All Purpose Politics and News Thread

[Natalka]

Taliban Peshawar school massacre

The Pakistani city of Peshawar has begun burying its dead after a Taliban attack at a school killed at least 132 children and nine staff.

According to the army, Tuesday's attack was carried out by seven Taliban attackers, all wearing bomb vests.
They cut through a wire fence to enter the school from the rear and attacked an auditorium where children were taking an exam.
Gunmen then went from classroom to classroom at the military-run school, shooting pupils and teachers where they found them, survivors say.

The siege at Peshawar's Army Public School, which teaches boys and girls from both military and civilian backgrounds, lasted eight hours.

In line with the Islamic custom, mourners began burying victims as darkness fell.

more info and pics

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30507836

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his condolences to the families of the victims. It’s hard enough to understand the motives that underlie a terrorist attack, he said, but even more so when the targets are innocent children.

“It’s hard for any of us, as rational and compassionate people, to understand terrorism — to understand why people would want, in the name of some political cause, to simply terrorize, hurt kill innocent people, whole sections of society,” Harper told a news conference in Quebec City.
“But I think it is beyond our comprehension why somebody would target children. As a father, your heart just breaks when you see that kind of thing.”

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/i...alia-pakistan/

[Natalka]

Sydney siege

Tearful Australians laid mounds of flowers at the site where two of 17 hostages were killed Tuesday when police swooped into a café to rescue them from a gunman — an Iranian-born self-styled cleric described by the prime minister as a deeply disturbed person carrying out a "sick fantasy."
The 16-hour siege that ended in a barrage of gunfire early Tuesday left the gunman, 50-year-old Man Haron Monis, dead.

Authorities have not said whether the two slain hostages — Katrina Dawson, a Sydney lawyer and mother of three children, and Tori Johnson, the manager of the café — were caught in crossfire, or shot by their captor.

Monis was convicted and sentenced last year to 300 hours of community service for sending what a judge called "grossly offensive" letters to families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.
He later was charged with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife. Earlier this year, he was charged with the sexual assault of a woman in 2002. He had been out on bail on the charges.

Four people were injured, including three women who were hospitalized in stable condition after being treated for gunshot wounds, and a police officer released from the hospital after being treated for shotgun pellet wounds, said Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/sydney-...nson-1.2874424

[Patty Smyth]

Julian Fantino, gone.

Time to start putting out the trash. Yup, it's an election year.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/juli...ster-1.2889977

Good news is it can only go up from here.

[Darth Penguin]

NAACP bombing deliberate: FBI

The device was detonated against the exterior wall of the NAACP building on South El Paso Street on Tuesday morning. No one was injured, said Amy Sanders, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Denver.
A gasoline can had been placed near the device but did not ignite during the explosion, Sanders said.


On Wednesday, Sanders said she could not comment on the contents of the device, but said the FBI was exploring a wide range of motives, including the possibility that the NAACP building was not the target of the attack.
"It has also not yet been determined if the motive was a hate crime, domestic terrorism, a personal act of violence against a specific individual, or other motive as there are numerous individuals and entities tied to the building in the vicinity of the explosion," Sanders said in an email to The Times.
The sidewalk and the NAACP headquarters building, which also houses a barbershop, suffered minor damage, she said.
The FBI and the Colorado Springs Police Department were investigating. A man described as being about 40 is a person of interest in the investigation. He may be driving a 2000 or older dirty white pickup truck with paneling, a dark-colored bed liner, an open tailgate and a missing or covered license plate.

[Natalka]

Sergeant-at-Arms Vickers named Canada’s ambassador to Ireland



The man hailed as a hero for stopping an attack on Parliament Hill has been named Canadian ambassador to Ireland.

But in characteristic fashion, Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers remains humble about the appointment.

The 58-year-old is credited with killing a man who’d stormed into Centre Block in October after killing a soldier at the National War Memorial.

In a statement, he said he is sad to leave his colleagues and friends on Parliament Hill.

“As a Canadian with family on both sides hailing from Ireland, there could be no greater honour,” he said of his appointment.
“I am humbled by the invitation to serve my country in this way.”

Vickers is an Irish-Canadian from New Brunswick who had a lengthy career in the RCMP before joining the House of Commons security staff in 2005 and becoming sergeant-at-arms in 2006.

“Kevin Vickers has shown profound leadership and dedication to the security of Canada and its national institutions,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement making the announcement Thursday.

“His extensive experience working with Parliament, as well as his bravery and integrity, will serve to deepen close bilateral relations between Canada and Ireland in the years ahead.”

In his statement, Vickers thanked Canadians for the support they have given him.
“You have my word that I will do my best to represent you in Ireland with pride and dignity.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle22360054/

(I think this is awesome and well-deserved!)

[Natalka]

Russian terrorists kill 12 on bus in Ukraine

12 people were killed by terrorists in ‪#‎Volnovakha‬ with the help of BM-21 Grad (a truck with a multiple rocket launcher). Stand shoulder by shoulder with ‪#‎Ukrainians‬ who have been suffering from the pro-russian terrorism for months like Ukrainians stood with the French after the slaughter of the Charlie Hebdo journalists.
‪#‎JeSuisVolnovakha

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv...os-377304.html

[Patty Smyth]

5 year old kills 9 month old

http://www.cjad.com/cjad-news/2015/01/20/5yearold-missouri-boy-accidentally-shoots-and-kills-9monthold-brother?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

[Natalka]

^ That is just nuts. Put those parents away...

[Patty Smyth]

^ That is just nuts. Put those parents away...

Incredibly sad, don't know what to say anymore about these shootings.

[Natalka]

Russian military planes 'disrupted UK aviation'

30 January

Russian military planes flying near UK airspace caused "disruption to civil aviation" on Wednesday, the Foreign Office has said.

It said the two Russian planes did not enter UK airspace, but the manoeuvres were "part of an increasing pattern of out-of-area operations" by Russia.

The planes were "escorted" by RAF jets "throughout the time they were in the UK area of interest", officials added.

Russia's ambassador said the patrols were "routine" and dismissed concerns.

Typhoon fighters were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby to escort the Russian aircraft, and the RAF said the mission lasted 12 hours.

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the Russian planes - two Tu-95 Bear H bombers - came within 25 miles of the UK.

They travelled from the north, past the west coast of Ireland and to the English Channel before turning and going back the way they had come, he said.

He said the bombers did not file a flight plan, did not have their transponders switched on and "weren't talking to air traffic control"

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31049952

[Patty Smyth]

Shootings in Copenhagen

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31472423

Guess who again

[Darth Penguin]

Canadian Police foiled shooting plot in Halifax

Canadian police say they have foiled a plot to carry out a mass shooting in the Halifax area on Saturday.
Three suspects were arrested and a fourth reportedly shot himself dead after police surrounded his home.
At least two suspects had intended "to go to a public venue... with a goal of opening fire to kill citizens, and then themselves", police said.
Justice Minister Peter MacKay described those involved as "a group of murderous misfits".
"Based on what we know so far, it would have been devastating, mass casualties would have been a real possibility," he said.
"The attack does not appear to have been culturally motivated, therefore not linked to terrorism."
Brian Brennan, commanding officer of the Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the plot had involved a 19-year-old man from the Halifax suburb of Timberlea and a 23-year-old woman from the US state of Illinois.

[Darth Penguin]

Injuries in Copenhagen synagogue shooting

Several people have been injured after shots were fired near a synagogue in Copenhagen, Danish police say. One person was reportedly hit in the head, and two police officers had arm and leg injuries. The attacker is believed to have fled.
It is not clear whether the shooting is connected to an earlier attack on a cafe in the city.
There, a gunman killed one person and injured three at a free speech debate attended by a Swedish cartoonist.
Cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has faced death threats over his caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, was unhurt.
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt described that attack as a "politically motivated" act of terrorism.
Police launched a massive manhunt after the first shooting.
They released photographs showing the alleged attacker apparently wearing a purple balaclava and thick puffer jacket.

[Natalka]

Re: Halifax - yay to Crimestoppers and whoever phoned in the tip.

[gryphon]

The whole world has gone nuts