Everybody’s different and has totally varied relationship expectations, so just because your bae is guilty of a few of relationships expert Suzie Parkus’ signs, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not into you (it could be their personality that makes them not touchy-feely or romantic). But if you’re consistently finding a lot of the below signs to be spot on it’s best to have a long hard think about whether the feelings you have are truly requited.

1. When they don’t answer right away when you phone them, you find yourself trying again before they return your call.

2. They seem unenthusiastic to hear from you (or are always preoccupied) when they do pick up.

3. When you do speak, they either keep it short and sweet or don’t seem engaged in the conversation. Maybe they’re happy to talk about themselves but switch off when you’re talking.

4. When they consistently take ages to reply to texts on a regular basis and offer no excuse or apology.

5. When you meet up it’s slightly awkward and almost cold when they greet you.

6. Your attempt at a passionate ‘hello kiss’ when you greet them is returned as a peck on the cheek.

7. Your PDA attempts are always met with a side swerve of the lips or hands, or they never initiate physical affection. NB obvs some people are just not into PDA so don’t rely on this too heavily.

8. The natural warmth and easy going vibe you put out when you hang out seems to be returned with a stilted and somewhat awkward attitude.

9. When you go to sleep at night and reach out to show affection, they consistently don’t respond or they show a lack of interest.

10. They do little to participate when you’re having sex and it feels like you’re merely going through the motions. The obvious physical and emotional distance creates an overall lack of intimacy.

11. While you’re willing to be generous with your time, money and resources, they’re cold and stingy.

12. You show your partner off and include them in family and friend gatherings but they seem reluctant to include you and it feels like they’re keeping you at arm’s length.

13. When you express your feelings about them, it’s either returned with little to no enthusiasm, or awkwardness.

14. They don’t show much (or any!) interest in you and your world, but you have all the time for them no matter whats going on in your life.

15. When it comes to special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, you make an effort with the present buying and making them feel special. But they make little or no effort and nothing about their attempts screams attention to detail.

16. You’re happy to be romantic and they treat and talk to you like you’re a friend – doing things like talking about their attraction to others when they’re around you.

17. Your gut instinct tells you they aren’t as into you but rather than raise the issue, you ignore the feeling because you’re afraid of what they might say or that you’ll lose them.

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Source: UK Cosmo

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Lena Fenton (MSc), a psychosexual couple’s psychotherapist from Click For Therapy, says, “In any relationship the things to look out for are those small irritations or upsets that seem too small to make a fuss about, because those are the things that over many months or years can quietly destroy the love between you. It’s also important to avoid going to bed angry, try to at least reach a temporary truce and agree to return to the argument or the issue at a later specified time.

“Once lost, love is very difficult to regain. It is vital that you cherish what you have now to help it grow and deepen, that way it can last forever.”

With the help of two relationship experts, here are 12 signs you might have fallen out of love. Suzie Parkus, dating and relationship coach at Meet Your Match, says these first seven signs are ones you really need to look out for.

YOUTUBE/HBO

1. When communicating with your partner (starting conversation, sending texts etc) feels like a sense of duty rather than something you enjoy. The compulsion and excitement to reach out and connect with your partner isn’t there. When you do connect communicate, you do so out of duty because it’s part of the relationship habits you have built up.

2. You have a mild feeling of dread when they get in touch. When receiving a message or call from your partner, there is mild feeling of dread or indifference to hearing from them.

3. You stop thinking ahead. You don’t think further ahead that the next day or week because you aren’t inspired to plan a future with your partner anymore.

4. You stop planning little things that would make them happy – like picking up their favourite drink or recording a programme you know they like. All the triggers you would have as reminders of your partner you ignore. If you spot their favourite flowers or chocolate while out you’ll walk straight past without a second thought.

5. You just exist alongside them. Your lives become parallel rather than entwined. There’ll be no PDA even when sat on sofa together.

6. You’re constantly criticising them. You can’t help yourself from internal and external criticism. Anything and everything annoys you.

7. You start to leave them out of plans. You’ll go out or do nice things without even asking them to come along.

Rebecca McCann, a Click For Therapy therapist, says there are five other important signs.

8. You wish they would be busy on a Friday night so you can just chill or go out with friends and not have to spend time with them.

9. You start to separate yourself emotionally. You think about yourself more and them much, much less.

10. You start to just not care so much. All the things that did bug you, like when they were late home, when they made plans on a Saturday night and you wanted a night together, just don’t bug you and the anger has gone, and you just don’t really care one way or the other.

11. When you think about them you feel a bit meh. Not excited, not angry, just meh.

12. You find excuses not to have sex… a lot. Mostly because that means being near them and communicating in some way. Or maybe you feel comfortable with them, but the sexual attraction is no longer there.

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Source: UK Cosmo

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The House voted 273-to-156 to authorize the plan, a test of support for Obama’s stepped-up campaign to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State fighters who have seized a third of bothIraq and Syria, declared war on the West and seek to establish a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.

Written as an amendment to a stopgap spending bill, the measure does not include any money to pay for the arms and training. It passed with support from Democrats and Republicans, but also significant opposition from members of both parties.

Voting for the amendment were 159 Republicans and 114 Democrats, while 71 Republicans and 85 Democrats voted against.

The spending bill – including the training plan – will only go to Obama to be signed into law after it passes the Senate, expected to come as early as Thursday.

Facing resistance from war-weary lawmakers in Obama’s own Democratic party, the administration reached across the aisle to Republicans for support, a rare bipartisan moment in an otherwise polarized Congress.

At an annual picnic for congressional members he hosted on Wednesday night, Obama thanked House members from both parties “who came together today to pass an important component of our strategy for dealing with this terrible terrorist organization.”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that while Americans support Obama’s campaign of air strikes against Islamic State militants, they largely oppose a long military campaign against the group.

The authorization backed by the House lasts only until Dec. 11, the day the spending bill expires. The bill allows the Pentagon to later submit requests to shift funds within the budget if it decides it needs funds to pay for the program.

The amendment does not provide details about the training plan, prompting lawmakers to fear that a “yes” vote could mean authorizing shipments of military equipment that might end up in the wrong hands and possibly even kill Americans.

‘UNANSWERED QUESTIONS’

“There are too many unanswered questions for me to support this amendment,” said Representative Barbara Lee, a California Democrat. “How will we ensure that the United States weapons we are providing to Syrian rebels will not get into the wrong hands, as they did with the rebels we supported in Libya?”

The amendment does not include $500 million the White House says it needs to arm and train the rebels, who have been waging a three-year battle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It was written to quickly provide the authority Obama wanted while avoiding a debate on the money.

Oubai Shahbandar, a senior adviser to the Syrian National Coalition, a Western-backed political opposition body, called the House vote “an important step forward” in establishing a partnership between Washington and the Syrian opposition.

“We worked hard to make the case that the Free Syrian Army is the sole solution to degrading and defeating ISIS. We have a long road ahead, but the overwhelming support in Congress for our cause is encouraging,” he told Reuters in Istanbul.

Obama said in a nationally televised speech last week that he wanted to train and equip Free Syrian Army rebels to “strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to the extremists” and to prevent U.S. troops from “being dragged into another ground war.”

Fears of a deeper U.S. troop involvement were fanned on Tuesday by General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, who raised the possibility that American troops might need to take on a larger role in Iraq’s ground war.

Defense officials have said they expect to recruit and train about 5,000 of the moderate rebel fighters.

U.S. military officials say there is support within the Pentagon for supplying the rebels with weapons beyond small arms and ammunition, including battlefield artillery, anti-tank rockets and mortars.

Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a member of the House Defense appropriations subcommittee, said the program could start with small arms and then possibly graduate to heavier weapons, such as “armored personnel carriers, artillery, real air defense capability” but declined to say whether such plans had been discussed in classified briefings.

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Source: Reuters

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The affected peacekeepers are from the Philippines and Fiji, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

“During a period of increased fighting beginning yesterday between armed elements and Syrian Arab Armed Forces within the area of separation in the Golan Heights, 43 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) were detained early this morning by an armed group in the vicinity of Al Qunaytirah,” the U.N. press office said in a statement.

It added that another 81 UNDOF peacekeepers were being restricted to their positions in the vicinity of Ar Ruwayhinah and Burayqah. Dujarric said the 81 trapped troops were from the Philippines and the 43 seized ones from Fiji.

“The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation,” it said.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, president of the Security Council this month, told reporters the trapped peacekeepers were surrounded by Islamist militants.

The 15-nation Security Council, which was meeting on the humanitarian situation in Syria, was also discussing the issue of the kidnapped peacekeepers, Lyall Grant said.

The Philippine army said in a statement that militants and had surrounded the Philippine contingent’s encampments with Fijian hostages in tow and demanded that the Filipino troops surrender their firearms.

“The Philippine peacekeepers held their ground and demonstrated their resolve to defend their positions,” it said. “They did not surrender their firearms as they may in turn be held hostage themselves.”

The Security Council issued a statement strongly condemning the seizure of the peacekeepers and calling for their immediate release. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the council word’s in his own statement of condemnation.

Reporters asked Dujarric if the United Nations was in contact with the group holding the Fijians. He declined to specify who the world body was in contact with but said there was communication under way. “There are contacts being held at different levels, on the mission and on the ground,” he said. “They are talking to representatives of various armed groups that they have … operational contact with. They are talking to countries in the region.”

Dujarric was also asked about the rules for peacekeepers in such situations.

“In extreme circumstances, these troops are trained and prepared and equipped to defend themselves, but, obviously, each situation has to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

U.N. officials say that the peacekeepers, whose job is to monitor the cessation of hostilities, carry small arms that are only to be used in extreme circumstances. In previous situations where UNDOF peacekeepers were held hostage, the troops did not use their weapons.

The Quneitra crossing on the Golan is a strategic plateau captured by Israel in a 1967 Middle East war. Syria and Israel technically remain at war. Syrian troops are not allowed in an area of separation under a 1973 ceasefire formalized in 1974.

UNDOF monitors the area of separation, a narrow strip of land running about 45 miles (70 km) from Mount Hermon on the Lebanese border to the Yarmouk River frontier with Jordan. There are 1,223 UNDOF peacekeepers from six countries.

Before the Syrian civil war, now in its fourth year, the region was generally quiet and the peacekeepers had mostly found their biggest enemy to be boredom.

The force’s personnel come from Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands and the Philippines. The United Nations said this week that the Philippines has decided to pull out of UNDOF, and from a U.N. force in Liberia, which is struggling with an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

Blue-helmeted U.N. troops were seized by militants in March and May 2013. In both of those cases they were released safely.

Austria, Japan and Croatia have all pulled their troops out of UNDOF due to the deteriorating security situation and spillover from the Syrian war.

But Fijian Army Commander Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he would not be recommending to his government that Fiji follow suit.

“If I was to make any recommendation, I would increase our forces in Syria. That would be my recommendation,” he said by phone from Fiji.

“We will not make any recommendations of pulling out from the U.N. or any other engagement, because our contribution to U.N. peacekeeping – if we don’t want to do this, then who else in the world would want to do this?”

He added that he was confident the Fijians would be released soon based on the strength of their contacts in the Golan Heights region.

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Source: Reuters

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the soldiers were captured while attempting to flee to Hama province after IS stormed the Tabqa airbase.

Twitter accounts belonging to jihadists had boasted about 200 deaths, it added.

On Wednesday, photos and a video were posted online that appeared to show dozens of men in their underwear being marched through the desert at gunpoint.

In the video, militants shout “Islamic State” and “There is no going back”.

In images published earlier this week, IS fighters wearing balaclavas could be seen shooting dead at least seven kneeling men at the airbase.

‘Mass atrocities’

Tabqa airbase – near the northern city of Raqqa, an IS stronghold – fell to IS on Sunday after weeks of fierce fighting.

The Observatory said 346 IS fighters and more than 170 members of the security forces were killed in the final battle, which lasted five days.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdul Rahman, told the AFP news agency that about 1,400 troops had been stationed at the airbase, 700 of whom managed to escape.

Two hundred appeared to have been caught and executed by IS as they attempted to cross the desert to government-held territory in the Orontes Valley to the west, he said. Another 500 men were on the run, he added.

After the airbase’s capture, Syrian state television said the army was “regrouping” and that a “successful evacuation” had taken place.

On Tuesday, UN investigators said Islamic State militants had committed “mass atrocities” in Syria and had recruited children as fighters.

Their report said public killings were a “common spectacle” in areas run by the jihadist group and that local people were forced to watch.

At the same time, the investigators said that Syrian government forces had also committed atrocities by dropping barrel bombs and chlorine gas from helicopters, shelling hospitals and torturing and killing civilians.

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Source: BBC

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Journalists Shaker al-Johari and Mohammad al-Jayousi were debating the conflict on Jordan’s Seven Stars programme on Thursday.

Al-Jayousi accused al-Johari of supporting the revolution in Syria, and was in turn accused of backing President Bashar al-Assad in exchange for money.

Watch Video below;

Credit: BBC

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