Two Palestinians shot dead after stabbing two Israelis in West Bank: police

Two Palestinians were shot dead after stabbing two Israeli women on Monday in the West Bank, police said, in an emerging pattern of assaults inside Jewish settlements in the occupied territory.

One of the women was in critical condition and the other sustained moderate wounds after the attack in Beit Horon, a settlement on a highway that links Jerusalem and coastal Tel Aviv and cuts through the foothills of the West Bank.

"The two terrorists were killed by security forces," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that two explosive devices were found at the scene.

It was the latest incident in an almost four-month long surge of violence that has raised concern of wider escalation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided. It followed three stabbings last week inside settlements carried out by Palestinian teenagers, according to Israeli authorities.

Many of the attacks on Israelis at the start of the bloodshed occurred in Jerusalem and other cities. But much of the violence has shifted to the West Bank, where settlers live adjacent to Palestinian population centers.

On Saturday, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, who according to an Israeli policewoman "had fought with her family and left home with a knife and intended to die", tried to stab a security guard at a West Bank settlement and was then shot dead by him.

Since the start of October, Israeli forces have killed at least 151 Palestinians, 97 of them assailants according to authorities. Most the others have died in violent protests. Almost daily stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians have killed 25 Israelis and a U.S. citizen.

Many of the Palestinian assailants have been teenagers. The identities and ages of the alleged attackers on Monday were not immediately released.

On Jan. 17, an Israeli mother of six was stabbed to death at her home in a West Bank settlement and a 15-year-old Palestinian was arrested for the attack. A day later, Israeli troops shot and wounded a 17-year-old Palestinian who had stabbed and wounded a pregnant Israeli woman in a settlement.

The bloodshed has been fueled by various factors including frustration over the 2014 collapse of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the growth of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians seek for an independent state.

Palestinian leaders have said that with no breakthrough on the horizon, desperate youngsters see no future ahead. Israel says young Palestinians are being incited to violence by their leaders and Islamist groups that call for Israel's destruction.

Heller, Jeffrey. "Two Palestinians shot dead after stabbing two Israelis in West Bank: police." 25 Jan. 2016. Reuters. 25 Jan. 2016. <http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKCN0V325A>.

Response:

The article is about the recent attacks between Palestinians and Israelis, particularly in the areas of the West Bank where the tension between the two groups rose. The article informs that the majority of the Palestinian attacks are done by teenagers that kill out of hopelessness of the future. The author of this article isn't biased in the sense that it presents both of the numbers of the injured or the killed form both sides, but it is a little biased in that it presents more of the cases where Palestinian teenagers killed Israeli people more than the occasions where the Israelis killed Palestinians even though there were more Palestinians dead than the Israelis. The article also seems to support the idea that Palestinian teenagers are turning violent due to the Islamist who "call for Israel's destruction." The article is very ironic because it shows the current and ongoing issues in West Bank where people who live next to each other turn around and kill one another. Although many countries have sought out to solve this issue but have never completely succeeded in doing so. Measures of security between the two people groups seems to be essential at this point when even average people from both sides try to kill one another.  

Somalia received Saudi aid the day it cut ties with Iran, reveals new document

Somalia received a pledge of aid for $50 million from Saudi Arabia in January on the same day it announced it was cutting ties with Saudi rival Iran, a document seen by Reuters showed.

The government, which did not confirm or deny the pledge, has said there was no link between long-running Saudi financial support and its diplomatic decision to break ties with Iran. The Saudi Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

But diplomats said it was the latest sign of patronage used by the kingdom to shore up regional support against Iran, a rivalry that deepened in earlier in January when Sunni majority Saudi Arabia executed a Shi'ite cleric and Iranian protesters responded by torching the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

"The Saudis currently manage to rally countries behind them both on financial grounds and the argument of non-interference," a diplomat said, referring to what Sunni-majority countries see as Iran's habit of cultivating ties to their Shi'ite minorities. A document from the Saudi embassy in Nairobi to the Somali embassy in the Kenyan capital showed the kingdom pledging $20 million in budget support and another $30 million for investment in Somalia, a nation trying to rebuild after two decades of war.

The two grants would come from the Saudi Development Fund, according to the document that was dated January 7, the same day Somalia cut ties with Tehran. Somalia cut relations with Iran saying Tehran had meddled in Somali affairs and threatened national security. Mogadishu gave Iranian diplomats, among the few stationed in the Somali capital where bomb attacks are frequent, 72 hours to leave.

Somalia's Finance Minister Mohamed Aden Ibrahim declined to comment on the pledges, but said any financial assistance from Saudi Arabia was not related to Mogadishu's stance against Iran. "Our relationship with Saudi Arabia was long-standing and is not something that has just started," said the minister.

Several other Arab states such as neighboring Bahrain, a long-time close ally and recipient of Saudi largesse also cut ties. Other wealthier Gulf states withdrew envoys. Sudan, which like Somalia and Saudi Arabia is a member of the Arab League, said it had cut ties with non-Arab Iran.

Somalia's ties with Saudi Arabia have grown as it tries to rebuild a nation while battling an Islamist insurgency, although Western powers and Turkey remain among the biggest and more prominent donors to the country.

Somalia's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, met King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud in Saudi Arabia in October. A Saudi team had visited Somalia in late 2015 to discuss further Saudi support for the country. "Any financial and other requests that we made to the Saudis were way before" Somali cut ties with Iran, said Foreign Minister Abdusalam Omer.

NA. "Somalia received Saudi aid the day it cut ties with Iran, reveals new document." 18 Jan. 2016. dna. 18 Jan. 2016. <http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-somalia-received-saudi-aid-the-day-it-cut-ties-with-iran-reveals-new-document-2167167>.

Response:

The article presents information about the recent political issues going in the middle east. The article presents the ironic relation that as soon as Somalia cut its political ties with Iran, it began to receive aid from Saudi, the rival country of Iran.  The author of the article does not seem to be biased for or against one specific country. The political affairs of many middle eastern countries seem to be taking sides between Iran and Somalia with Saudi, Sudan, and Bahrain cutting their ties to Iran. The Saudi government does not directly deny the fact that they received aid from Saudi but rather says that their cutting ties with Iran is not related to their need for financial support from Saudi. With countries choosing which sides they will support, it seems that the long going conflict in the middle east may have a chance of being solved and united.

Woodford stabbing: Teenager knifed to death 'in row over tracksuit'

The family of a teenager stabbed to death in a trivial row at a 16th birthday party today urged young Londoners to see his killing as a lesson in the “destruction” caused by knife crime.

Charles Kutyauripo, 16, died after being stabbed in the heart outside a social club in Woodford, east London on Saturday in what was reported to be a argument over a tracksuit.

Today his mother Matilda, 46, a nurse, paid tribute to a “helpful, caring and loving” son who had once dreamed of becoming a doctor. 

She spoke of her “heartbreak” at not being able to say goodbye after missing a call from him on her mobile phone moments before his death.

Charles - a pupil at King Solomon High school, in Barkingside - was ambushed and stabbed at least five times outside the birthday party at Ashton Playing Fields off Chigwell Road at around 9.40pm on Saturday.

The teenager had apparently gone outside to confront a boy in a petty row over a borrowed tracksuit when he was ambushed by four youths.

He was stabbed at least five times. Witnesses reported hearing the males “laughing” as they ran away.

He is the first teenage victim of knife crime in London this year. There were 15 teen deaths involving knifes in 2015.

His mother today told how her son moved to London to join her in 2009 from their native Zimbabwe and looked forward to a bright future.

She told the Standard: “When he came here it was his dream to become a doctor. He was so happy and excited to come and join the family here for a bright future. 

“He was a mummy’s boy and a very nice boy, always smiling and such a good person. He was such a helpful, loving and caring person.

“He was a churchgoer and tried so hard at school.  It is really shocking to us. It is not something we were expecting, and even the day it happened we didn’t even know he was going out. 

“He called me when I was at work, around the time this was going on, but I couldn’t pick up the phone and so I rang him back later and he didn’t answer.

“I’m just so heartbroken he has gone like this without being able to say goodbye.”

His father, an engineer, was too distraught to speak.

His devastated auntie, Hildgard Makadho, 47, said: ““Whatever has happened, we don’t want to see people trying to get ‘revenge’.

"We don’t want people to carry knives. This should be a lesson to all the children out there, they should realise the destruction knife crime can cause.”

A 16-year-old friend told the Standard: “He was stabbed in his heart and again above his breast. We tried to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on the wounds.”

Another friend said the teenager had lent another boy his tracksuit but had not got it back.  

Charles, known as Tugzini, was rushed to Whipps Cross University Hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at around 10.45pm.

Forensic officers recovered two knives from the scene and the playing fields remained behind a cordon last night.

Detective Chief Inspector Ken Hughes, who is leading the murder inquiry, said: “There were around 100 young people at this party and we are appealing for anyone with information or any witnesses to come forward as soon as possible.”

There have been no arrests.

Churchill, David. Morgan, Ben. Davenport, Justin. "Woodford stabbing: Teenager knifed to death 'in row over tracksuit'." 12 Jan. 2016. Evening Standard. 12 Jan. 2016. <http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/woodford-stabbing-teenager-knifed-to-death-in-row-over-tracksuit-a3153261.html>.

Response: This article presents the information where a 16 year old teenage boy has been stabbed to death by unknown teenage boys. The article emphasized the need for realizing the critical situation and the disaster that careless uses of knifes could bring to someone's life. The author of the article presents a one-sided information in that the suspects have not been found or arrested. I think that whatever the reason for the murder was, those who committed the crime of taking someone else's life should take responsibility and face the heavy consequences of carelessly taking away someone's chance of living their life to the fullest. Although convicting the criminals cannot take away the victim's families grieve, I think it will at least prevent similar cases in the future. 

Earthquake kills at least 10, injures hundreds in India and Bangladesh

NEW DELHI — A 6.7-magnitude earthquake left at least seven people dead, scores injured, and houses and buildings flattened in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur early Monday.

The quake occurred about 18 miles west of Imphal, the state capital, around 4:35 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Strong tremors were felt in China’s Tibet region, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Burma. Three people were reported dead in Bangladesh.

Manipur’s chief minister, Okram Ibobi Singh, told reporters on Monday that the state was assessing the damage. Two teams from India’s National Disaster Response Force have been deployed to the area, he said. Another tremor, magnitude 3.6, was felt about five hours later.

The deputy commissioner of the Imphal West area, Ningthoujam Geoffrey, said three people died in his jurisdiction and 45 suffered injuries. Sixty houses and other buildings were damaged, Geoffrey said.

Imphal resident R.K. Wangsana, 25, said he was awakened Monday by the sounds of his mother’s screams and a wall crumbling over him. After the shaking stopped, he said, he clawed his way out of the wreckage.

“I saw a little hole near me and I started pushing. It made some space in the rubble, and slowly I crawled out,” he said.

He then rescued his injured mother and sister.

“Now we are out under the sky,” Wangsana said. “I don’t have any place to go. My home is gone, and I am clueless what I am going to do next.”

A major bridge and the newly built Central Agricultural University were damaged, and bricks tumbled from the building that houses a historic women’s market, Ima Keithel.

Leika Yumnam, who works with a local social service organization, said she was jolted from her sleep by the tremors. Frightened, she ran to check on her parents as furniture tumbled. Fortunately, they had already left the home to attend their morning yoga class, she said.

One Imphal resident, Ram Wangkheirakpam, said he thought “death and destruction was imminent” when the quake struck.

The tremor was the deadliest in India since the Nepal earthquakes in Apriland May, which killed more than 8,000 people, including more than 100 in India’s border states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The collision of two of Earth’s tectonic plates — the Indian plate and the much larger Eurasian plate — has made the Himalayan region one of the most threatened places in the world for seismic activity.

Gowen, Annie. "Earthquake kills at least 10, injuries hundreds in India and Bangladesh." 4 Jan. 2016. The Washington Post. 4 Jan. 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/earthquake-in-india-kills-at-least-8-injures-hundreds-and-flattens-buildings/2016/01/04/1e73d7eb-5fa0-4694-8d3c-f5c2e9911cd9_story.html >

RESPONSE: The article presents information from the current earthquake that took place in the Asian continent. The earthquake was rated 6.7 and killed at least 10 and more than 100 people injured as reported in the article above. It seems that the earthquake was totally unexpected like most natural disasters are. The author presents information without any bias in any particular side. The question for places that have been affected by the earthquake (Tibet, Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh, and New Delhi) is what actions they are going to take next for the hundreds of people that have lost their houses and work places. The most reasonable response for the government would be to provide them with shelters and a way of getting their properties back if the government is capable of doing so.