141 Dead in Taliban Attack on Pakistan School
The siege of a school in Pakistan by Taliban militants has ended, leaving at least 141 people dead, most of them students.
Islamist militants wearing military uniforms and strapped with explosives attacked the military-run facility in the northwestern city of Peshawar. An army spokesman said security forces killed six of the attackers.
Military officials told reporters 132 of the dead were students about 12 to 16 years old. Nine school staff members are believed to have been killed as well.
An army spokesman said security forces killed six of the attackers. Police officials said the attack ended around 6.30 p.m. (1330 GMT), according to the French news agency AFP.
A provincial official said more than 120 others were wounded in the assault. VOA Dewaa Radio reporter Hameedullah Khan said more than 100 of the wounded are children.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was an act of retaliation for Pakistan's offensive targeting militants in the country's northwestern tribal region, near the Afghan border.
Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attacks.
Sharif, who arrived in Peshawar Tuesday, said the "government will not be deterred by this barbaric act" and vowed to continue military operations against the militants. He also declared a three-day national mourning period.
Source-VOA
Trinidad judge released on TT$5,000 bail
The vice president of the Industrial Court, Ramchand Lutchmedial, will re-appear in court on January 12 next year after he was released on TT$5,000 after pleading not guilty to a charge of failing to submit a specimen of breath for a breathalyser test last Friday.
Lutchmedial, who was represented by a team of lawyers, including his daughter, Jay-anti Lutchmedial, otherwise stood silent in the Tunapuna Magistrates’ Third Court when he appeared before Magistrate Braman-and Dubey on Monday.
Police allege that the judge was stopped last Friday night in Chaguanas, in Central Trinidad during a routine police exercise, but failed to provide a specimen of breath when he was asked to do so.
One of his attorneys, Ya-seen Ali noted that his client had a “well published” job in the legal fraternity as an Industrial Court judge and had been a long standing member of the bar as he had been practising for the past 36 years.
Ali also noted that because of this, his client had no previous matters before the courts nor convictions, and therefore he asked that the judge be granted bail and be “allowed to leave on his own cognisance”.
Ali also noted that Lutchmedial’s driver’s permit had been taken away from him on Friday night by officers at the scene, an act which is contrary to regulations. However, he did submit that it had been returned to his client earlier that evening.
The attorney also asked for disclosure and for a “speedy trial date”.
Thunder dims the Suns lights
Russell Westbrook totaled 28 points, eight assists and eight rebounds as the Oklahoma City Thunder threading the sixth straight victory, 112-88 on Sunday to crush the Suns in Phoenix.
Kevin Durant added 23 points and eight rebounds to the cause of Thunder.
Westbrook spun eight straight games in which he has accumulated at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, since recovering from a broken hand. For the intermediate, added 24 points, five balls stuck to the boards and six assists.
He stood very close to provide a "triple double" for the ninth time in his career.
Oklahoma City, who began the season with a record of 3-12, the medium was placed eighth game of the Western Conference. The Thunder, who has recovered Westbrook and Durant, injured during the start of the campaign, has won eight of its last nine games and has a 11-13 record.
Gerald Green led Phoenix with 15 points. The Suns have lost five games in a row to fall to a 12-13 road record.
Source-AP
Kobe Bryant Of LA Lakers surpasses Michael Jordan
Kobe Bryant has passed Michael Jordan to sit third on the National Basketball Association's all-time scoring list.
Bryant, 36, achieved the feat as he helped his Los Angeles Lakers side to victory at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"It's a huge honour. It's been such a long journey," said Bryant, who passed Jordan's mark with a pair of free throws in the second quarter.
Bryant now trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928) in career points.
"It's gone by really fast - it feels great to be at this point," Bryant added.
Bryant scored 26 points in Sunday's match and took his points tally to 32,310 in his 1,269th game compared to Jordan's 32,292 in 1,072 appearances.
"I try to learn so much from him [Jordan] in particular," said Bryant. "He's been such a huge part of my success and career in giving me advice. The relationship has meant everything to me."
DIGICEL BRINGS CHRISTMAS CHEER TO DORIS ROBINSON PRIMARY
The students of Doris Robinson Primary School on the island of Middle Caicos were all smiles as they received some early Christmas gifts from Digicel. Staff members from the nation’s leading telecoms company went bearing gifts for both staff and students on Thursday, December 11, 2014 during their annual Christmas visit.
A tradition now for over 5 years, the annual visit has become something not only students look forward to but also the community in general. The school which is adopted by Digicel benefits from a hot lunch programme which ensures that all the students receive a hot lunch every day while at school.
Head of Marketing for Digicel, Ava-Dayne Fulford says, “Digicel is pleased to have an on-going programme that benefits the students of Doris Robinson throughout the year. However we all know that Christmas is extra special so we make an extra effort to bring some cheer to these students and they have all grown to expect this of us and we are pleased to always deliver.”
Principal of the school, Keisha Mills, said, “We appreciate the work that Digicel does for us and especially at Christmas, the children are made to feel extra special. The entire community appreciates the gesture.”
The Doris Robinson Primary school currently has an enrollment of 16 students
JA Motorsport Nano is world’s cheapest car, accelerated
The Tata Nano was meant to be an affordable way to get India off mopeds and mobile. The 21st Century answer to the VW Beetle, if you will. Fair to say it failed in that grand ambition, the Nano managing a deplorable 10,200 sales during the first half of this year.
However, that hasn't stopped some brave men at JA Motorsport from turning the wick up on the world's cheapest car, to create a harder, faster and proper scary version.
In an extraordinary Liberty Walk-esque widebody, negative-camber conversion, this innocent Nano has been stretched and slammed within an inch of its life.
Maybe unsurprisingly, the standard car's 625cc, 35bhp twin-cylinder engine has been binned. Replacing it (and the rear seats) is a 1.3-litre unit producing 230bhp. The result? This rear-engine, rear-drive setup is apparently capable of 120mph, something you'd have to pay us a lot of money to verify.
To cope with the increased power, the all-round drum brakes that normally bring the Nano to a halt have been replaced with AP Racing discs. Meanwhile, diddy wheels wrapped in sticky slick tires with plenty of negative camber give the monster monobox some stance.
A standard Nano only weighs 600kg (1,323lbs), but that hasn't stopped the Indian tuners ripping out the cheap plastic interior and throwing in a lightweight carbon fibre cabin complete with Recaro bucket seats and a full roll cage. Amazingly, they've even given it two - yes two - wing mirrors, something even a £2.8m, 22 carat gold and jewel-encrusted Nano couldn't manage.
How hard will all these changes hit your wallet? A hefty £25,000 hard. That's a £23,300 mark-up on the standard car and puts the little Nano in the same price range as an Audi S1, which just so happens to have the exact same amount of power.
On the one hand, wouldn't this make the basis of an excellent one-make race series? On the other, don't forget the Nano received a zero-star adult protection rating and failed to meet even the most basic UN safety requirements when crash tested. Would you dare drive it?
A version of this story originally appeared on TopGear.com.
Pirate Bay 'copy' goes online after shutdown
Isohunt, a website providing access to mostly pirated material, has cloned the database of its competitor, The Pirate Bay, after it was shut down last week.
The cloned site is online and fully functioning, according to users.
The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most visited websites, has been closed since a police raid in Sweden last week.
Isohunt, which was banned in the UK last month, says it made the move in order to "save the Freedom of information on the Internet".
If The Pirate Bay returns, the cloned site will be taken down, Isohunt added.
The Pirate Bay offered an expansive list of links to pirated content including films, TV shows and music.
The Swedish police carried out a raid near Stockholm last week, seizing servers from The Pirate Bay following an investigation which had lasted "years", the force said.
While its founders have already been convicted of copyright infringement offences and some have been jailed, the site has proved difficult to close down permanently.
In 2012, The Pirate Bay changed its structure to make itself more portable and easy to clone.
When he heard about the raid last week Peter Sunde, one of the site's original founders, said that he did not like what the site had become.
"The site was ugly, full of bugs, old code and old design," he wrote in a blog post.
Mr Sunde went on to criticise the explicit nature of the adverts which appeared on it.
"It never changed except for one thing - the ads. More and more ads were filling the site, and somehow when it felt unimaginable to make these ads more distasteful they somehow ended up even worse."
Greek central bank boss warns of 'irreparable' damage
Greek's economy faces "irreparable" damage from the ongoing political crisis, the boss of its central bank has warned.
"The crisis in recent days is now taking serious dimensions...and the risk of irreparable damage for the Greek economy is now great," said Yannis Stournaras.
Greek politicians will start voting on Wednesday for a new Greek president.
There will be a snap general election if the government nominee loses.
The political uncertainty has rattled Greek markets over the past week.
Greece's economy emerged from a six-year long recession in the first quarter of the year.
However, the size of Greece's economy is still about a quarter below the peak it reached before the severe recession and debt crisis triggered by the global financial crash.
And conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's decision to call an early vote in parliament to elect a new president has caused fresh concerns.
His conservative-led coalition needs the support of other parties if its candidate is to obtain the backing of MPs.
On Thursday an official in the governing coalition said it was still short of the support needed to stop the government collapsing in the parliamentary vote.
Greece's government has warned of a catastrophe if snap elections are called and left-wing anti-bailout party Syriza wins, but Syriza has accused the government of fear mongering.
Source-BBC
MARINE FORECAST FOR MONDAY
GENERAL SITUATION: A WEAK HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE EXTENDS ACROSS THE ISLANDS WITH PLEASANT CONDITIONS.
FOR ALL AREAS
WEATHER: SLIGHT CHANCE OF A FEW ISOLATED SHOWERS.
ADVISORY: SMALL CRAFT CAUTION CONTINUES.
WINDS: N-NE AT 10-15 KNOTS IN THE NW AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND TCI AND N-NE AT 15-20 KNOTS IN THE SE BAHAMAS.
SEAS: 2-4 FEET IN THE NW AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND TCI 4-6 FEET
MOONRISE: 12:39AM
MOONSET: 12:49PM HIGH TIDE: 1:52AM LOW TIDE: 8:04AM HIGH TIDE: 1:59PM LOW TIDE: 8:23PM
Sydney Police Storm Cafe, End Standoff
A daylong standoff in Sydney, Australia, ended after heavily armed police stormed the cafe where a man, who was known to authorities, reportedly held at least a dozen people hostage for about 16 hours.
Heavy gunfire and loud bangs from stun grenades filled the air around 2 a.m. local time (1500 GMT on Monday) after security forces in tactical gear surrounded, then entered the storefront.
Moments earlier at least six people believed to have been held captive managed to flee the cafe.
There were unconfirmed reports of casualties. Several people were wheeled away from the scene conscious and alert on stretchers.
Only minutes before police stormed the cafe, officials had identified the gunman as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and a self-proclaimed Muslim cleric.
Monis is believed to have started the siege on the Lindt chocolate cafe in the city's central business district about 9:45 a.m. local time Monday.
Monis, who is facing charges including sexual assault and accessory to murder in separate cases, was found guilty in 2012 of sending offensive and threatening letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed overseas, according to media reports.
Media said that two people, including the gunman, had been killed. New South Wales police declined to comment on the reports, and it was not clear whether the fatalities occurred during the rescue operation itself.
Local media reported that Monis, who was known as Manteghi Bourjerdi before he changed his name, was 49 or 50 years old.
Early in the crisis, hostages were seen standing with their hands pushed up against the windows. A black flag with the Islamic creed known as the Shahada written in white could be seen through the glass.
New South Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione on Monday refused to call the situation a terrorist act. But Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the incident at the cafe may have been politically motivated.
Nearby buildings, including the U.S. Consulate in Sydney, had been evacuated. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the department is monitoring the hostage situation and the mission's personnel are accounted for.
The New South Wales state parliament house is also just a few blocks away.
Source-VOA