Hostages Killed In Paris Supermarket Siege

Hostages escaping while commandos storm Paris supermarket

At least four hostages and a jihadist gunman have been killed in a deadly Paris supermarket siege.

Commandos stormed the supermarket minutes after two brothers behind the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo magazine were killed at a second siege on the outskirts of Paris.

The special forces team raided the shop as the gunman began his evening prayer.

Six explosions were heard at the Jewish supermarket in Porte de Vincennes and several hostages were seen running, or being carried, from the store.

At least one of those being carried out was a small child. Fifteen hostages were freed alive.

It was initially hoped that all hostages in the shop had been saved - but it is now clear that a number died.

Others have been critically wounded, including a police officer.

Reports in the French media suggested that at least some of the hostages were killed before the raid.

Reports that a gunman may have escaped from the siege were dismissed as "unlikely" by officials.

The hostage-taker at the Paris store was linked to the killer brothers who were holding another hostage at a commercial building at Dammartin-en-Goele, near to Charles de Gaulle airport.

The supermarket gunman - named as Amedy Coulibaly - had threatened to kill the hostages if police moved in on the brothers at Dammartin.

He told a French TV station that he was a member of the Islamic State group and was in cahoots with the Charlie Hebdo killers who were his "officers".

In a telling detail, revealed by BFMTV, the supermarket attacker did not hang up the phone properly after talking to its reporters, allowing the police to overhear him.

And it was as he knelt to do his evening prayer that they stormed the building.

Sky's crime correspondent Martin Brunt said: "After news came through of the situation Dammartin there seemed to be a sense of urgency here.

"We heard four very quick explosions that lasted between them seven seconds I suspect."

There were another two explosions shortly afterwards.

Minutes later hostages were pictured being carried out, or running out, of the market - as sirens wailed across the city.

Sources reported that police managed to hack video surveillance at the market to keep a close eye on what was happening inside.

It is also understood that officers were secretly communicating by phone with one of the hostages.

It is understood that police may have managed to close down communication between the hostage-takers in the two sieges.

Source: Sky News

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GRAPHIC CONTENT: Video of the Police assault on hostage-takers in Jewish supermarket in Paris

(WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT). Uncensored video of the Police assault on hostage-takers in Jewish supermarket in Paris. A police source said at least four other hostages were killed prior to Police staging the raid; the terrorists were also killed in the process.

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WATCH: New Walking Dead Season 5 Promo: Surviving Together

AMC has released this new promo for “The Walking Dead,” which will will return on February 8, 2015 for the remaining episodes of Season 5 and has already been renewed for a sixth season, set to begin in the fall of 2015.

After the tragic events of the mid-season finale – as well as losing the possibility of a cure in Washington, DC – Rick Grimes’ band of survivors find themselves on the road, surviving day-to-day and trying to hold on to their shredded humanity and dwindling hope. Stripped of security and without a direction for the future, some of the group near their breaking point, some find themselves hardened and cold and some just try to grasp onto what little they have left.

Though they are still breathing, the line between Rick’s group and the dead is starting to blur. Could there be anything at this point that brings them back to life?

Based on the comic created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard, “The Walking Dead” stars Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Chad Coleman, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Emily Kinney, Danai Gurira and Sonequa Martin-Green.


  Source: ComingSoon.Net

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New Zealand skydivers jump from plane before it crashes

There were six crew and six passengers on board, they leapt out in tandem, while the pilot jumped out when it became obvious the plane was on its way down

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — All 13 people aboard a New Zealand skydiving plane that suffered an apparent engine failure Wednesday managed to leap out in parachutes moments before the plane plunged into a lake, authorities said.

Police spokeswoman Kim Perks said there were six passengers, six crew members and a pilot aboard and all of them landed safely and without significant injuries.

Roy Clements, the chief executive of plane operator Skydive Taupo, said the passengers were all overseas tourists who had each been assigned an instructor for a tandem dive at planned heights of 12,000 feet for some and 15,000 feet for others.

But soon after the plane took off, something went wrong at an altitude of about 2,000 feet, he said.

"The plane just made a big bang and then it stopped," he said. "The pilot told them to get out. He didn't have to tell them twice."

He said the instructors were already wearing parachutes but each needed to hastily clip their passenger's harness with four attachments before leaping from the plane. He said the pilot was also wearing a parachute, which is standard in skydiving operations, and leapt only after ensuring everybody else was safely off the plane.

He said the staff had practiced emergency drills before and everybody remained calm during the incident, perhaps not realizing at the time the extent of the peril they faced. He said everybody managed to maneuver their parachutes over the water and onto the beach or shoreline before landing.

"I was happy to see them all walk back into the hangar," Clements said.

He said transport accident investigators were on their way to the crash site to open an investigation into what went wrong. The plane was a New Zealand-built Pacific Aerospace Ltd. P-750 XL, he said.

Robbie Graham, an artist who works at the Wildwood Art Gallery in the town of Waitahanui, said he was standing in front of the gallery when he saw a number of people in parachutes coming down above the lake about 1 kilometer (half a mile) away. He said he didn't see the plane crash.

"I saw all these people coming down, and I thought that was a crazy place to be coming down, that they would all end up in the lake," he said.

Graham said it was a stunning day and that many holidaymakers would have witnessed the crash from a nearby beach.

Lake Taupo is popular among holidaymakers and tourists at this time of year, during the Southern Hemisphere summer.

Source: Yahoo! News

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New smartphone models unveiled at CES 2015

Most of the big guns in the phone world may be holding fire for Mobile World Congress next month, but CES 2015 still brought no shortage of fresh phones. Chinese giants Lenovo, ZTE, and Alcatel were very busy, LG took the wraps off the G Flex 2, and there were lots of lesser-known names showing off their wares.

Overwhelmed? We’ve compiled a complete list of every CES 2015 smartphone for your perusal. Looking for all the latest? You’ll find it here.

1. LG G Flex 2

Honestly, this is as close as CES 2015 gets to a genuine flagship release from a major Android player. LG’s curved smartphone improves on last year’s G Flex in every way. From the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 810 processor to the 5.5-inch 1080p screen, this is a classy release. Throw in a stunning, feature-packed 13-megapixel camera, a huge, fast-charging 3,000mAh battery, and Android 5.0 Lollipop, and you have yourself the first irresistible Android of the year. It’s also definitely landing in the States with AT&T.

2. Asus Zenfone 2

Here’s a beast in the power stakes offered in two varieties, with a 64-bit Intel Atom processor clocked at 1.8GHz or 2.3GHz. It also boasts 4GB of RAM and a whopping 3,000mAh battery. There’s an impressive-sounding 13-megapixel camera with a f/2.0 aperture lens and a 5-megapixel selfie-cam. It runs the latest Android 5.0 with a fully customizable Asus skin on top.

3. Asus Zenfone Zoom

If the camera is what you look for first on your smartphone then this one might interest you. It features a 13-megapixel sensor with 3x optical zoom, a 10-element lens, laser auto-focus, and optical image stabilization. It also has a 5.5-inch 1080p display and runs Android 5.0. At $400, it could prove tempting for budding photographers.

4. Briggs & Spriggs Boss Phone

A 7-inch display on a phone is guaranteed to catch your eye, and the Boss Phone caught ours, but it’s still a long way off its Indiegogo goal. The huge 1080p display isn’t the real draw, however. That’s probably the Tor certification, which promises genuinely secure communication.
 

Inside, there’s an octa-core processor courtesy of Mediatek, 16GB of storage, an 8-megapixel camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies, and a 3,000mAh battery. It also runs Android 5.0 Lollipop. Early birds can snag one for $329 on Indiegogo, but you won’t get it until October.

5. Kodak IM5

Brought to you by Bullitt, makers of Caterpillar’s rugged smartphones, the Kodak IM5 is unsurprisingly focused on photography. It combines a 13-megapixel main camera with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Bullitt has a customized interface over Android 4.4, aiming to make something that’s easy to use and then share or print photos from. It’s not trying to be the biggest and best camera phone around, and that’s reflected in the $250 price tag.

6. Acer Liquid Jade S
 

It’s unlikely to land in the States, but the Liquid Jade S will be going on sale in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa this month at around $360. That buys you a 5-inch display (1,280 x 720 pixels), 64-bit octa-core Mediatek processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel main camera, 5-megapixel selfie-cam, and support for 4G LTE. It’s a dual-SIM in some markets and it runs Android 4.4 out the box, although Acer promises a Lollipop update.

7. Acer Liquid Z410
 

This one has a 64-bit quad-core processor, a 4.5-inch display with a 960 x 540 resolution, and a 5-megapixel main camera, backed up by a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. This is a budget release at around $150. Its claim to fame is the DTS Studio Sound. Acer also offers customizable gestures to launch apps and trigger phone functions.

8. Alcatel OneTouch Pixi 3

This series of four phones from Alcatel OneTouch comes in a choice of display sizes, ranging from 3.5 to 5 inches. A further bid by Alcatel to hedge its bets is evidenced by the trio of operating systems – there are Android, Firefox, and Windows Phone versions.
 

There was some excitement at the idea you may be able to boot into the OS of your choice, but it turns out the platform choice is just for carriers and each individual phone only runs one platform. They’re budget LTE phones that will be offered at low prices, but the specs aren’t going to impress.

9. Archos 50 Diamond
 

Considering it’s coming from a budget manufacturer, you’d be forgiven for thinking Archos has changed direction with the 50 Diamond. It sports a 5-inch 1080p display, an octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 16-megapixel main camera with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. A hefty 2,700mAh battery rounds out the spec sheet and it all comes in at under $200. Still budget after all.

10. Blu Vivo Air

The impossibly slim Vivo Air is the headline release from budget smartphone manufacturer Blu. It is just 5.1mm thick and feather-light at under 100g. Specs-wise, there’s a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED with a 1,280 x 720 pixel resolution, a 1.7GHz octa-core processor, an 8-megapixel main camera, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Sounds like a lot of phone for $200.
 

There were another six Blu phones released at the show, all under $200 unlocked and offering impressive specs (on paper at least).

11. HTC Desire 320
 

This is an update to replace 2014’s Desire 310, and it’s a basic budget smartphone. There’s a 4.5-inch display, a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, and a 5-megapixel camera. It ships with Android 4.4 and it also has an FM radio built in. Expect budget pricing.

12. HTC Desire 826

Whether it gets a wider release beyond Asia is unknown right now, but the Desire 826 takes the mid-range to new heights with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset, Boomsound speakers, a 13-megapixel camera, and a UltraPixel selfie-cam on the front.
 

It’s a sleek design wrapped around some decent hardware and it comes with the latest and greatest Android 5.0 Lollipop. If the price is right, it’s going to spark a lot of interest.

13. Lenovo Vibe X2 Pro
 

Here’s a svelte mid-ranger that takes the selfie-cam trend to new heights. The Vibe X2 Pro is packing a 5.3-inch 1080p display, 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and matching 13-megapixel cameras front and back. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and only costs $400. It may not break China’s borders, though, especially now that Lenovo owns Motorola.

14. Lenovo P90

The P90 combines Intel’s 64-bit 1.8Ghz quad-core Atom chip with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 13-megapixel camera. It also supports the latest LTE-Advanced for lightning speeds where the network supports them (which isn’t many places right now).
 

The front-facing camera drops to 5-megapixels, but there’s also an enormous 4,000mAh battery. It’s the first phone to sport this Intel processor and that might account for the extra big battery. This one costs $500, but it won’t be sold in the US.

15. Tonino Lamborghini 88 Tauri
 

No amount of calfskin leather, gold, and Lamborghini glass is going to justify the $6,000 price tag on this one, but it’s for people with more money than sense. You might expect cutting edge specs, but you’d be disappointed. There’s a 5-inch 1080p display, 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 3,400mAh battery. The cameras are rated at 20 megapixels for the back and 8 megapixels for the front. That’s good, but not $6K good. It is impressively ugly, though.

16. Saygus V2

If your major bugaboo about modern smartphones is a lack of storage then get ready to be very excited. The Saygus V2 offers a maximum of 320GB of storage, via 64GB of internal storage and two microSD card slots that support up to 128GB each. Beyond that, it has a 5-inch 1080p display, a Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHz, 3GB of RAM, and an impressive 21-megapixel back camera and 13-megapixel front camera combo.
 

Are you impressed yet? What if we told you it was waterproof, lined with Kevlar, and has a fingerprint scanner? There’s also a 3,100mAh battery that supports wireless charging and front-facing Harman Kardon speakers. Not to mention the 60Ghz Wi-Fi. You may emit a slight sigh of disappointment when you discover it runs Android 4.4.4, but there’s plenty to be impressed about. We expect a flagship price tag to match the specs.

17. ZTE Grand X Max+
 

As you may have guessed from the subtle moniker, this is a big smartphone, but the price tag is a modest $200. The 6-inch display is 1,280 x 720 pixels and there’s only a 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 400 inside with 2GB of RAM. You also get 16GB of storage, a 13-megapixel main camera, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. This one is going on sale through Cricket Wireless starting January 9.

18. ZTE Star 2
 

Our final entry is the ZTE Star 2. It has solid specs, including a Snapdragon 801 processor, 13-megapixel main camera, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, but the big selling point is top-quality voice controls that work without an Internet connection. Unfortunately there are no concrete plans to release it outside China.

That’s your lot, all the smartphones of CES 2015 so far!

Source: Digital Trends

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4 Things Children Don’t Need

We’ve all seen long lists of what it takes (and what the cost might be) to raise children. Those lists can be overwhelming. And then we throw in the holiday season, with the never ending advertisements, catalogs, and shopping. We start to wonder what our children need and whether we’re actually providing those things.

Here are a few things I think children do NOT need:
1. They absolutely do not need hundreds of toys that light up, play “music”, or require batteries.
2. They do not need the latest gadget, just because you know someone else (“everyone” else?) who has one.
3. They do not need many different pricey outfits, all color-coordinated from charming boutiques with French names.
4. They do not need expensive “enrichment” activities every night of the week.

So, what do I think a kid might need?

– They need physical nourishment. This means different things for different people, of course (especially around the world) but here in the U.S. it might mean lots of yummy fruits and veggies, some macaroni and cheese every now and then, some chocolate chip cookies for a treat, your favorite meal that your grandma used to make, and dinners inspired by different places around the world. It does not mean mom needs to be a short-order cook and make every child only their favorite foods every meal.

– They need classic, open-ended toys: wooden blocks, Legos, paper and colored pencils (markers, if you’re feeling brave), a stuffed lovey, a baby doll, and the encouragement to use their imaginations and play with anything. (Leaves for outside tea-party plates. A cardboard box can be anything. Old egg cartons and wrapping paper tubes seem to be especially prized.) They need a safe place to keep collections (buttons, rocks, leaves, shells, foreign coins, stamps, etc. Some children will try to collect all of the above.)

– They need clothes they’re allowed to get dirty. They need an outfit or two for dressing up on special occasions (this seems to be especially important for some little girls). They need aprons to wear so they can help you in the kitchen. They need your old dresses and old hats and scarves to play dress up.

– They need time with their parents and siblings. They need to play outside. They need to go to a zoo. They need to visit a farm (if they’re city kids) or the city (if they’re rural).  They should visit an art museum or two. They need to see a great body of water. They need to get messy. They need to go swimming. They need to walk quietly on a nature trail. They  need cuddling and tickling, joking and gentle teasing. They need to be around many different kinds, types and ages of people. They need grandparents or great-grandparents or an older family friend to spend time with.

– They need to ask questions. They need you to teach them how to find the answers in a book or by observation, and not just by “asking Siri”. They need to hear you say, “I don’t know. Let’s find out.” They need you to say, “That’s a great question, I’m glad you asked.” They need you to ask them silly questions like “If you were an animal, what would you be?” or “If you were a color, what would you be?” or “If you could spend the night on the moon, what would you do?”

– They need to explore. They need to climb too high. They need to swing so hard the swingset rocks. They need to poke things with sticks and lift up rocks. They need to splash in some water. They need to ride something (a bike, a horse) that intimidates them at first. They need to be out of your sight part of the day. They need to solve their own conflicts. They might need to wrestle or jump on a trampoline. They need to run until they’re out of breath. They need to try a small business like selling lemonade or something they’ve made. They need to spend their own money, sometimes unwisely. They need to give to someone less fortunate. They need to take some object apart (an old radio? a clock?) and try to put it back together.

– They need sleep. They need to go to bed in time to be rested for the next morning. They need time with no screens flickering in their faces. They need to build a pillow fort. They might need to pitch a tent outside and sleep under the stars. They need to stay up late for a special occasion and then sleep in the next morning. They need a quiet time, when they can hear their own thoughts. They need the chance to be noisy, with drums and marching and exuberant singing (this should probably happen outside, for mom’s sanity).

– They need books. They need adults to read to them. They need to read to each other. They need gorgeous books to admire and funny books to laugh at. They need rhymes to jingle in their minds. They need familiar characters who are just like family (Frances, Harry, Angus, Stuart Little,Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle) and historical figures who inspire (Laura and Mary Ingalls, George Washington, Florence Nightingale). They need tall tales (Paul Bunyan) and small creatures who make a big difference (Charlotte). They need to thrill over heroes and mourn over martyrs lost too soon.

So, if you’re looking at a list longer than your arm of the toys the child thinks she needs for Christmas, or you’re watching your friends buy their kids the latest gadget but your family budget won’t stretch to that this year, or you’re feeling guilty because you didn’t sign your kid up for the children’s choir so they could sing a miniature version of Handel’s Messiah while their grandparents oohed and ahhed over them…well, you have my permission to stop feeling guilty.

There are only a few things kids really need, and most of them don’t cost too much money. They may cost more of our time, or some of our sense of safety, but in the end those things may be a small price to pay.

Source: Living Unabridged

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French police close in on suspected terrorists; new shoot-out erupts in Paris

Members of the French police special force advance with their equipment on the Paris ring road near the scene of a hostage taking at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris January 9, 2015.
Credit: REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

French gendarmes stand guard as school children board a bus as they are evacuated near the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris January 9, 2015.
Credit: REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Photos of Hayat Boumeddiene and Amedy Coulibaly, sought in the shooting death of a female police officer in Montrouge, near Paris, on Thursday.
Credit: REUTERS/Paris Prefecture de Police

Members of the French intervention gendarme forces arrive at the scene of a hostage taking at an industrial zone in Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris January 9, 2015.
Credit: REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

French soldier patrol near the Eiffel Tower in Paris as part of the highest level of "Vigipirate" security plan after a shooting at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo January 9, 2015.
Credit: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

French special intervention police conduct a house-to-house search in Longpont, northeast of Paris, January 8, 2015.
Credit: REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

French forces sealed off a small northern town where police sources said gunmen had seized at least one hostage, and shooting broke out in Paris as the biggest security dragnet of modern times closed on chief suspects in an attack on a Paris journal.

The attack has raised questions in France about policing, surveillance of radicals, far-right politics, religion and censorship - all in a country still struggling to integrate its five-million-head Muslim population, the EU's largest.

On Friday, police vans, armored cars and ambulances ringed the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, set in marsh and woodland, and helicopters hovered overhead. Residents were told to stay at home and schools near a printing works where two gunmen were holed up were evacuated.

A second hostage-taking was reported at a Paris kosher supermarket. AFP news agency was cited by French media as saying at least two had been killed in a shoot-out there, but police said they could not confirm any deaths.

The Interior Ministry said security forces surrounding a small print works in Dammartin-en-Goele were trying to make contact with the gunmen, who had earlier in the day evaded police in a high-speed car chase on a highway to Paris.

"This can take a long time, hours and sometimes days," Interior Minister spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said in a tweet.

Yves Albarello, local MP for the Seine-et-Marne department and member of the crisis cell put in place by authorities, told iTELE the two suspects had let it be known that they wanted to die “as martyrs”.

The gunmen had been on the run since they stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical journal known for its ridicule of Islam and other religions as well as political figures. Western leaders condemned the attack as an assault on democracy. Al Qaeda's North Africa branch praised the gunmen as "knight(s) of truth".

A senior Yemeni intelligence source told Reuters one of the two suspects was in Yemen for several months in 2011 for religious studies; but there was no confirmed information whether he was trained by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

THIRD PARIS ATTACK IN TWO DAYS

News of a further shootout, in Paris, a third in two days, demonstrated the scale of the threat facing French authorities and the force of nearly 90,000 mobilized nationwide for the search action.

A police source said several people were taken hostage at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris after a shootout involving a man armed with two guns.

The source said he bore a resemblance to the gunman suspected of killing a policewoman in a separate shooting in southern Paris on Thursday and believed to be a member of the same jihadist group, Butte Chaumont, as the two Hebdo suspects.

Police released pictures of a 32-year-old man, Amedy Coulibaly, and a 26-year-old woman, Hayat Boumeddiene, wanted in connection with the southern Paris incident.

The prospect of multiple attacks is one that has troubled Western security services since Islamist militants hit a number of targets in Mumbai in 2008, killing 166 people.

Yohann Bardoux, a plumber whose office is two doors down from the printing shop where the hostage-taking was playing out stayed away from work after hearing gunfire. But he said his mother was in the building next door to the printing shop.

"Of course I'm worried about her, I hope it all comes down soon, and turns out well," Bardoux said.

"They are everywhere. It's really jumping. They've blocked the whole zone, we've got helicopters overhead, the police presence is impressive."

A spokesman for Charles-de-Gaulle airport said all its runways were open but that landings were only taking place at the two south terminals.

SUSPECT VISITED YEMEN

A senior Yemeni intelligence source told Reuters one of the two suspects was in Yemen for several months in 2011 for religious studies; but there was no confirmed information whether he was trained by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The gunmen shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) as they carried out the attack, which has been described by President Francois Hollande and other world leaders as an attack on the fundamentals of democracy.

The attack has raised fears in other capitals of similar actions. Western leaders have long feared Islamist militants drawn into fighting in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere could launch attacks in their home countries on their return.

London suffered an assault on its transport system in 2005, four years after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. More recent attacks have been carried out by militants in countries including India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Kenya.

The fugitive suspects are both in their early 30s, and were already under police surveillance. One, Cherif Kouachi, was jailed for 18 months for trying to travel to Iraq a decade ago to fight as part of an Islamist cell.

U.S. and European sources close to the investigation said the second, Said Kouachi, was in Yemen in 2011 for several months training with AQAP, one of al Qaeda's most active wings.

U.S. government sources said both were listed in two U.S. security databases, a highly classified database containing information on 1.2 million possible counter-terrorism suspects, called TIDE, and the much smaller "no fly" list maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center, an inter-agency unit.

Amid local media reports of isolated incidents of violence directed at Muslims in France, Hollande and his Socialist government have called on the French not to blame the Islamic faith for the Charlie Hebdo killings.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SURVEILLANCE

Hollande has held talks with opposition leaders and, in a rare move, invited Marine Le Pen, leader of the resurgent anti-immigrant National Front, to his Elysee Palace for discussions on Friday.

Many European newspapers either re-published Charlie Hebdo cartoons or lampooned the killers with images of their own.

The younger Kouachi brother's jail sentence for trying to fight in Iraq a decade ago, and more recent tangles with the authorities over suspected involvement in militant plots, raised questions over whether police could have done more to watch them.

Cherif Kouachi was arrested on Jan. 25, 2005 preparing to fly to Syria en route to Iraq. He served 18 months of a three-year sentence.

"He was part of a group of young people who were a little lost, confused, not really fanatics in the proper sense of the word," lawyer Vincent Ollivier, who represented Cherif in the case, told Liberation daily.

In 2010 he was suspected of being part of a group that tried to break from prison Smain Ali Belkacem, a militant jailed for the 1995 bombings of Paris train and metro stations that killed eight people and wounded 120. The case against Cherif Kouachi was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Source: Reuters

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One victim killed in Paris attacks was Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet

Police have named the a police officer who was killed during an attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo yesterday as Ahmed Merabet, 42, who happened to be patrolling the area at the time and is believed to be Muslim.

Mr Merabet is seen in footage released by Reuters begging the gunmen to spare his life in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, where the offices of the publication are situated, before he was shot more than once. The man is survived by his wife.

After being shot the first time, the gunmen wearing balaclavas and holding Kalashnikov rifles are seen running past the police officer – who had his hands up in surrender – and shot in his direction again at point-blank range as he was lying on the pavement outside the offices.

The masked gunmen is heard asking the police officer “Do you want to kill me?” before he allegedly replied “No, it is OK chief” before one of them shot him a second time round amid an attack described as the worst in France in 50 years.

First victim of #CharlieHebdo attack was French Muslim cop Ahmed Merabet.

Another officer, Franck Brinsolaro, was also shot dead by the three attackers suspected to be brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, who are in their early 30s, and the third suspect who turned himself to the police last night named as 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad.

Mr Brinsolaro, who was the police bodyguard of Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier and was sitting in the editorial room when the gunmen shot the cartoonists and journalists dead, is survived by his wife and two children.

“They knew the risks they were facing in carrying out their duty and clearly showed great bravery in trying to prevent the terrorists murdering others. We stand in solidarity and express our great sympathy for their families and friends.

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13 Flight Attendants fired for refusing to fly on plane with eerie 'Bye Bye' message

Thirteen flight attendants filed a federal complaint Wednesday against United Airlines saying they were fired for refusing to fly from San Francisco to Hong Kong on a plane with the words "BYE BYE" and a pair of faces scrawled on it, their attorneys said Wednesday.

The flight attendants filed the whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, saying the drawings included images that could be construed as "menacing" or "devilish."

The drawings were traced in an oil slick on the plane's tail cone. They included one smiling face but another that appeared to show eyes closed and a tongue sticking out.

The complaint says the flight attendants sought additional security measures and wanted the plane's more than 300 passengers taken off the July 14 flight for a sweep.

It says they were fired in retaliation for "exactly what the flying public would expect from a group of highly experienced airline professionals."

The flight attendants said they were working in the wake of the recent disappearance of Malaysian Flight 370 and a possible phone-and-laptop bomb warning a week earlier from the Transportation Security Administration.

"Given the gravity of the risk involved -- the lives of passengers and crew alike -- we were not willing to bow to United's pressure to ignore an unresolved security threat even though the company made clear that we risked losing our jobs," flight attendant Grace Lam said in a statement.

United said Wednesday in response to the complaint that the flight attendants' fears were addressed. It said a thorough investigation that complied with Federal Aviation Administration rules was conducted and no threat was found.

"All of FAA's and United's own safety procedures were followed, including a comprehensive safety sweep prior to boarding, and the pilots, mechanics and safety leaders deemed the aircraft entirely safe to fly," spokeswoman Christen David said in a written statement.

Source: Syracuse

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GRAPHIC CONTENT: Uncensored video of Paris attack shows gunmen shooting wounded officer dead

(WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT) Uncensored amateur video shows the moment gunmen escape from a Paris newspaper where at least 10 journalists were killed and then shoot dead a wounded police officer at point-blank range.

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WATCH: The Full ANT-MAN Teaser is Here at Last, Plus a New Poster!

Debuting as promised alongside tonight’s premiere episode of Marvel’s Agent Carter on ABC, the full Ant-Man teaser is everything we’d hoped for from the tiniest Avenger! We open with Michael Douglas as scientist Henry Pym addressing Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang — “Scott, I’ve been watching you for a while now.” Then… Ah, but why spoil things when you can revel in its delightfulness below. Enjoy!


What do you guys think? Amidst all the effects and derring-do, the element of family is what’s most surprising to me here. Especially in Scott’s relationship with his daughter, which is sure to mirror Pym’s relationship with his own daughter, Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne (who’s shown doing a little sparring that hopefully foreshadows her own eventual transformation into a superhero).

Marvel/Disney has also released a new poster for the film, and it’s certainly the studio’s most distinct one-sheet image yet…

Source: Nerdist

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At least 12 dead in Paris after attack on satirical newspaper

At least 12 people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which has published cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, police told reporters.

Two police officers were among those killed. Currently, the number of injured people is thought to be around 20, of which four are critically wounded, according to Reuters.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told media that security forces were hunting for three gunmen, who fled towards the eastern Paris suburbs after holding up a car.

"There is possibility of other attacks and other sites are being secured," Police union official Rocco Contento told Reuters.

The 12 dead included two men who went by the pen names: Charb - the editor and a cartoonist as well - and the cartoonist Cabu, the Paris prosecutor's office told the Associated Press.

France's terror alert was raised to the highest level after the shooting, President Francois Hollande told local media. He confirmed that several terrorist attacks had been foiled by security sources over recent weeks.

Hollande later tweeted: "No barbaric act will ever shoot down press freedom. We are a united country that can react and unite."

"Two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs (guns)," journalist Benoit Bringer told French news channel iTELE, according to Reuters. "A few minutes later we heard lots of shots," he said, adding that the men were then seen fleeing the building.

A picture from the as-yet-unverified account of Le Monde journalist Elise Barthet apparently shows the shooters firing on a police car.



Charlie Hebdo is renowned for courting controversy. In 2012 it published cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, forcing France to temporarily close its embassies and schools in more than 20 countries amid fears of reprisals.

Its offices were also firebombed in November 2011 after publishing the Muhammad cartoon.

The magazine's last tweet before the shooting was of a cartoon of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of terrorist organization ISIS.

A series of rallies under the slogan "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie), have been called across France this evening in support of freedom of the press.

Global Reaction

World leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the attack.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press."

Source: CNBC

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Say Goodbye to your Old Peso Bills; BSP Starts Demonetization

MANILA, Philippines- Say goodbye to your old peso bills as they “no longer have any monetary value, and are considered demonetized” by January 1, 2017.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has stopped the circulation of old bank notes since the start of the new year January 1, 2015.

According to BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo, the demonitization process which runs from January 1 this year until end of 2016, will make way for the “new generation” currency bank notes launched in December 2010. Moreover, such move will also prevent the counterfeiting of the Philippine bank notes.
 

PHOTO CREDIT: ABS-CBN News

“Why do we need to demonetize from the perspective of the Bangko Sentral? We want to align with the practice of other central banks around the world which normally change the currency design every 10 years,” Guinigundo explained.

The printing of the old peso bill design, which has been used since 1985, has stopped in 2013.

What to do with old bank notes?

Old bank notes can be still used for payment of goods and services until the end of 2015. However, beginning 2016, old peso bills will no longer be accepted.
 

PHOTO CREDIT: ABS-CBN News

From January 1, 2015 until December 31, 2016, Individuals holding old bank notes may visit the nearest BSP offices and branches to exchange their old bills with new ones.

Overseas Filipino workers with old peso bills need not to worry even if they are residing in another country as BSP is giving them an opportunity to have it exchanged.

“For overseas Filipinos abroad, who have in their possession (old) bank notes which could not be exchanged within the prescribed period, they may register online starting October 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 through the BSP website,” Guinigundo said.

Source: The Daily Pedia

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US Navy drone recovered in Quezon province

PNP personnel in Quezon Province pose beside a recovered "aerial target drone" believed to be owned and operated by the US Navy. The drone bearing serial number BQ55079 and marked US Navy was recovered by Patnanungan PNP at 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 4, The police took custody of the unarmed drone. A similar drone was recovered off the coast of Masbate province by San Jacinto town police in 2013. The drone was turned over to the Philippine Navy. Hero Peewee Bacuño

Patnanungan Municipal Police recovers a BQM-74E, a United States Navy target drone at Sitio Katakian, Barangay Busdak, Patnanungan town, Quezon at around 4 p.m. of January 4, 2015. The said drone has a serial number BQ55079.

Currently, the target drone is in the custody of Patnanungan Police. This is a second reported recovery of a US Navy drone within Philippine territory.

The first time was last January 2013 at Sitio Tacdugan, San Jacinto, Masbate. US Embassy in Manila said that the target drone recovered in Masbate was deployed several months ago in Guam during a US Naval exercise.

BQM-74s are primarily used as aerial target during simulation. These target drones are capable of simulating enemy threats for gunnery and missile training exercises.

Source: Ang Malaya Net

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WATCH: The 19 Best Movie Fight Scenes Of 2014

It was a year of fighting robots, brawling neighbors, battling tanks, and so much more. SPOILERS BELOW.


19. Optimus Prime vs. Grimlock, Transformers: Age of Extinction
Paramount Home Entertainment

2014 was the year we fully surrendered to the blockbuster franchise, with its nine-figure budgets, shared universes, and promises of inevitable reboots, full of sound, fury, and spectacle. But given how much grand action there was on screen, there were surprisingly few standout fight sequences. Part of it’s that the swooping digital battles that are everywhere now are… well, everywhere now, the new norm. Take Transformers: Age of Extinction, a movie overflowing with the expected Michael Bay eye-popping visuals, but also one that, at least for me, faded into a blur almost immediately. Except for this scene, which uses the most cutting edge cinematic technology to render, in exquisite detail, a robot that can turn into a truck fighting a robot that can turn into a dinosaur, and then riding it through the streets of Hong Kong. What really cements this moment is not the bewildering speech about freedom Optimus Prime gives the Dinobot he’s beating up, but that the observing Autobots seem just as surprised at the T-rex transformation and the expanding rules of their franchise as anyone watching. “I was expecting a giant car!” gasps Drift.


18. Lucy vs. Taiwanese Gangsters, Lucy
Universal Pictures

Lucy writes itself into a bit of a corner by having its main character accelerate toward post-human transcendence so quickly — no one can win against or even surprise Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) once she begins her journey. That said, the scene in which she first puts her new awareness to use, taking out the men holding her captive in the back of a Taipei restaurant, digging out the bullet in her shoulder, and passing for some quick caloric intake, is a minor joy in all of its brisk, cold-eyed efficiency.


17. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Warner Bros.

The Hobbit was obviously stretching its material for its final chapter, but who isn’t thankful that left plenty of room for one last great Legolas fight? Orlando Bloom’s elf prince has gotten to do something physics-defyingly awesome in just about every one of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, and his rematch with the Orc chieftain Bolg on a crumbling bridge was another cleverly orchestrated, impossibly athletic bit of Legolas action.


16. Godzilla vs. MUTO, Godzilla
Warner Home Video

Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot was all about anticipation, teasing the first appearance of the MUTOs, the giant monsters that end up terrorizing various American cities, not to mention the famous kaiju himself. When the monsters finally do meet in San Francisco, the battle escalates as well, never more satisfyingly than in the moment in which Godzilla first shows off his nuclear capabilities. A MUTO is closing in on Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) when, just in time, Godzilla rises out of the darkness, spines glowing blue as he prepares a blast of atomic breath.


15. Mac vs. Teddy, Neighbors
Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Teddy’s (Zac Efron) big brawl is particularly funny for all the groundwork the film lays for it — the dildos they use as weapons are molded after the frat brothers’ own members, with Scoonie’s (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) impressive endowment making for a sex toy Mac is able to whip around like nunchucks. The “I am Batman!” is a callback to the drunken conversation Mac and Teddy had when they first hung out. Teddy catching the beer Mac hurls at him? Well, that’s just another example of Teddy being the platonic (and practically superhuman) ideal of a frat boy.


14. X-Men vs. Sentinels, X-Men: Days of Future Past
20th Century Fox

The scene toward the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past, in which the X-Men of the future take their last stand against the improved Sentinels bent on exterminating them, is disturbing not just because we’re watching beloved characters (temporarily) die. We’ve already seen how well they work together in their dystopian future, but the Sentinels are able to snuff them out so brutally, turning their own powers back on them like dark, impassive mirrors.


13. John vs. Russian Gangsters, John Wick
Summit Entertainment

There’s not one particularly stand-out fight scene in the Keanu Reeves assassin drama John Wick, but it’s all so elegantly shot. Take this carefully choreographed gunfight sequence inside a nightclub, which holds on Reeves for longer takes rather than chopping the action up, letting it unfold within the frame so you can actually see where everyone is.


12. Wallace vs. Howard, Tusk
A24

You have to give Kevin Smith’s comedic horror movie this — it takes a wacky premise conceived in his podcast and runs with it to its darkest extremes. And so you eventually come to the admirably strange, totally disturbing conclusion, in which Wallace (Justin Long), having been operated on and sewn into a walrus suit, fights his captor and tormentor Howard Howe (Michael Parks). He manages to win by embracing his animal side, putting the final nail in the coffin of his humanity in the process.


11. Fury vs. the Tiger I, Fury
Columbia Pictures

There’s a lumbering quality to tanks that makes staging exciting battles between them challenging — tanks are heavily armored, trundling things that just fire away at each other. But the sequence in David Ayer’s World War II movie in which the characters in the Sherman tank of its title face down a technologically superior German Tiger I tank is thrilling, because it’s based around tactics and on-the-fly maneuvering. The Sherman tank and the Tiger circle each other in the field, trying to get access to each other’s weak spots, with the Fury team knowing that they’re in the more vulnerable vehicle and don’t have the luxury of counting on being able to take a hit.


10. Riggan vs. Mike, Birdman
Fox Searchlight

The fight that Hollywood star turned Broadway hopeful Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) has with his costar Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) is as entertainingly humiliating as any tiff over the spotlight between two egotistical actors is bound to be. Mike’s in his underwear and Riggan is wielding a newspaper containing the contested profile on Mike, reading out the most problematic quotes. But best of all is the battle that takes place before anyone’s thrown a punch — a battle of acting skills, as Riggan tells an invented sob story about his terrible childhood just to see if Mike believes him.


9. Schmidt vs. Mercedes, 22 Jump Street
Columbia Pictures

Schmidt’s (Jonah Hill) brawl with Mercedes (Jillian Bell) is rife with all kinds of confusion about how to fight a girl. She seems more than able to holding her own, taunting him about his reluctance to engage, but despite an utter lack of sexual tension, the two keep ending up in an almost romantic clinch, because they seem to think it’s expected. Not every clash between a man and a woman is about sublimated sexual attraction, and the proof, in 22 Jump Street, is endearingly awkward.


8. Themistokles vs. Artemisia, 300: Rise of an Empire
Warner Home Video

Of course, then you have the exact sort of scene 22 Jump Street was making fun of in 300: Rise of an Empire. The 300 sequel’s only noteworthy sequence was the one in which our hero, Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton), goes to parlay with Persian naval commander Artemisia (Eva Green). There’s plenty of tension to be had, and it turns out to be absolutely justified, with the two are soon throwing each other around the room in what can only be described as a sex fight that’s more outrageous than any of the computer-generated gore filling the screen the rest of the the film’s runtime.


7. Robert vs. Russian Gangsters, The Equalizer
Columbia Pictures

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is another character who prefers to work with the weapons at hand, but what’s most intriguing about him is showcased in this early fight scene, then allowed to fade away. His mild OCD, which leads him to time himself and line up his napkin with the side of the table, also seems to make him a better killer, as he slaughters a room full of Russian gangsters, then checks how long it took against his earlier estimation.


6. Dwight vs. Wade, Blue Ruin
RADiUS-TWC

So much of the suspense in Jeremy Saulnier’s terrific little revenge thriller comes from the audience having no clue what will happen next, because Dwight (Macon Blair) has no idea what he’s doing. The movie lays that out in the scene that triggers all the violence that will follow, as Dwight tracks down Wade Cleland Jr. (Sandy Barnett), who’s just finished serving a sentence for the murder of Dwight’s parents. Dwight tries to steal a gun and fails, and ends up following Wade into the bathroom of a club. Dwight’s terrified and trembling, there in that restroom stall — he’s never killed anyone before. And the scuffle and murder that follows is as messy and unpleasant as, well, murders probably are, setting the tone for everything that to come.


5. Cage vs. The Mimics, Edge of Tomorrow
Warner Home Video

We see the battle scene in which Cage (Tom Cruise) lands on the beach with the rest of the doomed human army again and again — every time he dies, he ends up back there, getting better each time at making his way through the fighting and staying alive. But that first fight is dizzying in its shock value, particularly in seeing Cruise, the shiniest of movie star, flounder his way through the chaos. He doesn’t know what he’s doing and no one cares what happens to him, and from the second he spins crashing down onto the beach until the time he buys it, it’s overwhelming and traumatic. Then we start all over again.


4. The Tail Section vs. The Axe Men, Snowpiercer
RADiUS-TWC

The biggest hurdle for the members of the rebelling tail section is the car in which they encounter a group of men, armed with axes. What starts as a neatly staged battle gets better and more surreal as it goes along — first, there’s the fish, then there’s the moment they cross the Yekaterina Bridge, and everyone pauses to celebrate the New Year. And then, as planned, the train enters a long tunnel, and the Axe men don night vision gear to take advantage of the darkness and slaughter as many of the unprepared rebels as possible. Brilliant.


3. Dave, Aaron, and Sook vs. Kim Jong-un, The Interview
Columbia Pictures

It’s the sequence that potentially launched an international cyber war. How can it not be on here?


2. Captain America vs. S.T.R.I.K.E., Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Captain America: The Winter Soldier eventually builds up to scenes of a giant aircraft colliding with a building, but its best action scene is intentionally intimate — the one in which Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is ambushed in an elevator by Agent Rumlow (Frank Grillo) and members of S.T.R.I.K.E.. The build-up is almost as delicious as the actual combat, as more and more supposed allies crowd into the tight space. Steve’s aware that he’s surrounded, but everyone’s pretending its business as normal right until he destroys the pretense by saying “Before we get started — does anyone want to get out?” The resulting fight pits Steve’s superior strength and skills against seemingly insurmountable odds, and he spends most of the clash with one arm pinned to the wall. It’s all terrifically staged, right through to his painful escape.


1. Rama vs. The Assassin, The Raid 2
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

The Raid 2’s pleasures are decidedly old school — it’s a martial arts movie starring real martial artists, including Iko Uwais as Rama, a cop who goes undercover in a gang to expose the criminals as well as the corrupt police who’ve been dealing with them. Freed from the need to cut around stars who are being replaced by stunt doubles, director Gareth Evans is freed up to show his carefully choreographed clashes as they should be shot, like very violent dance sequences. The movie’s best fight scene is also one of its last, as Rama makes this way through one of the gang leader’s top three enforcers. The last, listed only as “The Assassin” and played by Cecep Arif Rahman, meets him in the industrial kitchen of a restaurant, where the two engage in a vicious, gorgeously staged combat to the death. The performers’ skill is part of what makes this the greatest fight scene of the year, but it’s also noteworthy for how much damage Evans makes sure we know the two characters are sustaining. When Rama wins, there’s no triumph in his eyes, only exhaustion and trauma — we may be exhilarated, but he only wants to go home.


Source: BuzzFeed

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