Tunis museum attack: Gunman Laabidi was known to security services, says PM
19 March 2015
A gunman who CARRIED
out an attack that killed 17 tourists at Tunis's Bardo museum was known to the authorities, Tunisia's prime minister has said.
out an attack that killed 17 tourists at Tunis's Bardo museum was known to the authorities, Tunisia's prime minister has said.
Habib Essi told RTL Radio that security services had flagged up one of the attackers, Yassine Laabidi, but were not aware of "anything specific", or of any links to known militant groups.
Two Tunisians, a police officer among them, also died in Wednesday's attack.
Both gunmen were also killed. A search is on for suspects linked to them.
Two or three accomplices are still at large, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP news AGENCY. The spokesman said both attackers were "probably" Tunisian. The second gunman has been named as Hatem Khachnaoui.
. The spokesman said both attackers were "probably" Tunisian. The second gunman has been named as Hatem Khachnaoui.
The tourists killed in the attack include visitors from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Australia, FRANCE, Poland and Spain, officials said.
, Poland and Spain, officials said.
Officials say more than 40 people, including tourists and Tunisians, were injured.
UN to fund Iran anti-drugs programme despite executions of offenders
UNITED Nations Office on Drugs and Crime criticised for planning new five-year aid deal with Tehran, which continues to use death penalty for narcotics offences
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime criticised for planning new five-year aid deal with Tehran, which continues to use death penalty for narcotics offences
The UN anti-drug agency is finalising a multimillion-dollar FUNDING package, including European money, for Iran’s counter-narcotics trafficking programmes, despite the country’s high execution rate of drug offenders.
package, including European money, for Iran’s counter-narcotics trafficking programmes, despite the country’s high execution rate of drug offenders.
Iranian authorities have hanged at least two people a day this year for drug offences, according to the human rights group Reprieve, which works for the abolition of death penalty.
Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, also warned this week that the Islamic republic continues to execute more people per capita than any country. At least 753 people were hanged last year in Iran, of whom more than half were drug offenders.
After the chaos, peaceful Blockupy rally begins in Frankfurt
Thousands of anti-austerity protesters from 39 European countries have been marching at a rally in the German city of Frankfurt. More than 350 people were arrested after clashes earlier in the day.
More than 10,000 people filled Frankfurt's historic Römerberg square for a peaceful rally on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after the European Central Bank unveiled its new headquarters in the financial hub.
The demonstration was organized by Blockupy, an alliance of trade unions and anti-capitalist groups critical of the ECB's role in restrictive austerity measures in EU member states, such as Greece.
The peaceful march was a marked contrast to scenes witnessed in the early hours of the morning, as anti-capitalist protesters torched security vehicles and engaged in street battles with police.
The ECB, along with the European Commission and International Monetary Fund, is part of the so-called "troika" that monitors compliance with the conditions of bailout loans for financially troubled countries in Europe. Some of those conditions have been blamed for increasing unemployment and stunting economic growth.
Children with assault rifles attend Islamic State school
March 19, 2015 - 3:33PM
Michael Bachelard
Investigations Editor, The Age
A dozen young Indonesian children have been filmed wielding assault rifles at a school for jihad as the so-called Islamic State tries to attract NEW recruits among the world's largest population of Muslims.
recruits among the world's largest population of Muslims.
The video, uploaded recently to Islamic State's SPECIALIST Indonesian and Malaysian language recruitment website, al-Azzam Media, depicts young Indonesian-speaking boys learning Arabic and training in weapons and martial arts. They say they are not afraid to face "the enemies of God" and pledge to ensure that Islamic law is implemented and to become "mujahideen", or holy warriors.
Indonesian and Malaysian language recruitment website, al-Azzam Media, depicts young Indonesian-speaking boys learning Arabic and training in weapons and martial arts. They say they are not afraid to face "the enemies of God" and pledge to ensure that Islamic law is implemented and to become "mujahideen", or holy warriors.
Some of the children appear to be 10 years old or less.
Indonesian based anti-terror expert Sidney Jones says she believes the school is in IS-controlled territory, most likely in Syria, and the children's parents have travelled there to fight. "We know the school has been going for a while," said Ms Jones from the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.
Can Brazil's Valongo Wharf slavery memorial spark a new conversation?
Slavery ended almost 127 years ago in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is working to create a new memorial that goes beyond the expected, emphasizing connections between the African continent and Brazil.
The Rio de Janeiro city government, together with neighborhood associations and groups involved with the Afro-Brazilian legacy, is upgrading an existing visitor circuit that could ultimately stand out among all other locations in the world reminding us of one of the biggest tragedies of human history: slavery.
Rio de Janeiro’s project, says Rio World Heritage Institute president Washington Fajardo, will be almost complete by the opening of the 2016 Olympic Games — and will be quite DIFFERENT from any other memorial for this dark historic period.
from any other memorial for this dark historic period.
In Washington D.C. the UNITED States is building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Brazilian federal government has similar plans. The United Nations will build a monument to memorialize Transatlantic slavery, which involved 15 million human beings. Philadelphia already has a memorial, which reminds visitors that two slave-owning American presidents lived in a house located there.
States is building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Brazilian federal government has similar plans. The United Nations will build a monument to memorialize Transatlantic slavery, which involved 15 million human beings. Philadelphia already has a memorial, which reminds visitors that two slave-owning American presidents lived in a house located there.Ebola Air? Inside the plane that flies Ebola patients
Updated 0134 GMT (0934 HKT) March 19, 2015
If it were easy, any company or government could do it.
But flying an Ebola patient halfway around the world -- while keeping that person alive, and everyone safe -- is complicated.
Probably no one knows that better than Phoenix Air, a Georgia-based company that is the go-to for transporting Ebola victims by air.
Since August, it has made approximately 40 trips -- about half to Europe, the rest to the UNITED States.
States.
"We're like a fire truck sitting in the firehouse. The bell goes off and within a matter of hours we can be out the door and underway," said Dent Thompson, vice president and chief operations officer at Phoenix Air.
He described the system that goes inside the company's modified Gulfstream G-III aircraft. It consists of three major elements:
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