From CNN

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday outside a large gathering of her supporters where a suicide bomber also killed at least 14, doctors and a spokesman for her party said.

President Pervez Musharraf held an emergency meeting in the hours after the death, according to state media.

Police warned citizens to stay home as they expected rioting to break out in city streets in reaction to the death.

Police sources told CNN the bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, blew himself up near Bhutto’s vehicle

While Bhutto appeared to have died from bullet wounds, it was not immediately clear if she was shot or if her wounds were caused by bomb shrapnel.

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With her death, confusion is sure to ensue and will bring Pakistan in a worse situation.

Technorati Tags: Benazir Bhutto

Vladimir Putin’s mission is not to win over the West. It is to restore to Russians a sense of their nation’s greatness, something they have not known for years. This is not idle dreaming. When historians talk about Putin’s place in Russian history, they draw parallels with Stalin or the Tsars. Putin, one can’t stress enough, is not a Stalin. There are no mass purges in Russia today, no broad climate of terror. But Putin is reconstituting a strong state, and anyone who stands in his way will pay for it. “Putin has returned to the mechanism of one-man rule,” says Talbott of the Brookings Institution. “Yet it’s a new kind of state, with elements that are contemporary and elements from the past.”

Runners up for the TIME’s 2007 Person of the Year include Al Gore, nobel laureate and famous for addressing the global warming issue; J.K. Rowling, the author of the best-selling 7-part Harry Potter books; Hu Jintao, China’s leader depending on both ancient wisdom and communist doctrine; and David Petraeus, the commanding general in Iraq.

I am now watching the live coverage in the ANC channel and right now, the bomb squad and canine units are scouring Glorietta mall to make sure that there are no explosive remnants left behind. They have a large area to cover. Imagine 6 million square feet. There is no official report that it was due to a bomb that might have caused it.

The Glorietta is closed and there is no word when the mall will reopen.

3:30 PM
Deputy Director Gen Geary Barias declares red alert in Manila to give a sense of security in Metro Manila. According to him, the damage is extensive. There are now 5 dead .

- Confirmed explosion originated in the lobby of Glorietta 2.

- The wounded were brought to Makati Medical Hospital

October 20 update

9 people were killed by the blast now. read more here

and here is an amateur video after the blast

NICKEL MINES, Pennsylvania A dairy truck driver, apparently nursing a 20-year-old grudge, walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse here Monday morning and systematically tried to execute the girls there, killing four and wounding seven before killing himself, the police said.

The heavily armed gunman first ordered the 15 boys in the room to leave, along with several adults, and demanded that the 11 girls line up facing the blackboard. As the gunman lashed the students’ legs together with wire and plastic ties, the teacher dashed from the room and called the police around 10:35 a.m.

The gunman, identified as Charles Roberts, 32, killed himself as the police stormed the West Nickel Mines Amish School, which is set back in a cornfield on a street of stone houses, barns and silos in Lancaster County, about 50 miles west of Philadelphia. Several of the wounded were in critical condition in area hospitals.

“He wanted to find female victims,” said Colonel Jeffrey Miller, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police. “This was a target of opportunity.”

Source: International Herald Tribune

Just goes to show that “bullying” or some “childhood trauma” can be buried in one’s mind. This is a resentment that turned to revenge. Why oh why didn’t he talk to someone? Teachers need to pay attention to their students..those that are sensitive to class bullies. My heart goes out to these innocent children who are peaceful by nature.

The 44-year-old Steve Irwin’s heart was pierced by the serrated, poisonous spine of a stingray as he swam with the creature Monday while shooting a new TV show on the Great Barrier Reef, his manager and producer John Stainton said.

Marine experts called the death a freak accident. They said rays reflexively deploy a sharp spine in their tails when frightened, but the venom coating the barb usually just causes a very painful sting for humans.

Mate tells of Irwin’s last moments

A LIFE-long friend of Steve Irwin today told how the Crocodile Hunter pulled a deadly stingray barb from his own chest before losing consciousness and dying.

Friend John Stainton said he had viewed footage of his friend’s last moments and the images were “shocking”.

“It’s a very hard thing to watch because you’re actually witnessing somebody die … and it’s terrible,” he said.

“It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he’s gone.

“That was it. The cameraman had to shut down.”

Irwin, 44, was filming a television program on the Great Barrier Reef off far north Queensland when the drama unfolded yesterday.

Mr Stainton said Irwin’s wife, Terri, who rushed to Queensland from a holiday in Tasmania after being told of the tragedy, was putting on a brave face for the sake of her children.

“I think she’s being very strong,” he said in Cairns, where Irwin’s body has been taken.

“I think for the children’s sake she has to be strong because they’re at a very impressionable age, as you know.

“Bindi’s eight and little Robert’s coming up to three, so he may not totally understand, but Bindi certainly does.

“She’s very mindful of how she has to control her emotions to get the kids through it.”

The loss of an Australian icon has made headlines around the world and sparked tributes from all walks of life, with NEWS.com.au readers among the many keen to pass on their condolences.

Irwin was killed while shooting footage for a new show he was doing with Bindi.

Terri would have the final say on whether film from the project was made public, the head of the US TV company that broadcasts his show said today.

Film of the death has already been handed to Queensland police preparing a report for the Coroner.

Billy Campbell, the president of Discovery Networks, which owns the Animal Planet channel, said talks on the footage would take place with Terri at a suitable time.

“It’s still too early,” Mr Campbell said. “We’ll have to take a look at it.”

Mr Campbell, who will fly to Australia for Irwin’s funeral, said he would also ask Terri whether she would like Bindi’s show to go ahead.

“In terms of the Bindi show, a lot of that will depend on the conversations I have with Terri in a couple of days,” he said.

“I want to give her a few days to mourn and think through things. “We’ll talk about that in due time.

“Should they want to move forward, then definitely we will move forward.”

Irwin was killed almost instantly when the stingray stabbed him in the heart with its poisonous 20cm barb as he snorkelled off Port Douglas.

He was pulled from the water by a cameraman and a crewman, put on an inflatable tender and taken to a support boat about 500m away.

Crewmembers said he was barely conscious in the minutes after the sting, but died as his production team rushed him to his vessel, Croc One, and to a nearby island for emergency treatment.

A charter dive boat crew desperately tried to revive him on the beach, but were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards by Queensland Rescue Service officers, who had flown to the area by helicopter.

Irwin’s body was last night flown to Cairns where a post-mortem confirmed the cause of death.

“We’re not going into the detail but there’s definitely no surprises. Everyone knows how he died,” a police spokeswoman said.

One of Irwin’s contemporaries, internationally known cameraman and spearfisherman Ben Cropp, was in his own boat off Port Douglas when Irwin was killed.

Mr Cropp said the stingray was spooked and went into defensive mood.

“It probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked.

“It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike.

“Steve unfortunately was in a bad position and copped it.

“I have had that happen to me, and I can visualise it - when a ray goes into defensive, you get out of the way.

“Steve was so close he could not get away, so if you can imagine it - being right beside the ray and it swinging its spine upwards from underneath Steve - and it hit him.

“I have seen that sort of reaction with rays - with their tail breaking the water, such is the force.”

Surf Lifesavers national marine stinger adviser Lisa-Ann Gershwin said there had only been 17 fatal stingray attacks worldwide. “I think it’s just an extraordinary freak accident that has happened to his heart,” she said.

“A lot of people will be afraid by this, but they need to keep in mind that this was a freak accident, it was a terrible tragedy but it is not common.”

Dr Gershwin said stingray stings to the legs or arms were common and, while painful, were not normally considered dangerous. She said there were many different types of stingrays, with barbs on their tails up to 30cm long, and they poisoned victims with a range of toxins.

With AAP and The Australian

Our condolences to the family of Steve Irwin. Sudden death can be very traumatic but with the love and support of friends and strangers around the world, Steve’s family will be able to hurdle their grief journey. Steve Irwin’s death shocked the world.

Vienna- A young woman escaped to freedom Wednesday afternoon after eight years’ captivity in Austria’s most sensational post-war kidnapping case, said initial police reports. The report said Natascha Kampusch, who disappeared without trace aged ten on March 2, 1998, had been held captive in a cellar within 30 kilometres of Vienna.

Natascha’s disappearance happened at a time when Europe was preoccupied by the notorious Belgian Dutroux case of child abduction and murder.

In 1998 she vanished on her way to school in Vienna. A nationwide search was immediately launched. Hundreds of police scoured the whole of eastern Austria. Helicopters were brought in, and rivers dragged. No trace of her was ever found.

On Wednesday afternoon a young woman suddenly appeared at Deutsch Wagram in eastern Austria. First reports said she was thrown out, or had jumped out, of a car. Austrian ORF television reported she had been seen “staggering around” in a garden.

The woman told police her name was Natascha Kampusch. Comparative DNA tests were immediately started. A nationwide search was launched for the driver of the car. Natascha’s parents were called in to possibly identify their daughter.

continue reading

Other sources : CNN-Kidnap girl: Family never gave up

“This is for all the Filipinos who always watch me fight and support me,” Pacquiao said in Filipino after yesterday’s noontime bout at the Big Dome.

Egged on by the crowd that had shelled out their hard-earned money to purchase pricey tickets to watch him live, the General Santos native knocked Larios down midway in the seventh round with a solid right to the jaw and then floored the challenger again 45 seconds before the final bell with a combination set up by a crisp left jab.

There’s more to the Manny Pacquiao’s coverage. Read the Manny Pacquiao’s files where a blow by blow account is given on his every move. He’s like a hero to the Filipinos. I hope he sets a good example as a father, husband and family man.

The sum of the letters in the word SUPERSTITIOUS is 666.

More weird coincidences of 666

And today, the Movie, The Omen is showing.

The prophecy is clear, the signs unmistakable: Armageddon is upon us. On 6 / 6 / 06, the omen is revealed…and our darkest fears are realized. THE OMEN, a contemporary thriller based on the 1976 classic film, centers around a young boy named Damien, the son of an American diplomat and his wife. Damien’s family is unaware he is destined to become the Anti-Christ – until shattering events reveal the terrifying truth.

I wonder if it’s as eerie as the 1976 version of the Omen.

A blogger got plagiarized by an Associated Press reporter. When the blogger contacted the reporter and senior editor, both admitted to having had the article passed on to them. They said they didn’t need to credit the blogger because they viewed their source as a blog. What the heck?Just because it’s a blog? If traditional media is to be responsible, it should learn to credit all sources . Maybe they don’t know how to spell out hyperlinks but that’s impossible because these news agencies have websites.

The argument is astounding really if not entirely antithetical to journalistic standards. What the AP and others are saying essentially is that, while “your work” is good enough for us to steal, you are not credible enough to cite.

This is the blogger the blog entry that was plagiarized; and plagiarized AP article and author.

Patterned after the flash mob concept, the Black Friday Protest calls on people to gather at a designated time and place every Friday wearing a black attire as a symbol of protest. There will be no programs or speeches. Instead, people will be given specific instructions on what to do, and the whole exercise should last about 30 minutes at most.

It’s safe, non-confrontational, and within the bounds of the law, even under a repressive one like PP 1017. The mere “flash” gathering of the people is the expression of protest.

This first instance on Friday, March 3, involved Starbucks. As noted by Saturday’s International Herald Tribune, after kindly using a quote from me about political “froth,”

Indeed, when all was said and done, this latest crisis did seem to be a bit like froth in a coffee cup.

An anti-Arroyo group calling itself eLagda issued a call to the middle class to express their discontent by lining up at Starbucks outlets and buying coffee.

“Starbucks is their natural hangout,” Vicente Romano, an organizer of this latest version of people power, told The Philippine Star daily.

what will they think of next?