Six In The Morning Saturday March 7

MH370: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight 'will be found'

• 48 minutes ago
 
• From the sectionAsia

Malaysia's transport minister says he is confident the MH370 airliner which disappeared almost a year ago will be found in the southern Indian Ocean.

Liow Tiong Lai told the BBC that search teams would keep looking for the aircraft which had been carrying 239 passengers and crew.

The Malaysian airliner was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished.

Investigators are due to release a report on the search this weekend.

Australia is leading an international search team in the southern Indian Ocean, approximately 1,600km (1,000 miles) off its west coast.

Mali nightclub attack: EU citizens among five dead after attackers armed with machine guns and grenades storm popular club

Officials say shooting may be a terrorist attack

HEATHER SAUL 

 

 

Saturday 07 March 2015

Three EU citizens are believed to be among five people killed after gunmen armed with a machine gun and grenades stormed a nightclub in Mali.

A French man was shot dead at the La Terrasse bar in the capital of Bamako and two Malian men were shot and fatally wounded as the gunmen fled the building. One of the Malian men is understood to be a police officer.

A Belgian man was killed when a grenade was thrown at his car and a third European national died in hospital, according to theBBC.  At least eight people have been injured.

Witnesses say the attackers shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great). Officials told Reuters two people had been arrested in connection with the attacks, although little is known about the identity of the suspects.

PSYCHOLOGY

The invisible scars left by strikes of the cane

Two young Germans, convicted of vandalism after being caught spraying paint on trains in Singapore, are to be caned and imprisoned. How badly does such punishment hurt? Moreover, what is the nature of the pain?

Singapore is known for its strict laws. Even minor offenses like eating or drinking on public transport carry penalties that are almost unthinkable for the Western mind - well over 3,000 euros ($3,300).

Other crimes are punished far more severely in the authoritarian state. Vandalism can land you in prison for three years, accompanied by up to eight strikes of the cane on your naked behind.

As draconian as this process appears (Draco was a Greek law scribe infamous for his disproportionately harsh punishments), it is also rigidly regulated, dating back to British colonial rule. While Great Britain abolished the penalty of caning in 1948, however, many former colonies didn't.

Multifarious pain

In Singapore, the cane has to be 120 centimeters long, 13 millimeters thick and extremely elastic. The person caning has been trained to induce as much pain as possible; a velocity of 160 kilometers per hour can be reached. Three strikes is generally all it takes to pierce the SKIN (which is moistened to avoid slivering), and scarring almost always ensues.

Turkish women the targets of escalating violence

Sexual assaults and homicides are rising in this increasingly reactionary country

Stephen Starr

Ozgecan Aslan was the last passenger on a minibus that carried her through Mersin, a city on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. A psychology student of modest background, Aslan (20) thought the pepper spray she carried would protect her against any potential danger or attention. Tragically, she was mistaken.

Her body was found in a riverbed close to a village 15km north of her university town on February 13th, two days after the brutal attack.

According to the 26-year-old bus driver charged with her murder, Aslan reacted angrily at being taken on a non-designated route. Local reports say she was raped, beaten and her body burned so badly she could only be identified by particles of her clothing.

Two other men, the bus driver’s father and a friend, have been charged with complicity in her murder.

'Please forgive me, my brother': stories of grief, love, penance at the Vietnam memorial

March 7, 2015 - 3:43PM

Michael Ruane

The black and white snapshot of the seven enemy soldiers was left in a box at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with a two-page letter.

The writer explained how he had grabbed the picture from the knapsack of a dead North Vietnamese soldier after cursing him, kicking him, and firing into his corpse in a FIT of rage. The veteran, who was 20 at the time, in 1969, had lost a close friend in battle six days earlier, and his outfit had just ambushed and killed 40 enemy soldiers, including this one, in a "turkey shoot".

Forty-two years later, the former "grunt" came to the Wall in Washington on a chilly fall morning. He put down the box and, weeping, read his letter aloud.

"I come here today in sadness and humility, the arc of my life having transformed me from the angry young man who desecrated your body to an older man seeking peace ... Please forgive me, my brother, and rest in peace."

Teens start Mission MAD to make a difference

Two Kentucky teenagers launched Mission Make A Difference, an effort that's resulted in projects from helping a town in Uganda to gathering food, clothing, and hygiene products for those in need nearby.

By Kendra Peek, Associated Press

LIBERTY, KY. — What started as a text conversation between friends Taylor Monday and Michael Tucker has blossomed into a mission making a difference in the world.

"We were texting one time and it was one of those, 'You know what would be really cool? If we could go to Africa.' I've always wanted to go to Africa, and that's kind of what started it — that simple text," said Monday.

"Since we shared that interest, he said, 'Well, let's make it happen, let's not just talk about it, let's make it a reality.' "

For the Casey County, Ky., teens, it just made sense. In 2013, they began fundraising for a trip to Uganda. Ultimately, they launched Mission Make A Difference — Mission MAD for short.

"We were kind of tired of the everyday routine of life and knew that our lives are about something more than ourselves," said Monday.