World News joined 0011

[JohnCenaFan28]

That's awful...

[JohnCenaFan28]

At least 15 people have been injured in an apparent attack in Jerusalem, Israeli police say.

They say a man drove his car into a group of people at a busy intersection, before being shot and killed by an armed bystander.

Rescue services took the injured to local hospitals. Police described the incident as a "terror attack".

The road junction was close to the so-called Green Line, which separates the Jewish and Arab areas of Jerusalem.

The incident took place just before 2300 (2000 GMT).

Despite the late hour the streets were busy as people walked back from Jerusalem's Old City.

"A man in a vehicle struck a number of people in Kikar Tzahal [also known as Israel Defence Forces Square]," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

A rescue worker said the group of pedestrians was about to cross the road when the car - apparently a black BMW - struck them.

The identity of the alleged attacker was not immediately known, with reports suggesting he could be Palestinian.

If so, this would be the third such incident of its kind in recent weeks in Jerusalem.

On two previous occasions, Palestinian construction workers from East Jerusalem have driven diggers into oncoming traffic, killing three Israelis and wounding several others.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

Egypt says negotiations are still ongoing to secure the release of 19 people abducted in southern Egypt.



A cabinet spokesman said that an earlier announcement by the foreign minister that they had been freed and were safe and well was premature.

The group includes five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian, along with eight Egyptians.

They were seized near the Gilf al-Kebir plateau, close to the Libyan and Sudanese borders.

Egypt said the kidnappers were bandits who had demanded a ransom.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit had announced the news of a release in New York.

Mr Abul Gheit said ahead of a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: "They have been released, all of them, safe and sound.

"It was a group of gangsters."

But the cabinet spokesman, Magdy Radi, said: "It is premature to say they are released. The negotiations are still continuing."

Tour owner's call

Earlier, Egypt had said bandits had demanded a ransom of up to $6m (£3.24m) and it was feared the group had been taken to Sudan.

Kidnappings of foreigners in Egypt have been very uncommon in recent years.

The tourism ministry said those abducted along with the foreigners were two guides, four drivers, a guard and the owner of the travel company who had organised the trip to Gilf al-Kebir.

Gilf al-Kebir is a giant plateau famous for its prehistoric cave paintings, which featured in the 1996 film The English Patient.

The Mena news agency reported that the tour company owner had called his wife on a satellite phone to say the group had been kidnapped by five masked men speaking English "with an African accent".

The BBC's Ian Pannell in Cairo says local guides have indicated that the Gilf al-Kebir area has become increasingly unsafe this year.

Another group of foreigners was held at gunpoint in February and three of their vehicles were taken.

An investigation at the time pointed the blame at smugglers and bandits.

Our correspondent says there has been criticism that the Egyptian military has not done enough to patrol the area despite the increased threat.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

The price of oil has jumped by more than $16 to $120.92 a barrel, the biggest one-day gain on record.



There is uncertainty about how the government's plan will work, causing investors to switch to perceived safe havens such as oil.

Others believe that the US government's bail-out plan will help the economy, increasing demand for oil.

Concerns also persist about supply as production in the Gulf of Mexico is still affected by Hurricane Ike.

However, analysts said the US rescue package was key.

"[It] has changed sentiment in the oil market," said analyst Paul Harris from Bank of Ireland.

At one point during trading, the price of oil rose by more than $25. The volatility in the price has been exacerbated by the fact that the contract for the supply of oil in October expires on Monday.

The contract for oil to be delivered in November was not up as sharply. It rose by $6.62 to $109.37 in New York.

Last week oil traded as low as $91 a barrel. It had fallen from the peak of $147 a barrel it reached in July.

BBC News

[JohnCenaFan28]

A nightly carnival where bachelors are ridiculed into getting married is under way in northern Nigeria.

Until 1 October, Kano's "Bachelor catcher" and his band of musicians will roam the streets, parading a bachelor they have caught in a noose.

The carnival is part of the celebrations of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, where people fast during the daylight hours.

These days the bachelor is a symbolic one, chosen for the event.

But in the past the troop of drummers known as "Nalako" used to roam the streets looking for men they thought should do the decent thing and marry.

Hereditary

The title of Kano's "Bachelor catcher", the Sarkin Nalako, has been handed down for at least three generations, according to its current holder Auwalu Nalako.

"This is something my father did, and his father before him. It is of great importance," he says.

Auwalu's two sons will take over from him, he says.

After sunset, when Muslims break their fast, it is traditional among Kano's Hausa population for young men to go into the streets in groups and go door-to-door dancing and singing.

People give contributions of food or money.

Bachelor 'dogs'

But the Nalako group have a message to their songs.

They call bachelors "dogs" and say their prayers during Ramadan are worthless.

The Sarkin Nalako dresses up like a hunter, and his bachelor prey is paraded around with a rough noose around his neck and indigo dye smeared on his face.

Their songs are accompanied by goatskin drums and metal bells.

"Its important to encourage people to get married to avoid the immorality of having sexual intercourse with lots of people," says the Sarkin Nalako.

In Hausa tradition, a man cannot be recognised as an adult unless he is married.

Those without the means to marry are often denied respect and a voice in society.

BBC News

[Slayer_X]

God i love living in a free country

[Slayer_X]

ummmmmm dasterdly!

[Black Widow]

A CRAZED gunman who killed 11 people during a school shooting was questioned and RELEASED by police just a DAY before the massacre.

Masked Matti Juhani Saari, 22, who went on to murder 11 this morning before turning the gun on himself, was brought in after posting violent videos on website YouTube.

The killing spree began just before 11am as more than 150 students went to class in Kauhajoki, 180 miles northwest of Helsinki.

Witnesses said panic broke out as Saari, who shot himself in the head and later died in hospital, entered the school and opened fire.

Finland's interior minister, Anne Holmlund, said the gunman was detained for questioning yesterday about the YouTube postings in which he is seen firing a handgun.

In one of the clips the man wearing a leather jacket fires several shots in rapid succession with a handgun at what appears to be a shooting range.

The posting was made five days before today's atrocity and the location was given as Kauhajoki.

The posting included a message saying: “Whole life is war and whole life is pain.

"And you will fight alone in your personal war.”

Ms Holmlund said police released the man because they had no legal reason to detain him.

School janitor Jukka Forsberg said of the shooting: “Within a short space of time I heard several dozen rounds of shots, in other words it was an automatic pistol.

“I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning, and one managed to escape out of the back door.”

The Finnish news agency STT reported that the school building was on fire and the gunman had explosives on him.

Vesa Nyrhinen, detective superintendent from the local police, said of the gunman: “He was wounded by his own bullets.”

College rector Timo Varmola said there were 150 students in the school at the time.

The 22-year-old identified himself on the video sharing website as Mr Saari.

He had posted three other clips of himself firing a handgun in the past three weeks.

Clips from the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado were listed among his favourite videos.

The shootings happened almost a year after another gunman killed eight people and himself at a school in southern Finland.

Pekka-Eric Auvinen, described by police as a bullied 18-year-old outcast, opened fire at his high school, on November 7.

He killed six students, a school nurse and the principal before ending his own life with a gunshot to the head.

The 2007 attack triggered a fierce debate about gun laws in the Nordic nation.


the sun

[Swinny]

God i love living in a free country

Lol, yup, I'm with ya there.

[Swinny]

Damn. Yet another school shooting. There's just way too many.