World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[Equation]

This kid is a true hero in my book regardless where he came from. My condolences to his parents, family and classmates.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — People in Pakistan are praising a teenage boy who residents and police say died this week while trying to stop a suicide bomber who was targeting his school in the country's violence-prone northwest.

Local police official Raheem Khan said Thursday that 17-year-old Aitzaz Hasan died Monday in a remote village in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A teacher at the school told investigators that he saw Hasan chasing the attacker and then saw the attacker detonate the bomb that killed the teen, Khan said.

Pakistani media reported that Hasan was late for school and that's why he was outside when the attacker approached the building.

The English-language Express Tribune newspaper reported that Hasan's father, Mujahid Ali, was living and working in the United Arab Emirates when the attack occurred. Many men in the impoverished region are forced to move abroad, especially to the Gulf, to provide for their families.

Ali told the newspaper that he had returned not to mourn his son but to celebrate his life.

"My son made his mother cry, but saved hundreds of mothers from crying for their children," he told the newspaper.

Local resident Miqdar Khan said people in the district were hailing the teen as a hero, and hundreds of people attended his funeral to pay their respects. He said the teenager was known for openly criticizing militants.

"Aitzaz Hasan used to tell all that one day he would capture some suicide bomber, and his class fellows used to laugh," he said. "But this boy proved what he said, and I am sad that he left us too early."

The area where Hasan lived is home to many members of the minority Shiite Muslim sect who have often been killed by militants who view them as heretics.

Suicide bombings and killings have become an everyday fact of life in many parts of Pakistan.

A study by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies found that terrorist attacks in 2013 increased by nine percent over the previous year while the number of people killed in such incidents jumped by 19 percent. The number of suicide attacks climbed by 39 percent in the same period, the report found.

In the face of such unremitting violence the image of a teenager giving his life to save his classmates captured the imagination of many in Pakistan.

Hasan's death led to an outpouring of emotion on television and on social media, where the hashtag #onemillionaitzazs quickly became a favorite among Twitter users.

Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States, Sherry Rehman, tweeted that Hasan should be given a medal: "Another young one with heartstopping courage."

Chaudhry Mohammed Sarwar, the governor of the eastern Punjab province, told Pakistan's Dunya news channel that Hasan should be honored.

"He is the hero of the whole nation as he has saved many lives by giving his own life," Sarwar said.

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[Jeff Head]

This kid is a true hero in my book regardless where he came from. My condolences to his parents, family and classmates.

Amen to every bit of that Equation!

Local police official Raheem Khan said Thursday that 17-year-old Aitzaz Hasan died Monday in a remote village in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A teacher at the school told investigators that he saw Hasan chasing the attacker and then saw the attacker detonate the bomb that killed the teen, Khan said.

Pakistani media reported that Hasan was late for school and that's why he was outside when the attacker approached the building.

Yes indeed, an absolute hero who gave his own life to save many other lives...and even had a fore-sense of it, telling his friends that some day he would stop a suicide bomber. When the time came, he did.

 

[Franklin]

Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is dead at the age of 85.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Sharon dead at 85

Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died Saturday after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85.

Sharon died at Sheba Medical Center in the Tel Aviv suburb of Tel Hashomer.

The Israeli statesman was a national war hero to many Israelis for his leadership, both in uniform or as a civilian, during every Israeli war.

Many in the Arab world called Sharon "the Butcher of Beirut" after he oversaw Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon while serving as defense minister.

He was a major figure in many defining events in the Middle East for decades, including his decision to turn over Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control.

Throughout, he was called a "The Bulldozer," a fearless leader who got things done.

The reaction in his own right-wing Likud Party to his order to the military to drag some Israeli settlers from their homes in Gaza led Sharon in November 2005 to form the political party Kadima, Hebrew for "Forward."

He was in his fifth year as prime minister when he suffered a massive stroke in January 2006, which left him comatose.

Ehud Olmert, who became interim prime minister after Sharon's stroke, assumed the role of prime minister after leading the Kadima Party to an election victory in March 2006.

Sharon's career was closely tied to Israel's relationship with Lebanon.

During the Lebanon war in 1982, Sharon, a former army general then serving as Israeli defense minister, was held indirectly responsible by an Israeli inquiry in 1983 for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. He was forced to resign.

Sharon, who lived on a ranch in the Negev Desert, became prime minister on March 7, 2001.

He was the man who encouraged Israelis to establish settlements on occupied Palestinian land, but he also was the leader who pushed for Israel's historic 2005 withdrawal from 25 settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, which was turned over to Palestinian rule for the first time in 38 years.

Sharon formed the centrist Kadima in an effort to build political support for his controversial plan to turn over Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control.

In grappling with the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Sharon said in 2001, "I can talk and look in the eyes of the citizens of Israel and convince them to make painful compromises."

As waves of suicide bombings by militants rocked Israel, Sharon sent tanks and troops into Palestinian towns, ordering assassinations of Palestinian militant leaders.

Sharon ordered construction of the barrier through the West Bank and confined then-Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat, whom he called "a terrorist," to his compound in Ramallah, accusing him of encouraging attacks on Israel.

This veteran of all of Israel's wars was a national hero to many.

In 1953, after a wave of terrorist attacks from Jordan, Sharon the military leader led the infamous Unit 101 on a raid into the border town of Kibya, blowing up 45 houses and killing 69 Arab villagers. Sharon said he thought the houses were empty.

In June 1967, as a general, Sharon led his tank battalion to a crushing victory over the Egyptians in the Sinai during the Six Day War.

But what he considered his greatest military success came in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War. He surrounded Egypt's Third Army and, defying orders, led 200 tanks and 5,000 men over the Suez Canal, a turning point in the war.

As defense minister, Sharon was the architect of Israel's invasion of Lebanon, an occupation meant to stop the Palestine Liberation Organization from using Lebanon as a base for attacks on Israel. The attack was disastrous.

After the Sabra and Shatila massacre, he allowed Israeli families to settle in occupied Palestinian land, the same land Palestinians claimed as a future state.

As a result of the inquiry, however, Sharon was forced to stand down and was banned from ever being defense minister again.

"He felt betrayed by his government," said his adviser, Ranaan Gissin.

Sharon made a political comeback in the 1990s, eventually becoming leader of his party in 2000.

That year, he faced more trouble when he visited the holiest site for Jews, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem -- known to Muslims as Haram al Sharif, "The Noble Sanctuary." The stop sparked violent protests. The incident prompted the second Intifada -- the Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule -- that began in September of that year.

Throughout his career, both in the military and in politics, Sharon was the man Israelis turned to when they thought they had no other choice. Either leading from the front or calling the shots as an elected leader, he was always the soldier. Even in his later years out of uniform, his military demeanor was just below the surface. He never delivered on his promise of peace and security.

Sharon was born on a farm outside Tel Aviv. The son of Russian immigrants, he always remembered a lesson from his father as he ascended to the highest office in Israel.

"When my father saw that I was tired, he would stop for a minute and say, 'Look how much we have done already,'" he once explained.

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[bd popeye]

My condolences go out to the victims of this tragedy..

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KHARTOUM, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least 250 people have drowned as they were travelling on a boat from Malakal, capital of the Upper Nile State in South Sudan, to flee alleged attacks by forces of ex-vice president Riek Machar on the town, Upper Nile State's information minister told Xinhua by phone on Monday.

"The boat drowned with about 255 people on board. Only two children have been rescued," said Upper Nile State's information minister Philip Jiben.

"The boat was carrying those people who tended to flee from Malakal town after incorrect news were circulated that Machar's forces were attacking the town," he added.

He reiterated that the situation in Malakal was calm, refuting media reports that Machar forces attacked Malakal and seized some parts of it.

"No attack was launched against Malakal. The town is completely calm and the life is progressing naturally. There is no any fighting at any part of the town," noted Jiben.

During the past few weeks, South Sudan has witnessed clashes between two military factions, one descending from the Dinka tribe, to which South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit belongs, and the other descending from the Nuer tribe, to which Machar belongs.

The two sides have been negotiating in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa under the patronage of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD). The two sides have failed so far to reach an agreement on ceasefire.

The rebels' leader Machar insists on the release of 11 political and military detainees who have been accused of planning an alleged military coup against South Sudan government, while Juba insists that it would not release them until the investigations with them are over.

The Ethiopian member of the IGAD mediation team Seyoum Mesfin was reported to have said the mediation proposed to Kiir to release the detainees to participate in the negotiation process, provided that they were to be under the custody of the United Nations and the IAGD.

According to Ashrouq news, Mesfin said Kiir has expressed readiness to consider all options to resolve that matter.

 

[solarz]

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The Tampa Bay man fatally shot Monday in front of his terrified wife inside a movie theater over an argument about text messaging told the gunman, "I can't believe I got shot," moments after suffering a fatal shot to the chest, a witness told The Tampa Bay Times.

The dispute began around 1:30 p.m. at a theater in Wesley Chapel when Curtis Reeves Jr., 71, a retired Tampa Bay police officer, told 43-year-old Chad Oulson to stop texting during a showing of "Lone Survivor," Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said. When Oulson refused, Reeves alerted the theater staff, which escalated the confrontation.

At that point Reeves allegedly pulled out a gun in front of about 10 people and shot Oulson, authorities said. Oulson's wife, Nicole, put her hand in front of her husband in an effort to protect him and was injured. Oulson reportedly told the shooter that he was sending text messages to his young daughter.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that Reeves placed his .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol on his thigh and an off-duty sheriff’s deputy secured the weapon and made sure Reeves stayed put.

Reeves is due in court Tuesday after he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

According to the arrest report, Reeves claims that the victim struck him in the face with an unknown object and said that he was in fear of being attacked.

"Somebody throws popcorn. I'm not sure who threw the popcorn," said Charles Cummings, who, as a birthday treat, was about to watch the movie "Lone Survivor" at The Grove 16 Theater. "And then bang, he was shot."

Cummings and his son Alex -- who both had blood on their clothes as they walked out of the theater -- told a group of reporters Monday afternoon that the show was still in previews when the two couples started arguing.

Cummings said the men started raising their voices and popcorn was thrown. Authorities said Reeves took out a gun, and Oulson’s wife put her hand over her husband, and that’s when Reeves fired his weapon, striking Nicole Oulson in the hand and her husband in the chest.

"I can’t believe people would bring a pistol, a gun, to a movie," Cummings said. "I can’t believe they would argue and fight and shoot one another over popcorn. Over a cellphone."

Cummings, who said he was a combat Marine in Vietnam, said Oulson fell onto him and his son.

"Blood started coming out of his mouth," said Alex Cummings. "It was just a very bad scene."

I can't believe this! What's wrong with people?? And the shooter was a retired police officer no less! The victim has a young daughter, I can't imagine what that family must be going through now. All this because the guy was texting! This is ridiculous! What the hell is wrong with some people???

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

This is the headline that has Grail Conspiracy buffs, Medieval fans and Hollywood movie makers all double taking, picking fights and taking notes.

Mexico protects wounded leader of citizen militia trying to fight off cartels

By Joshua Partlow,
MEXICO CITY — Fifty federal police officers armed with black assault rifles guard the gates of an exclusive private hospital in this cosmopolitan capital.

They are patrolling the polished stone lobby, standing sentry under palm trees, surveilling the Starbucks. Private security guards and local police man the doors, driveways and elevators.


“We are all here for him,” one federal police officer said.

That would be for José Manuel Mireles, a wiry, mustachioed surgeon who once worked for the Red Cross in California and who is now Mexico’s most famous militia leader. Mireles arrived at the hospital this week as a patient, after his small airplane crashed in his home state of Michoacan, where he is leading a growing civilian rebellion against the drug cartel known as the Knights Templar.

The massive security presence at the Medica Sur hospital speaks to both the newfound fame and the national importance of Mireles, but also to the tricky position in which Mexico’s government finds itself with regard to the rebel movement. Since the spring, when Mireles banded together with local residents, officials in President Enrique Peña Nieto’s government have described the citizen fighters as operating outside the law. But in recent months, as more towns have joined in, Mireles’s stature has only grown.

“Yes, we are protecting him,” Interior Minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong said this week. “Because he is a person who has wounded the cartels, particularly the Templars.”

Osorio Chong told reporters there was no sign of foul play when Mireles’s airplane went down Saturday as he was traveling from Guadalajara to his home town of Tepalcatepec. One of the five passengers onboard was killed, and 55-year-old Mireles suffered head injuries and a dislocated jaw. Osorio Chong blamed the crash on pilot error, and other senior officials said there are no plans to arrest Mireles.

If Mireles returns to lead his movement, which has spread to about 20 towns in Michoacan, his survival will undoubtedly burnish his growing legend. The doctor, who used to live in Sacramento and often carries a hand-held radio in his white hospital jacket, has said he rallied villagers against the Knights Templar to stop rampant extortion by cartel members as well as a wave of abductions and rapes of women and girls. Peña Nieto dispatched thousands of soldiers to Michoacan last year, but residents say the citizen militias have had far more success.

“We do the work of the government, and we are willing to die fighting,” Mireles has said.

In Internet videos, a leader of the Knights Templar, Servando Gómez Martínez, a.k.a. “La Tuta,” has accused the civilian militias of being proxy fighters for a rival drug gang, New Generation, which operates across the state line in Jalisco.



Managing the volatile and confusing mix of gunmen in Michoacan has become one of the most vexing problems for Mexico’s government. Because Mireles and his vigilantes consider local officials inextricably linked to the drug mafias, siding with the militiamen puts the federal government at odds with its own local administrations.

Over the weekend, militiamen seized a government building in the town of Paracuaro and refused to release 11 local policemen they took prisoner. That prompted roadblocks by masked people denouncing the militia takeover — protesters who the militiamen said were working at the behest of the cartels. Para*cuaro’s mayor called for the federal government to release the police.

Elsewhere in Michoacan, local policemen have been arrested on charges of collaborating in the killings of dozens of people whose bodies were found in a mass grave in the town of La Barca in November.

Authorities have kept Mireles and his relatives out of the public spotlight while he recovers. But the heavy police presence worries some hospital officials, who fear that it could prove disruptive.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said one hospital clerk as the federal police officers patrolled the lobby

The original Knights Templar were a group of religious warrior Monks who were formed to protect pilgrims making the journey from Europe to the holy land. They and there Brethren the Nights Hospitar were considered elites. They were respected for there fighting prowess. Although the Templars were a order with a vow of personal poverty. They were Bankers. Who established the first banking services and the idea of the Check. They also loaned funds and became quite powerful in Europe as land owners. Until the French King fearing the loans he owed them and coveting there properties denounced them as heretics.

 

[Jeff Head]

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I can't believe this! What's wrong with people?? And the shooter was a retired police officer no less! The victim has a young daughter, I can't imagine what that family must be going through now. All this because the guy was texting! This is ridiculous! What the hell is wrong with some people???

Sickening. A 71 year old retired police officer pulls out a gun and shoots a man becasue he wanted him to stop texting during previews and the man would not?

Disgusting. The 71 yer old man should spend the rest of his life in prison. But that will not bring this man back who was killed as he texted his own daughter during previews. Apparently the man's wife tried to protect him with her hand...but a hand will not stop a .380 caliber bullte and it hit him in the chest anyway. I suppose there may have been a chance it would deflect off a bone...and good on her for trying. I cannot even imagine the scene as the man said he could not believe he had been shot...as he lay dying. Who can blame him for asking that?

Apparently some popcorn got thrown and this set the older man off so he pulled out his gun and shot the other man. Really? Over this?

 

[SampanViking]

Apparently the row between India and the US lately has to do with business and trades.

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Former Ambassador Bhadrakumar has written on this matter today and you can only regard his take as compelling.

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What happened in the US-Indian diplomatic row over the arrest and detention of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York and her return to Delhi last week is fairly straightforward: the US intelligence made a concerted attempt to “recruit” an Indian career diplomat, and Delhi successfully thwarted it.

 

[Air Force Brat]

Former Ambassador Bhadrakumar has written on this matter today and you can only regard his take as compelling.

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Sampan, I realize that some anti-US sentiment may be fostered by the "dictatorial tone" of this present administration, and yes I realize they are heavy handed, and light on real experience, and frankly their "transparent" foreign policy is not very "intelligent". We remain however a nation that continues to practice the rule of law, to take the issue of "abusing the help", and trying to get something of value for very little, our labor laws are there to stop this kind of "exploitation". It is shameful, to make this about something other than what it has been shown to be, is simply "dishonest". While I don't presume to know all the details, and the way it was handled was SOP for this outfit and degrading, I am rather certain it was not an attempt to "recruit" intelligence "assets"!!! face palm!

 

[kwaigonegin]

Sickening. A 71 year old retired police officer pulls out a gun and shoots a man becasue he wanted him to stop texting during previews and the man would not?

Disgusting. The 71 yer old man should spend the rest of his life in prison. But that will not bring this man back who was killed as he texted his own daughter during previews. Apparently the man's wife tried to protect him with her hand...but a hand will not stop a .380 caliber bullte and it hit him in the chest anyway. I suppose there may have been a chance it would deflect off a bone...and good on her for trying. I cannot even imagine the scene as the man said he could not believe he had been shot...as he lay dying. Who can blame him for asking that?

Apparently some popcorn got thrown and this set the older man off so he pulled out his gun and shot the other man. Really? Over this?

Older guy is a retired cop with a CCW. He was SUPPOSED to be one of the good guys with guns!! WTH happened? he probably snapped or had a really really bad day prior to that unfortunate event! Why would anyone even bring a gun to a movie theater? Not sure about some of you folks but even after what happened in Aurora I still don't intend on carrying into a place like that!

If I ever come to a point in my life where I can easily snap, blow up and not 100% calm and sane I hope someone destroys all my firearms!