisters until their parents arrived home.

'My mother was crying and in shock while my father was so upset he wasn't talking to anyone,' she added.

The family moved to her grandfather's house two streets away before making the decision to leave Syria - though her father was arrested before the escape and was unable to join them.

Jamilah added: 'I wish we could be back home with both our parents - that this violence stops. That's what I wish.'

* Some names have been changed to protect the safety of relatives still in Syria.

A dying shame: ‘Too little and too late’ in Syria, Save the Children warns

http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/12/a-dying-shame-too-little-and-too-late-in-syria-save-the-children-warns-3960279/

The world should feel ‘ashamed’ for failing to aid the Syrian people in the worst humanitarian crisis for three decades, a leading charity chief has declared.

Global leaders and United Nations chiefs have let down millions of people in Syria and surrounding regions, according to Save The Children UK chief executive Justin Forsyth.

Only Britain can claim some credit for backing a relief response that is still £1.3billion short of UN targets, he added.

He also called for an overhaul of obstacles preventing aid from reaching the most needy.

Mr Forsyth described the Syrian crisis as the worst since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when the world was also guilty of failing to intervene until too late.

Mr Forsyth, who previously worked for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in Downing Street, told Metro: ‘After seeing conditions this weekend, I feel even more strongly the world should be really ashamed of its response to Syria.

‘So many families rightly feel neglected, let down and alone.

‘Even though we can provide some aid, they feel the world has done too little and too late.

‘The Rwandan genocide was terrible and worse, but this is the worst humanitarian crisis since then - and it’s on our watch.’

A UN appeal for funding from world governments has now reached just 59 per cent of its £3.2billion target, leaving £1.3billion still to find.

Britain’s international development secretary Justine Greening this weekend announced an extra £52million.

The UK has so far handed over £124million this year, with another £168million promised - and the Foreign Office says the spending will be £400million covering both 2012 and 2013.

Mr Forsyth praised Ms Greening and David Cameron for ensuring Britain - both the government and the public - was ‘an honourable exception’.

Still, aid delivery is hampered because UN-led supplies must go through government-controlled Damascus - meaning large swathes of Syria are out of bounds.

Mr Forsyth wants a UN Security Council resolution demanding unfettered access for humanitarian workers across all parts of the country.

He admitted: ‘We’re struggling against the odds and can feel overwhelmed - there are so many unmet needs.

‘Refugee families are at least receiving some help and not being shelled anymore, but in Syria there are still hundreds and thousands getting no aid while still coming under attack.’

‘Surely even if the world can’t decide what to do about military strikes, they can at least agree to allow aid across all areas, which would make a massive difference?’

Despite sweltering summer heat in the region now, concerns are growing that temperatures are starting to drop ahead of a winter expected to prove lethally freezing in northern Lebanon - where many refugees camp in threadbare tents.

UN programmes offer £17 each month to refugee families who register with them, though some aid workers believe many more are refusing to sign up for fear they will be traced by the Syrian regime.

Save The Children’s efforts include funding schools in Lebanon, so far reaching 7,000 Syrian children whose schools have been destroyed.

Shelter kits have been given to more than 2,000 refugee families, cash-for-work schemes are being set up to provide money as well as purpose, and the charity is also backing two health centres in Bekaa and one in Akkar.

Aid workers are also concerned to help not only Syrian families arriving in the country, but also deprived Lebanese - especially to help ease rising resentment amid the refugee influx.

The new Save The Children appeal aims to raise £150million, to help in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

United Nations appeal target: £3.2billion

Amount of aid so far donated: £1.9billion (59 per cent)

Shortfall: £1.3billion

HIGHEST DONORS

United States: £518million

European Commission: £392million

Kuwait: £205million

United Kingdom: £124million (plus a further £168million announced by ministers)

Germany: £104million

Various (details not yet provided): £101million

Private individuals and organisations: £68million

Canada: £54million

Japan: £52million

Australia: £41million

SPREAD OF SYRIAN REFUGEES

Lebanon: 716,284 (officially registered with United Nations agencies - though unofficial estimates suggest there may be as many as 1.3million)

Jordan: 522,000 (including 120,000 at the Za’atari camp)

Turkey: 440,000

Iraq: 196,000

Egypt: 110,000

Elsewhere in North Africa (including Algeria, Morocco, Libya): 15,000

Estimated population still inside Syrian needing assistance: 6.8million (including 3.1million children)

Estimated number of people forced from their homes inside Syria: 5.1million

Estimated deaths since the start of the Assad crackdown: 100,000+ (including 7,000 children)

Schools destroyed or closed down: 4,000

Syrian civil war as well as refugees spilling into Lebanon

Both civil war and a growing humanitarian crisis are already spreading from Syria into neighbouring Lebanon, provoking a backlash while threatening to engulf the wider Middle East.

Rocket attacks across the border into Lebanese territory are gaining in frequency, as are targeted bomb blasts within key cities such as Beirut and Tripoli.

As tensions heighten between Alawite, Sunni and Shia sects on either side of the Lebanese-Syrian divide, the country ruled by a fragile caretaker government is also troubled by a growing refugee influx.

Some 720,000 Syrian refugees have been registered with United Nations agencies in Lebanon, but credible estimates suggest as many as 1.3million may be spreading across a 4million-population nation.

Many are hesitant to make themselves officially known, for fear they could be traced by vengeful forces from Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime.

While Jordan’s 120,000-strong – and expanding – Za’atari refugee camp has compelled much attention, Lebanon’s Syrian refugee population is scattered much more disparately.

Some making it across the frontier – despite ever-encroaching Syrian military presence on Lebanese land – are paying rising rents for cramped basements or garages.

Many more are pitching makeshift tents in improvised campsites, many in the northern Lebanese region of Akkar or even closer to the border in hinterland Wadi Khaled.

The 40,000-population Wadi Khaled area has become a popular refuge for recuperating Free Syrian Army rebel soldiers – perhaps explaining the increasingly-regular bursts of border-crossing gunfire.

Tensions are rising not only among Assad loyalists keen to infiltrate neighbouring land, however, but also among Lebanon’s own deprived communities witnessing mass Syrian arrivals – and aid agency input, however limited.

The Lebanese government is now responding by ordering border officials to impose tighter controls on those flocking to flee Assad’s brutal 21-month crackdown.

Officers have been told only to allow across those with not only proper paperwork but also proof they are coming from towns and cities recognised as under-fire – despite the fact many refugees have been desperately shifting from area to area for months.

Canny landlords in regions such as Wadi Khaled have been hurriedly building extensions or new properties to accommodate refugees desperate for shelter – with rents rising all the time in response.

Yet those not fortunate enough to have property to let are suffering knock-on effects, with competition for jobs now more intense – and wages falling.

Newly-arriving Syrians anxious to afford shelter and food are said to be accepting wages of $1 per hour for tasks such as labouring or toiling in the fields – compared to the previous Lebanese average of $4.

Tensions have been exacerbated still more by the bursts of border shelling by Syrian forces and terrorist attacks carried out by brigades from both countries but on Lebanese land.

Shia militant group Hezbollah, which controls southern areas of the Lebanese capital Beirut, has thrown its weight behind the Assad regime – making it both a perpetrator and target of inner-city attacks.

There are even fears that Hezbollah could retaliate against any US-led air-strikes on Syria with attacks on arch enemy Israel – although such action could well provoke an even more fearsome response than the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon.

Two almost-simultaneous mosque bombings on August 23 killed more than 40 people and wounded at least 500 in Lebanon’s second city, Tripoli – now home to the deported extremist, ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’ Omar Bakri.

Later that night a sniper stationed 50m from a school in Wadi Khaled opened fire – but the time of day meant no pupils or staff were present or injured.

That day’s attacks came a week after a car bomb in a Shia district of Beirut killed 27 people, with Syrian rebel forces cast under suspicion.

No wonder one anxious aid worker admitted to Metro: ‘There’s no house in Lebanon without a pistol, an M16 or a Kalashnikov. People are scared.’

Save The Children’s Lebanon director Sonia Zambakides said: ‘Lebanon has been very overlooked – it’s very much a crisis in its own right.’

Her charity is keen to direct what resources it has – and amid this week’s newly-launched £150million aid appeal – not only to struggling Syrian refugees but potentially-aggrieved Lebanese communities.

The constant chorus from Syrian refugees in Lebanon has been the desire to be able to go home.

For now, the main benefit of being in Lebanon is its relative safety – though that too looks increasingly uneasy and endangered.