Pope Cuts Short Visit To Typhoon-Hit Tacloban

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 17 Januari 2015 | 12.14

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Pope Francis has cut short his visit to the Philippines city devastated by a super typhoon because of an approaching storm.

The pontiff had celebrated mass with survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban on Saturday morning.

The city was devastated by the typhoon - the most powerful storm ever recorded on land - 14 months ago, killing 7,350 people in the Philippines' worst natural disaster.

Tens of thousands of people braved the elements to cheer as Pope Francis walked off his plane in strong winds and heavy rain.

He told the crowd: "I would like to tell you something close to my heart.

1/24

Gallery: Before And After Images

View of the entrance to San Roque Elementary School in Leyte, Philippines

The same view one year on

]]>

A group of boys play with replica guns amongst debris in Tacloban City

]]>

A homemade casket is seen on the side of the road as curfew approaches on November 14, 2013 in Leyte, Philippines

]]>

"When I saw in Rome that catastrophe, I felt I had to be here. And on those very days, I decided to come here. I'm here to be with you."

Many of the communities hit by the typhoon are still struggling to recover, with the rubble of destroyed buildings lying in piles.

Pope Francis is on a five-day visit to the Philippines.

His visit to Tacloban was cut short because of the approach of Tropical Storm Mekkhala.

On Friday, he used his first major speech to call on authorities in the Philippines to resist corruption and end "scandalous social inequalities".

Catholics account for around 80% of the country's population.

Organisers of the visit are expecting up to six million people to attend mass at a Manila park on Sunday. If the crowd does reach that figure, it would pass the previous record for a papal ceremony - five million during a mass by John Paul III in 1995.

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 16 Januari 2015 | 12.14

Paris Arms Dealing Arrest As Funerals Held

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Belgian authorities have arrested a man suspected of supplying the gunmen who killed 17 people in Paris, as funerals for the victims of the attacks continued.

Police in Charleroi are holding the man on suspicion of arms dealing after he handed himself in to police in the city on Tuesday.

He told officers he had been in touch with Amedy Coulibaly, the militant who took hostages in a Jewish supermarket in the French capital and was later killed by security forces.

According to the reports, the man said he had conned Coulibaly in a car sale.

But police later found evidence the pair were negotiating the sale of bullets for a 7.62mm caliber firearm - the type needed for the Tokarev pistol Coulibaly used in his attack on the supermarket in Paris that left four hostages dead.

A spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecution said: "The man is being held by the judge in Charleroi on suspicion of arms dealing.

1/25

Gallery: Funerals For Charlie Hebdo Victims

The coffin of Franck Brinsolaro, the police bodyguard killed while protecting Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier

Mr Brinsolaro was one of the 12 victims killed during the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris

]]>

Mr Brinsolaro's funeral was held at the Sainte-Croix Church in the northwestern French town of Bernay

]]>

Police colleagues attended the service

]]>

Mr Brinsolaro's relatives. Continue through for more images

]]>

"Further investigations will have to show whether there is a link with the events in Paris."

Meanwhile, Malian man Lassana Bathily, who helped protect hostages in the kosher supermarket, has been given French nationality after his actions were widely praised.

It came as more funerals were held for employees of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, who were killed by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.

Private family funerals took place for cartoonists Georges Wolinski, 80, and Bernard "Tignous" Verlhac, 57, after they were shot dead by the pair.

The funeral for Franck Brinsolaro, one of the policemen killed, was held in Sainte-Croix de Bernay, while Elsa Cayat, the only woman killed in the attacks, was buried in Montparnasse.

1/16

Gallery: Faces Of Paris Suspects And Victims

Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, is a suspect in the murder of a Paris policewoman on Thursday. She is on the run after her husband Amedy Coulibaly was killed when armed officers brought his kosher supermarket siege to a violent end

Her husband Amedy Coulibaly, 32

]]>

Meanwhile, Barcelona-based daily newspaper La Vanguardia reported that Coulibaly spent three days in Madrid before last week's Paris attacks, with Spanish police now investigating whether he had a support cell there.

He was reportedly in Madrid between 30 December and 2 January with another person who has not yet been identified.

His partner, Hayat Boumeddiene, is known to have been in the Spanish capital before last week's attacks, but this is the first report that Coulibaly himself had been there for three days.

Turkish authorities said Boumeddiene crossed into Syria on January 8 from Turkey after arriving in Istanbul on a flight from Madrid.

:: The news emerged as security sources said the Algerian army had found the body of French tourist Herve Gourdel, who was beheaded in the country by jihadists in September.

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 15 Januari 2015 | 12.15

French comedian Dieudonne will stand trial on suspicion of glorifying terrorism after a Facebook comment referencing last week's attacks in Paris.

Prosecutors opened a case against the notorious comedian on Monday after he posted the remark, which appeared to sympathise with the Islamist gunmen who left 17 people dead.

Playing on the slogan "Je suis Charlie", the comedian wrote: "Tonight, as far as I'm concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly."

The comment has since been deleted.

Amedy Coulibaly is accused of murdering a policewoman and then storming a kosher supermarket, shooting dead four shoppers.

He claimed to have been collaborating with brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, who slaughtered 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. All three gunmen were subsequently killed in police raids.

1/15

Gallery: France Queues At Newstands For Charlie Hebdo

A queue of people wait outside a kiosk to get a copy of Charlie Hebdo in Saint Germain en Laye, France

People wait outside a newsagents in Paris. The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo since Islamist attacks on the magazines offices left 12 people dead has sold out in many parts of France

]]>

12.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Images Are 'Shocking' Proof Of Boko Haram Attacks

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Satellite images of the "catastrophic" attacks on two towns in Nigeria by Boko Haram militants have been released by Amnesty International.

The campaign group says the pictures, taken on 2 and 7 January, provide "indisputable and shocking evidence" of the scale of the assaults on Baga and neighbouring Doron Baga.

It believes hundreds of people were killed and that over 3,700 structures were either damaged or destroyed in the attacks.

Other nearby towns and villages in north-eastern Borno state were also targeted by the Islamists between 3 and 7 January.

"These detailed images show devastation of catastrophic proportions in two towns, one of which was almost wiped off the map in the space of four days," said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty.

1/6

Gallery: Boko Haram Attack Nigerian Town

Satellite images released by Amnesty International today provide indisputable and shocking evidence of the scale of last week's attack on the towns of Baga and Doron Baga by Boko Haram militants

Image of Baga taken on 7 January which shows many thatch roof structures have been razed. The dark colour represents burned areas, while the red indicates healthy vegetation

]]>

Satellite image of dense housing in Doro Baga taken on 7 Jan 2015, following an attack by Boko Haram

]]>

This image show over 620 structures damaged or destroyed predominantly located in the southern portion of Baga

]]>

Shows an example of the densely packed structures and tree cover in Doro Baga before the village was razed by Boko Haram

]]>

"Of all Boko Haram assaults analysed by Amnesty International, this is the largest and most destructive yet. It represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics and schools are now burnt out ruins."

Approximately 620 structures were damaged or destroyed by fire in Baga, a densely-populated town less than two square kilometres in size.

In Doron Baga, which is also known as Doro Gowon and is around four square kilometres, over 3,100 structures were either damaged or burnt.

Many of the wooden fishing boats along the shoreline, visible in the images taken on the 2 January, are no longer present in the 7 January photos.

This tallies with eye witnesses' testimony that many terrified residents fled to safety in boats across Lake Chad.

A man in his fifties told Amnesty: "I saw maybe around 100 killed at that time in Baga. I ran to the bush. As we were running, they were shooting and killing."

Other witnesses described how Boko Haram drove into the bush rounding up women, children and the elderly.

A woman who was detained for four days said: "(They) took around 300 women and kept us in a school in Baga. They released the older women, mothers and most of the children after four days but are still keeping the younger women."

Boko Haram fighters have repeatedly targeted communities for their perceived collaboration with Nigeria's security forces.

Towns that formed state-sponsored militia groups known as the Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) have suffered particularly brutal attacks.

Since 2009 Amnesty says thousands of people have been killed, hundreds abducted and hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes by Boko Haram.

It is calling on Nigeria's security forces to do more to protect civilians and for the group's "war crimes and crimes against humanity" to be "duly investigated".

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 13 Januari 2015 | 12.15

The health facilities in remote parts of Sierra Leone are barely functioning with no concrete sign that the Ebola virus has been beaten.

In parts of the country like Kono district on the eastern border with Guinea, the people are feeling desperate and, in many cases, forgotten.

Until this week, Kono has no ebola treatment centre or testing facilities of its own. That meant that those suspected of contracting the virus had to travel several hours to neighbouring Kenema district for medical help - or even confirmation of the deadly disease. It is impossible to know how many people could have been infected or died en route.

Now though, there is a 48-bed facility near Koidu, the Kono district capital, and a testing laboratory will mean those with worrying symptoms can be diagnosed within five to six hours.

It should make an enormous difference but the delay is probably responsible for the latest outbreak of fresh cases (although sadly for Sierra Leoneans this is not confined to Kono).

The latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that there were nearly 600 confirmed Ebola cases in the country in the two weeks up until the end of the first week of January, more than double the numbers in Guinea and Liberia combined.

The Sky News team travelled the nine-hour journey to Kono district and discovered frantic work being done by WHO and UN aid agencies to shore up the health facilities but for many in the area, it is help which has come too late.

At Kono district hospital in Koidu, we found few nursing staff and few patients: everyone is too scared to go to the hospital or fear of catching the disease.

Two nursing staff in the maternity ward alone have died in the past week and we found few medical supplies and little protective clothing available to those staff who are still going to work.

In the 185-bed hospital, only fifteen patients are being treated and those we spoke to complained the nurses would not tend to them.

Almost as soon as we entered the hospital we found the corpse of a man laying on the floor of an empty ward.

We were told by other patients he had arrived at the hospital five days earlier but the staff suspected he had Ebola and he was directed to an empty ward and left there.

He lay there on the floor untended, ignored and unfed. We were told about him late on Saturday night but by the time we arrived early on Sunday morning, he was dead.

Nineteen-year-old Amanita Jeremiah arrived - in labour - and moaning in agony. But when she arrived at the labour unit, the overnight nurse warned everyone to be careful about contact with her because "her eyes are red and she could have Ebola".

She then went home and left the teenager in the charge of a traditional birth attendant, who had brought her to the hospital, and the hospital cleaner. Neither of them had any formal medical training. The cleaner also operated as a Traditional Birth Attendant, a role which is usually one of support for women giving birth at home and relies on cultural and traditional methods re childbirth, in her community.

Neither woman had sufficient protective clothing. One of the ways Ebola is transmitted is through bodily fluids like blood and birthing mothers who have the virus are therefore especially dangerous. The Sky News team offered them our spare safety clothing.

Amanita spent the next three hours writhing around in agony. At one stage, the cleaner used the remaining two phials of medicine in the maternity ward stocks to try to kickstart the labour. Amanita went into convulsions and had to be held down by both women who looked terrified.

Finally a nursing assistant arrived. Again we had to provide some of our spare protective clothing.

Just as the baby was being born, the cleaner fainted. She had been in her protective suit for nearly three hours. The recommended time for wearing the PPE is about 90 minutes - although many aid agencies enforce a 45-minute rule because of the suffocating heat in Sierra Leone.

Baby Emmanuel's arrival was greeted initially with elation - but he is now the latest Ebola suspect and until the disease is ruled out, he is potentially a lethal health risk.

12.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

French Police: Six Terrorists 'Still At Large'

Up to six terror cell members may still be at large after the Paris attacks in which 17 people were murdered, French police have warned.

One of them has been spotted driving a car registered to the partner of one of the dead attackers, according to the authorities.

Police officials said a search was being carried out of the Paris area for the Mini Cooper car registered to Hayat Boumeddiene, the girlfriend of Amedy Coulibaly, who gunned down a police officer before killing four people in a Jewish supermarket last Friday.

The attack came after co-conspirators Said and Cherif Kouachi massacred 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

All three killers were finally cornered and died in police assaults on Friday.

France's Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, said Coulibaly "undoubtedly" had an accomplice and that "the hunt will go on" for anyone who helped him.

Boumeddiene remains on the run amid reports she has fled to Syria.

Footage has emerged of her arriving at Istanbul Airport before the attacks in Paris took place.

In a video, Coulibaly defended the atrocities and pledged allegiance to the terror group Islamic State.

Meanwhile, France has deployed nearly 5,000 police to protect Jewish schools and mobilised thousands more security forces following the terror attacks.

Three million copies are to be published of this week's Charlie Hebdo special "survivors' issue", with many of them to be made available outside of France and offered "in 16 languages".

1/35

Gallery: Commandos Storm Supermarket

Pic: @conflictnews

Explosions rang out at the scene

]]>

12.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

March Against Terror Is France's 'Biggest Demo'

Written By Unknown on Senin, 12 Januari 2015 | 12.15

More than a million people have marched through Paris in a show of defiance and unity in the wake of three days of terror that left 17 people dead.

Officials say the rally was the largest demonstration in French history.

In total, more than three million people took part in anti-extremism rallies across France.

The capital was on high alert as the crowd made its way from the historic Place de la Republique to Place de la Nation.

The families of those who died in the shootings, many of them weeping and embracing, led the march alongside heads of state and royalty.

World leaders linked hands as they set off on the 1.9 mile route.

Among those at the front of the crowd were French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Before they set off, a minute of silence was observed for those who died in the attacks.

Many of those marching carried the French national flag and tributes to the victims of the attacks on a satirical magazine, a Jewish supermarket and police.

Occasional bursts of applause and chants of "Charlie! Charlie!" in memory of the journalists gunned down at Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday could be heard from the crowds.

Small groups sang the La Marseillaise, the French national anthem.

Giant letters attached to a statue in the Place de la Republique spelt out the word "Pourquoi?" (Why?).

More than 5,500 police and military personnel were deployed, including 2,200 who guarded the route of the march.

Some 2,000 police officers and 1,350 soldiers were stationed at other locations around the city, including at places of worship, media outlets and public buildings.

A total of 150 plain clothes detectives mingled among the crowd and a security perimeter was enforced, with roads and some metro stations closed.

Nearly 10,000 people took to the streets of Dammartin-en-Goele, the small town where the manhunt for the brothers behind the Charlie Hebdo attack came to a bloody end.

In Saint-Etienne in the southeast, some 60,000 people, more than a third of the population, joined a march from the railway station to the town hall.

The scenes were repeated everywhere from Perpignan in the Pyrenees of the south to Blois in the Loire valley.

Ahead of the Paris rally, French President Francois Hollande said: "Today, Paris is the capital of the world.

"Our entire country will rise up toward something better."

Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, who were behind the attack on Charlie Hebdo, and their associate Amedy Coulibaly, who shot dead a policewoman and then killed four people at the kosher supermarket, were killed by police on Friday.

Authorities are hunting Coulibaly's "armed and dangerous" partner Hayat Boumeddiene.

:: Watch Sky News Special Report: Paris Attack on skynews.com and our mobile apps.

1/28

Gallery: France Attacks: Marches Worldwide

London's Tower Bridge is illuminated by the red, white and blue of the French Tricolore in solidarity with the capital of the UK's nearest neighbour state

People in many countries around the world have taken part in demonstrations of unity with the French people after the attacks in Paris. A large number of people gathered in Madrid

]]>

12.15 | 0 komentar | Read More

Thousands Around World Show Unity With Paris

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Thousands of people in the UK and around the world joined in solidarity with the French people as they marched or gathered in unity against the Paris attacks.

More than a thousand people gathered in London's Trafalgar Square on Sunday to honour the victims of Islamist attacks in Paris, with many raising pencils to the sky.

The colours of the French flag - the Tricolore - were displayed on several landmarks in the capital including the National Gallery, Tower Bridge and the London Eye.

London Mayor Boris Johnson described the gatherings in London and around the world as "stunning" and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said there was a "striking dignity" about people coming together spontaneously to "show their quiet disgust at what happened".

French Ambassador to London Sylvie Bermann told Sky News that the events of Sunday were "very important".

1/28

Gallery: France Attacks: Marches Worldwide

London's Tower Bridge is illuminated by the red, white and blue of the French Tricolore in solidarity with the capital of the UK's nearest neighbour state

People in many countries around the world have taken part in demonstrations of unity with the French people after the attacks in Paris. A large number of people gathered in Madrid

]]>

The French Ambassador to Cyprus joined crowds at Eleftheria Square in central Nicosia, Cyprus

]]>

A woman holds the national flag of France as people gather in Trafalgar Square, London

]]>

People hold placards reading in French "I am Charlie" and in English "Not Afraid" during a public show of solidarity at Plaza del Sol in Madrid

]]>

She said: "The message is fight against terrorism, to defend our voices, to defend our freedoms of opinion and expression. Everybody wanted to participate and everybody is concerned."

Hundreds more marched through the centres of Glasgow and Dublin and around 1,000 held a minute's silence in Sheffield.

Many of those marching around the world displayed the French phrase that has become the symbol of the fight to preserve freedom of expression in the wake of the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine - Je suis Charlie (I am Charlie).

Others unveiled banners that supported the police and Jewish and Islamic people, with many keen to say that being Muslim does not mean being a terrorist.

Some 20,000 people marched through the Belgian capital Brussels on Sunday in one of the biggest marches outside France.

Around 12,000 rallied in the Austrian capital Vienna, 18,000 gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital Berlin and 2,000 people rallied outside the French embassy in Luxembourg.

While in Madrid's Plaza de Sol, hundreds descended on the streets with red, white and blue French flags, and singing the French national anthem.

Many of those in Madrid were Muslims, determined to spell out that Islam was a religion of peace and that being a Muslim and being a terrorist was not the same.

One of the marches around the world was in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, where children carried signs saying "I am Charlie" in Arabic and condemning the attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine.

Hundreds of people rallied in downtown Sydney's Martin Place, a plaza where a man wielding a shotgun took 18 people hostage in a cafe while displaying an Islamic flag.

Hundreds of mostly French-speaking New Yorkers braved below-freezing temperatures and held pens aloft at a rally in Washington Square Park.

Journalists in Cairo held a silent protest outside the headquarters of the Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists holding up pens.

It came as an Egyptian court sentenced a student to three years in jail for announcing on Facebook that he is an atheist and for being found guilty of the offence of insulting Islam.

Among other cities where demonstrations took place were Moscow, Jerusalem, Beirut in Lebanon, Thessalonika in Greece, Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, Ankara in Turkey, Nicosia in Cyprus, Tokyo in Japan and Ulan Bator in Mongolia.

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Muke Nyerate

Mengenai Saya

Popular Posts Today