(NEW YORK) -- A bomb explosion outside a school in the south Italian city of Brinidisi left one girl dead and five injured, the BBC reports.
Students were arriving to school Saturday morning when an explosive device in a waste bin detonated around 7:45 (CEST), city mayor Mimmo Consales told reporters. No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but Consales indicated it was connected to the mafia, says the BBC.
Melissa Bassi, 16, was killed in the attack. Another 16-year-old girl, who was initially reported dead, is alive but in very serious condition. Four others are being treated for extensive burns, including one has serious chest injuries and another who may lose her legs.
(NEW YORK) -- Blind dissident Chen Guangcheng and his immediate family have left China on a flight to the United States. They are expected to arrive in Newark, N.J., Saturday evening.
State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that Chen and his family left China so he can pursue studies at an American university.
"We are looking forward to his arrival in the United States later today. We also express our appreciation for the manner in which we were able to resolve this matter and to support Mr. Chen's desire to study in the U.S. and pursue his goals," Nuland said.
Their departure caps off three weeks of roller coaster diplomacy that reached the very highest levels of Chinese government and the White House.
The human rights activist is best known for his fight against forced abortions and sterilizations under the One Child Policy.
He served a four year prison sentence for what are widely believed to have been trumped up charges before being placed under a brutal, extra-judicial house arrest in his hometown province of Shandong.
Several media outlets, as well as human rights supporters in the U.S., cited late May as a potential departure date if all rules for passport applications were strictly adhered to.
But on Saturday, social media reports surfaced that said Chen had left the hospital. By midday, Chen spoke to the AFP to say he was at the airport with his family and while he had no details, he believed they would be leaving that day.
His departure is in some ways bittersweet. His supporters by and large agree the only way he will be truly safe is outside China.
But for Chen, and dissidents before him, leaving is a compromise; he may be safer but he is also farther away from his cause.
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages(WASHINGTON) -- Leaders of eight of the world’s largest economies are meeting at Camp David Friday evening for the G-8 Summit, marking the biggest gathering of heads of state at the president’s country retreat in history.
The rustic estate in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, however, presents something of a logistical challenge for the White House as it seeks to accommodate all of the leaders and their staffs.
Before your mind wanders to those summer camp memories of bunk bed-filled cabins, the Obama administration assures there are “adequate facilities” for each delegation. But who sleeps where? And how were the arrangements decided?
“The allocation system, of course, is classified,” National Security Advisor Tom Donilon jokingly told reporters Thursday.
“The summit is intended to be small and intimate, and the President made a conscious decision to host the G8 meeting at Camp David for this reason. Each head of state or government will have his or her own cabin and they’ll have the opportunity, obviously, to meet informally on the margins of the meetings and to take full advantage of the grounds at Camp David,” he said.
President Obama was originally slated to host the summit in his hometown of Chicago, but announced in March that he was moving the meetings to Camp David.
The country retreat, known formally as the Naval Support Facility Thurmont, is a large complex, but not all of the buildings are the same size. Several of the scattered cabins are just one room and a bathroom.
Donilon assured reporters that the delicate arrangements were carefully planned. White House deputy chief of staff Alyssa Mastromonaco and George Mulligan of the White House Military Office were enlisted to help with the details, he said.
“There are adequate facilities there for each delegation, each head of state to have his or her cabin, as I said, and for each to be accompanied by a key staff person and in some cases two or three staff people,” Donilon said.
“Maybe we could get … a deeper briefing on this stuff,” he added laughing. “I’m as interested in it as you are.”
The president himself does not visit his country home often. Friday will mark his 23rd visit to Camp David, according to unofficial White House historian CBS’ Mark Knoller.
Camp David, named after President Eisenhower’s grandson, has hosted foreign dignitaries in the past. The 1978 summit that President Jimmy Carter held for Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin resulted in what are now known as the Camp David Accords.
Asked if it was a little rustic for heads of state, Donilon quipped “I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. I never had a lawn bigger than three feet in front of my house, so … I’m not really the one to comment on rustic.”
While the G-8 leaders are busy tackling global issue like the European debt crisis at Camp David, First Lady Michelle Obama will host their spouses at the White House for a tour and “intimate lunch” catered by famed celebrity chef Jose Andres, according to the White House.
TOBY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images/iStockphoto/Thinkstock(BELFAST) -- Six alleged members of a dissident Irish Republican network have been arrested on terrorism charges in Northern Ireland since last Saturday in a joint operation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and MI5, the U.K.'s Security Service.
Though dissident Republican groups are often characterized as splinter operations with little public support, the arrests occurred in cities across Northern Ireland. British authorities also invoked two criminal charges rarely used in Northern Ireland, "directing" terrorism and "acts preparatory" to terrorism.
The arrests come just weeks before Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee visit to Northern Ireland, and two months before up to 900,000 visitors converge on London for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Security preparations for the summer games have included a stepped-up police presence and surface-to-air missile batteries atop residential buildings.
Three men were arrested on Saturday, May 11, and three more were arrested on Monday, May 13. The three men arrested Monday morning, aged 41, 42 and 47, were charged with conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause an explosion, preparation of terrorist acts and collecting information of use to terrorism. The 47-year-old was also charged with directing terrorism. They are due to appear in court tomorrow morning, at which time their names will be made public.
"Police have charged three men with a number of serious offences linked to a proactive investigation into dissident Republican terrorist activity in Northern Ireland," said the PSNI in a statement. "Officers have worked closely with colleagues in the Security Service and, latterly, with the Public Prosecution Service to reach a point where charges have been brought." The Security Service, also known as MI5, is the lead agency in terrorism investigations in Northern Ireland.
In recent years, dissident Republican groups have mounted both bombing attacks aimed at law enforcement and so-called "punishment" attacks against alleged drug dealers and criminals. Splinter groups have improved their bombmaking skills and now have the capability to detonate devices by remote control, say police.
According to U.K. press accounts, a 600-lb device found on the outskirts of Newry, Northern Ireland on April 26 "could have been set off by someone in the area with a transmitter." Police said that the device, which was left in a white Citroen Berlingo van, was "ready to go." They added that it was designed to kill and was to be detonated with a remote transmitter.
Earlier this month, the dissident Republican group Óglaigh na hÉireann is believed to have left a milk-churn bomb found on an island in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Anti-terrorist officers told the media that they believe the bomb "was hidden there in a panic as Gardaí [Irish police] carried out a major search and disrupt operation following the discovery of the Newry van bomb."
Wikimedia Foundation(MONMOUTH, Wales) -- The world’s first “Wikipedia town” will launch on Saturday in the small town of Monmouth in Wales.
The town now has more than 1,000 ceramic plaques on every important building, school and on hundreds of shops. The plaques each have a unique QR bar code -- a square, black-and-white bar code that can be scanned with a smartphone that will be directed to a web page.
When users scan these codes, they will be taken to a Wikipedia article about the place they are visiting in whatever language their phone is programmed to.
The project, called “Monmouthpedia,” has been in the works for six months. The whole town has a free wireless Internet network and on Saturday, the “the entire town will be bedecked with banners declaring Monmouth as the first Wikipedia Town in the world,” according to its website.
The town’s residents contributed by writing and editing stories about Monmouth, and volunteers have been translating them to dozens of languages including Hungarian, Indonesian and Hindi.
“I started Monmouthpedia because I think that knowledge can give us context and allow us to appreciate the things around us more,” John Cummings, the Monmouthpedia project leader, said in a video on the project’s website.
“The project is a collaboration between Wikimedia UK, Monmouth City Council, the museums, the library, the University of Wales and Cardiff Met [Cardiff Metropolitan University], but, most importantly, it’s the individual contributors -- the local community groups and people not just from Monmouth but all over the world that correct the content and are making this happen,” he said.
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages(WASHINGTON) -- In his first meeting with President Obama, newly minted French President Francois Hollande stood by his campaign pledge to withdraw French troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
“I reminded President Obama that I made a promise to the French people to the effect that our combat troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2012. That being said, we will continue to support Afghanistan in a different way,” Hollande told reporters. Obama welcomed his French counterpart to the White House ahead of the G-8 and NATO summits this weekend.
The new president expressed confidence that France could “find the right means” to “continue and comply” with its international obligations in Afghanistan.
Obama, who plans to remove U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, said they agreed that “even as we transition out of a combat phase in Afghanistan that it's important that we sustain our commitment to helping Afghans build security and continue down the path of development.”
Much of Friday’s discussion also centered on the debt crisis in Europe, which both leaders agreed is “an issue of extraordinary important not only to the people of Europe, but also to the world economy,” Obama said.
“We're looking forward to a fruitful discussion later this evening and tomorrow with the other G-8 leaders about how we can manage a responsible approach to fiscal consolidation that is coupled with a strong growth agenda,” Obama said.
Hollande shared the same view “that Greece must stay in the eurozone and that all of us must do what we can to that effect. There will be elections in Greece, and we wanted to send a message to that effect to the Greek people,” he said.
ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images(ROME) -- Work to remove the ill-fated Costa Concordia cruise ship from the coast of Italy is set to start within days.
The American Titan Salvage will lead the $300 million removal project by first building an underwater platform and righting the ship with cranes and air-filled balloons before towing it away.
Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Announcing a $3 billion private sector pledge to support agriculture and help feed Africa’s starving populations, President Obama said Friday that the U.S. has a “moral obligation to lead the fight.”
“When tens of thousands of children die from the agony of starvation, as in Somalia, that sends us a message we still got a lot of work to do. It's unacceptable. It's an outrage. It's an affront to who we are,” the president said at the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington.
Arguing that food security is a moral, economic, and security imperative, Obama urged the world’s biggest economies to fulfill their promises to aid the cause financially. The president said additional nations, organization and non-governmental organizations also need to “step up and play a role” because government cannot solve the problem alone.
The new shared commitment, which Obama outlined Friday, aims to raise 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years.
Obama also pushed back against criticisms that the new private sector alliance is a way for governments to shift the burden. “As president, I can assure you that the United States will continue to meet our responsibilities so that even in these tough fiscal times, we will continue to make historic investments in development,” he said.
The president spoke to an eclectic crowd, including singer and activist Bono, celebrity chef Jose Andres and a host of African leaders, in his speech kicking off this weekend’s G8 summit.
Zoonar/Thinkstock(CANBERRA, Australia) -- Most people would feel plenty accomplished if they could finish a half-marathon, and even more so if they trekked the 13 miles for charity. But that's child's play for Aussie Rob Ginnivan.
On Thursday, Ginnivan finished a half marathon while on board a treadmill -- which had been loaded onto a hot air balloon.
Ginnivan told the U.K. Telegraph it took him longer than he thought. "What I didn't count on was that the basket actually tilted, so it was like running up a hill. Every time I took a step the basket would sway from left to right so I kind of had this sea type motion being in the air. It was quite bizarre and made it very difficult."
Ginnivan is hoping the stunt will help him raise around $70,000 for a heart foundation.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Just as America’s latest breed of super jet fighters are being reigned in due to a mystery safety problem, a new Pentagon report released Friday notes that China’s own version of a next-generation fighter appears to be designed to have similar capabilities.
“The January 2011 flight test of China’s next-generation fighter prototype, the J-20, highlights China’s ambition to produce a fighter aircraft that incorporates stealth attributes, advanced avionics, and super-cruise engines,” said the Pentagon’s 2012 annual assessment of the Chinese military.
The report comes a month after a second prototype of the J-20 was reportedly spotted rolling around a Chinese airfield, more than a year and a half since China’s only other known prototype made its first public flight.
The three attributes described by the Pentagon are among the advanced capabilities of the F-22 Raptor, the stealth fighter jet billed by the U.S. Air Force and its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, as the most sophisticated fighter on the planet. But currently the entire fleet of F-22s, which cost the U.S. government an estimated $79 billion, has been slapped with strict flight restrictions due to safety concerns for pilots.
The restrictions, which keep the planes in close proximity to potential landing strips in case of a mid-air emergency, were announced two weeks after an ABC News Nightline investigation found that the advanced $420 million-a-pop fighter jets have been plagued by a rare, but potentially deadly oxygen problem for years. Despite multiple investigations -- including a four-month full-fleet grounding last year -- the Air Force has been unable to pinpoint the cause.
The concept of the F-22 itself has also been long debated. Officials at the Air Force and Lockheed Martin have said the jets are essential to the future of American war power. However, funding for new super jets was cut by Congress in 2009 after powerful critics from across the political spectrum, from Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) to then Defense Secretary Robert Gates to President Barack Obama, all called on lawmakers to halt F-22 orders at 187 planes, saying that the plane was designed to fight fleets of other, rival next-generation fighters — an enemy that does not exist.
Despite going combat operational in late 2005, the jets have yet to go into combat, from Iraq and Afghanistan to the “no-fly zone” over Libya last March. In all cases, the Air Force said the sophisticated fighters simply weren’t needed.
Just before funding for the F-22 was cut in 2009, President Obama received a letter from more than a dozen Congressmen and local lawmakers in support of the F-22. In the letter, the supporters claimed the full force of a 600-plus F-22 fleet would be needed to counter future rivals like Russia and China.
Since, both Russia and China appear to have developed prototypes for their own next generation fighters. The Russian variant, the Sukhoi T-50, was shown off to the public during an air show last August. Russian news reports compared the jet’s capabilities directly with those of the F-22. Though China is not believed to have more than a couple J-20s, a U.S. government report on Chinese weapons systems released last month said U.S. intelligence estimated that at least some J-20s could go combat operational as soon as 2018.
That document, from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, revealed that some U.S. analysts doubt the Chinese are very far along in developing the “key components for designing a fifth-generation fighter” such as effective stealth technology and high-performance engines.
“We’ve got to continue to watch as it develops. It’s still in the prototype phase,” David Helvey, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Asia Pacific Security, told reporters Friday. “We’d like to be able to continue to monitor developments on that to understand exactly what China may intend to use it for and I wouldn’t want to speculate at this point for what those specific missions might be.”
In a speech in 2009, Gates noted that other nations were developing next-generation fighters, but said America is already way ahead in the numbers game and that gap “only widens” as the Air Force begins receiving hundreds of the F-22-s companion fighter, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - a plane that has had its share of cost overruns and delays in development.
