At Least 12 Killed After Islamist Gunmen Attack Office of French Magazine, Assailants Still At Large

Editors of a popular French magazine and three local police officers were killed when masked gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday and opened fire. The magazine was firebombed a few years ago after they had published cartoon images of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and chief editor Stéphane Charbonnier was assigned a police bodyguard. Both Charbonnier and his police bodyguard were killed after shortly after the gunmen had forced their way into the building. Eyewitnesses and survivors said that the attack inside the Charlie Hebdo office lasted five minutes and that the three masked gunmen spoke French fluently but also called out "Allah Akhbar!". As local police responded to reports of gunfire in the area and the gunmen opened fire on two officers [both reportedly unarmed- NANESB!]- one of the attackers was videotaped walking up to a wounded policeman laying on the sidewalk and shooting him point blank before getting in a car and driving off with his accomplices. By Wednesday night, the youngest suspect in the attacks had turned himself in to authorities in suburban Paris.

The two suspects still at large have been identified as two brothers- Said Kourachi, 34, and his younger brother Cherif Kourachi, 32. Both suspects were known to both US and French officials- both of them were placed on Homeland Security's No-Fly list while Cherif was jailed for 18 months for attempting travel to Syria in order to aid Islamist fighters fighting US troops in Iraq. More recently, both brothers are said to have travelled to Yemen in 2011 and received training with Al Qaeda affiliates in the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.

Air Algerie Flight Crashes in Mali, All 118 Aboard Killed.

An Algerian airliner flying between Burkina Faso and Algeria crashed over a remote stretch of the Sahara desert on Thursday, killing all 118 on board.

At least 54 of those passengers were from France. French President Francois Hollande declared three days of mourning as soldiers from Mali and the UN have been combing the wreckage for human remains. However, conditions on the ground- even under the best of circumstance- are pretty grim. The nearest town from the crash site is Gao, which has been fought over by the Malian government, Tuareg rebels, Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists and the French Foreign Legion over the last 24 months. Both the remote location of the crash site and the fact that the nearest population center is in an unstable war zone have slowed down transportation and communications considerably.

Two flight data recorders have been recovered from the crash site and flown back to France for further examination by that country's Bureau of Investigations and Analysis- the agency responsible for investigating major air accidents.

With Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 being shot down by a surface to air missile the week before, the downing of Air Algerie Flight 5017 led to concerns that terrorism could've played a role in the downing of the aircraft. However, Algeria has ruled out terrorism in the crash and AFP has reported that the pilots had asked to turn back shortly before the crash.

The Aircraft- a McDonnel-Douglas MD80- actually belonged to Spain's Swiftair and was leased to Air Algiere earlier this year.

70 Years Ago Today

On June 6th, 1944, the Allied forces from the USA, Great Britain and Canada turned the tide against the occupying German Wehrmacht along the coast of Normandy.

Iron Horse Roundup For July/August 2013

AFP Photo

MONTREAL, MAINE & ATLANTIC- In the wake of last month's deadly runaway train wreck that devastated the southern Quebec town of Lac Megantic, Hermon, ME-based Montreal, Maine & Atlantic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in Bangor, ME.

The MM&A has also petitioned Canadian civil courts for relief under that country's Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The company appears to have set aside nearly $786,000 as “indemnification and/or contribution in connection with wrongful death litigation and other claims,” according to a listing of the company’s 20 largest creditors.

MMA still owes $27.5 million of a $35 million loan it received from the Federal Rail Administration in 2005, according to Gardner’s affidavit. The railroad also has a $6 million line of credit with the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. issued in June 2009. That company has sought to protect its security interest, the affidavit said.

Other creditors include JD Irving subsidiary New Brunswick Southern, a subsidiary of San Antonio, TX-based Valero energy [NYSE- VLO], Minneapolis, MN-based Flex Leasing LLC and the Canadian Pacific railroad [NYSE- CP; TSX- CP].

Although a federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the MM&A could continue to operate under Chapter 11 reorganization, the line through Lac Megantic is still closed, effectively severing the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic in two. At the end of July, Maine state officials had entered into talks with four other unnamed railways to continue service in anticipation of the MM&A shutting down.

The MM&A laid off 79 workers in the wake of the Lac Megantic disaster. Meanwhile, Canadian officials have raised the death toll in Lac Megantic to 47 during the July 6th derailment.

Xoan Soler- La Voz de Galicia

SPAIN- The driver of a train that derailed and killed 78 passengers in northwestern Spain has been provisionally charged with multiple counts of negligent homicide, although he wasn't required to post bond or sent to jail because he wasn't considered a flight risk.

Garzon was questioned for almost two hours at the court in Santiago de Compostela, the northwestern town near where the accident occurred.

Garzon was driving the train carrying 218 passenger in eight cars that hurtled far over the 80-kph (50-mph) speed limit into a high-risk curve on Wednesday evening, tumbling off the tracks and slamming into a concrete wall, with some of the cars catching fire.

The Spanish rail agency has said the brakes should have been applied four kilometers (2.5 miles) before the train hit the curve

However, a local resident who rushed to the scene of the accident said in an interview broadcast Sunday that minutes after the crash Garzon had told him he had been going fast and couldn’t brake.

The resident, Evaristo Iglesias, said he and another person accompanied the blood-soaked Garzon to flat ground where other injured people were being laid out, waiting for emergency services to arrive.

“He told us that he wanted to die,” Iglesias told Antena 3 television. “He said he had needed to brake but couldn’t,” Iglesias said. He added that Garzon said “he had been going fast.”

In its report about the accident, Antena 3 television showed a photograph of Iglesias in a pink shirt and cap helping to carry the driver after the train accident. The station also aired television footage of Iglesias working beside the wrecked train to help other survivors.

Garzon was reportedly on the phone with an agent at the next station to determine which track his train was to come in on. While in the USA, train crews are now prohibited from talking on the phone while operating the train, Spain's state-run RENFE uses what's referred to as 'tren-tierra' or train to land lines to communicate between stations and crew. Shortly before the accident, the train passed from an area where computers control most of the train's functions to one where the driver has to brake and accelerate accordingly. It's believed that Garzon may have missed this transition point while he was on the phone.

ARGENTINA- Transportation officials in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires have released in-cab CCTV footage of engineers reading, napping or playing on their phones while the train is in motion.

In one clip, the driver is seen stepping up to the camera in his train cabin, attempting to obscure the lens so his activities cannot be seen. Other drivers are more overtly distracted, with some taking a nap, reading a book or playing on their mobile phone.

Argentina's Interior and Transport Minister Florencio Randazzo has since vowed to lead a crackdown on dangerous train drivers.

He plans to ban phone calls and unauthorised people in the cab

Mr Randazzo has introduced daily medical checks on all drivers to gauge their fitness to drive and to reduce the risk of them falling asleep at the controls.

Under the new system, all those caught distracted on camera will either be disciplined or fired.

The release of the footage comes more than a year after a commuter train plowed into a terminal in Buenos Aires, killing 49 and injuring hundreds.

FRANCE- Investigators in France believe a faulty switch system was to blame in a deadly derailment that killed six passengers at a station south of Paris last month.

After leaving the tracks, the train crashed into the station at Bretigny-sur-Orge.

A passenger speaking on France's BFM television said the train was going at a normal speed and was not meant to stop at Bretigny-sur-Orge.

He described children unattended in the chaotic aftermath, and swarms of emergency workers at the scene.

Two train cars, numbers 3 and 4, initially derailed, then knocked the other cars off the track, SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy said.

"Some cars simply derailed, others are leaning, others fell over," he said

A spokesman for the French state-run railway- SNCF- said the train was carrying an estimated 350 passengers when it derailed at 5:15 PM local time at Gare Bretigny sur Orge. The official death toll from the accident was 7 with more than 20 injured.


CALIFORNIA- Governor Jerry Brown has ordered a 60-day 'cooling down' period between San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit and workers threatening to strike over an expired contract with the transit agency.

Last month, a 4-day strike had left Bay Area commuters scrambling for alternate transportation. It was the first strike for BART since 1997.

Prior to Brown's announcement, both the Service Employees International Union and Amalgamated Transit Union were hoping the looming deadline of Sunday, Aug 11th would be sufficient to pressure BART management to agree to a renewed contract on the union's terms. Prior to Brown's intervention, the unions had threatened to resume their strike after this weekend.

The two month delay would take away some leverage from unions representing BART employees as it would allow the agency time to recruit replacement workers from out of retirement. An odd clause in the contract originally signed in 1979 would have prevented BART from hiring replacement drivers until the workers actually went on strike, and even then the replacement workers would only after completing a 15 week training course.

Reuters/Denis Balibouse

SWITZERLAND- Transportation officials in Switzerland are investigating the cause of a head-on collision between two passenger trains in the western part of the country. The crash killed the driver of one of the trains and injured at least 35 passengers.

The two Swiss Federal Railways regional passenger trains collided with one another head-on at Granges-Marnand in the Vaud Canton outside of Lucerne on July 29th. Although some press outlets have speculated that one of the trains left the Granges-Marnand station too early and collided with an incoming train, officials have yet to determine the exact cause of the crash and are moving both wrecked train sets to another location to closer examine the wreckage.

SOO Line SD60 #6053 leads an SD60M over county highway G38 outside of Washington, IA with a northbound Kansas City-St Paul manifest freight train on June 2012. Eric Rasmussen photo.

CANADIAN PACIFIC- In a surprise move, the Canadian Pacific Railroad announced that they are seeking bids for more than 40 former Soo Line SD60s and SD60Ms. The solicitation comes as the CPR is more than halfway through an extensive rebuild of their SD60 fleet. Some of the units are being stored at CP's St Luc yard in Montreal. All of the overhauled units have been rebuilt to Tier 0+ EPA compliance and feature AESS Locomotive Automatic Engine Start/Stop and Positive Traction Control in compliance with an upcoming PTC mandate expected to take effect starting in 2015- several more are supposed to undergo rebuilding at Montreal's CADRAIL facility.

The Soo Line ordered the SD60s from EMD in 1987 and with CP Rail's takeover, the burly 3800 HP six axle EMDs could be found anywhere from the Canadian Rockies to upstate New York although they were (and still are) outnumbered by CP Rail's far more prolific fleet of SD40-2s.

Canadian Pacific has also started putting up their fleet of former Milwaukee Road GP40s for sale- Respondek Rail Corp and United States Sugar Corp have already purchased a pair.

With the arrival of rebuilt GP20C-ECO and SD32C-ECO from Caterpillar [NYSE- CAT] subsidiary Progress Rail, Canadian Pacific returned their only two Gensets to National Railway Equipment in Illinois in July. The two Gensets- #2100 and #2101- were largely paid for by a province of Ontario 'green energy' intiative.

Commemerations for 69th Anniversary of D-Day Begins in Normandy

Veterans and their families gathered at military cemeteries throughout northwestern France on Thursday to mark the 69th anniversary of the Allied D-Day invasion of nazi-occupied France.

The massive frontal assault by the Allies against the heavily fortified defenses of the Wehrmacht along the Atlantic coast of France opened up a second front against hitler's military and spelled the beginning of the end for the third reich [the Germans had been fighting losing battle against the Red Army on the Eastern Front since the 1943 Battle of Stalingrad- NANESB!].

After Allied naval bombardment on the morning of June 6th, 1944 forces from the United States, Great Britain, Canada as well as exiled troops from Poland and the Czechoslovakia launched a frontal assault against the entrenched Germans. With the Canadian forces landing at Juno Beach and the British taking Sword, while the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions of the US Army stormed Omaha and the US Army's 4th Infantry Division took Utah beach. Support was provided by the 101st Airborne Division as well as airborne units from Canada and Britain who were tasked with landing behind enemy positions and seizing strategic bridges and road junctions while US Army Rangers scaled sheer cliffs along coastal defenses in an audacious bid to take out German heavy artillery.

Acting on coded messages transmitted via the BBC, the French Resistance hindered the occupying Germans by sabotaging the rail network and telegraph lines in the days leading up to the Allies assault on Normandy beaches.

While the Germans knew that an Allied assault on the mainland was almost inevitable, they were slow to act due to previous false alarms from their military intelligence and the belief that they thought the actual D-Day assault was a decoy to draw Wehrmacht defenses away from an even bigger Allied assault. The total number of Allied casualties on D-Day is said to be no less than 12,000 with more than 2300 Americans killed or missing in action on the first day.

Within 3 days, the British had built a massive temporary port to facilitate the offloading of troops and supplies, strengthening the Allied foothold on the Normandy beach. Within three months, the Allies would liberate Paris.

The Higgins landing craft that was used during D-Day as well as numerous amphibious campaigns throughout the Pacific was considered instrumental by Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower. The fact that the Higgins boat was manufactured in New Orleans and tested along the shores of nearby Lake Pontchartrain factored into the decision to establish the National WWII Museum (formerly the National D-Day Museum) in the Big Easy.

French Police Uncover Bomb-Making Materiel, Detain Islamists in Nationwide Anti-Terrorist Sweep

French police arrested 11 and fatally shot one during a nationwide counterterrorism dragnet this week.

Pre-dawn raids by police in the eastern Parisian suburb of Dorcy uncovered explosives and bomb-making materiel in a four story building not far from the grounds of the Euro Disney theme park. Heavily armed officers surrounded the building as the structure was searched for more explosives.

The man shot to death by police was identified as 33 year old Jeremy Sidney, a prisoner who served time for drug trafficking and had recently converted to Islam. Sidney had reportedly brandished a .357 Magnum revolver when police showed up at his apartment in Strousbourg and exchanged fire with officers- striking three, although the rounds were stopped by their body armour. Police returned fire, mortally wounding Sidney.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins described him as "a delinquent" and said his fingerprints had been found on the remains of a grenade thrown into the kosher grocery store in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles on 19 September. One person was slightly injured in the attack.

Mr Molins said police had uncovered a list of Jewish associations and that the inquiry would determine "the next targets of this cell".

Prosecutors say that almost all of the men arrested in this week's sweep were fairly recent converts to Islam with extensive criminal backgrounds.

French authorities have been vigilant since a March 2012 massacre at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Although the press intially blamed white neo-nazis for the murder of a rabbi and three schoolchildren, it was eventually learned that a 23 year old Islamic radical named Mohammed Mera carried out the school shootings as well as two seperate attacks on French paratroopers in southern France. Mera himself was eventually killed by police after a lentghty standoff in his apartment within days of the attack.

Sports Chowdah Update- Going Going Gone(zo)- Red Sox, Dodgers Make Blockbuster Post Deadline Trade; Colon Blow- A's Starter Suspended 50 Games; Tour De Farce- Armstrong Stripped of All 7 Tour Titles

RED SOX- The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers completed a massive nine-player trade over the weekend that sent Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to Southern California as well as $11 million in cash. In return, the Dodgers sent first baseman James Loney, minor leaguers Alan Webster and Ivan DeJesus to Beantown as well as two players to be named later.

The trade- reportedly the largest in Dodgers history- has triggered hyperbolic comparisons from Boston sportswriters who claim the transaction is on the scope of sending Babe Ruth to New York [personally, I think its more along the scale of the 2004 trade that sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs in exchange for Boston getting Orlando Cabrera from Montreal and Doug Mientkiewicz from Minnesota. Not quote as big money, but even more moving parts to potentially complicate the deal- NANESB!] .

Beckett was reportedly shopped around by Boston about 48 hours prior to the trade deadline last month. Although the Braves and Rangers had reportedly expressed an interest, no deal was reached by the trade deadline and if the front office still intended to move Beckett, it was assumed such a move would take place in the upcoming offseason. Just three games out of first place in the NL West and flush with cash from a new ownership group that includes NBA legend Magic Johnson, the Dodgers decided not to wait for November to try and swing a massive deal. Despite sending more than $11 million in cash to LA, the Red Sox are expected to save more than $260 million in salary after being free from Beckett, Gonzalez and Crawford's sizable contracts. The Los Angeles Times points out that the Dodgers payroll for 2013 will be $100 million more than it was on opening day this year.

A number of other Red Sox fans had pointed out that manager Bobby Valentine seemed largely unaware of the August transaction, despite its unprecedented scope. That in and of itself seems to point out that he most likely won't be back for the 2013 season.

Steven Senne/AP Photo

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: With all this taking place, the Red Sox still had a 4-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway to contend with over the weekend.

After taking two out of the first three home games against KC, Daisuke Matsuzaka would return to the mound for his first start since going back on the DL in early July.

Matsuzaka, who had never gone more than 6 innings this season, started off by allowing an unearned run in the top of the 1st before getting out of the inning. Jacoby Ellsbury tied the ballgame up at 1-1 with a 2-out solo homer in the bottom of the first. Cody Ross would then break the deadlock with a 2-RBI wall-ball base hit in the bottom of the 3rd- it had come close to landing in the stands, but the umpires ruled it had stayed within the park. It remained a 3-1 game until the bottom of the 6th when Cody Ross and new acquisition James Loney each had RBI base hits to make it a 5-1 game. Matsuzaka and the bullpen did not squander the run support they got, either. Daisuke went 7 complete innings allowing 5 hits and the unearned run while striking out six. With Alfredo Aceves serving a 3-game suspension, Clay Mortenson, Vincente Padilla and Andrew Bailey closed out the game for the Red Sox.

Monday's Day game was the last before the Red Sox embark on their west coast Road Trip. Things kick off in Orange County on Tuesday night when Clay Buchholz [11-4; 4.47 ERA] gets the start against the Angel's Jared Weaver [16-3; 2.74 ERA]. First pitch is at 7:05 ET Pacific Time and 10:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and Fox Sports West.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS- The Los Angeles Dodgers were shut out by the Colorado Rockies by a 10-0 final in Josh Beckett's debut in Dodger blue. Beckett went 5 and ⅔ innings allowing three earned runs on 7 hits and 3 walks at Coors Field before the Dodgers bullpen imploded- giving up 7 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Adrain Gonzalez is presently batting .250 for LA with 4 RBIs and a homer in three games with the Dodgers.

OTHER DODGERS NEWS- Hall of Fame Broadcaster Vin Scully announced that he would be returning to the Dodgers broadcast booth for a 64th season starting in 2013.

Scully had stated that the recent trade with the Red Sox that brought Beckett, Crawford and Gonzalez to LA had revitalized the organization as well as himself and demonstrated that the new ownership group was serious about bringing another World Series to LA.

The venerable play-by-play man was in the booth for a number of baseball milestones, including Henry Aaron's 715th career home run in 1974, Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series and a walk-off homer from a hobbled Kirk Gibson in Game 1 on the 1988 World Series.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Oakland A's starter Bartolo Colon received a 50 game suspension from MLB after testing positive for banned substance- reportedly synthetic testosterone.

Colon- a 15 year veteran- admitted to violating the MLB substance abuse policy and will reportedly not appeal the suspension, which would carry over into next season if he were to continue playing in the MLB.

In 24 starts with Oakland this season, Colon has a 10-9 record and 3.43 ERA. Since 2008, Colon has started for the Red Sox, A's, Yankees and White Sox. The suspension comes after another Bay Area ball player- San Francisco's Melky Cabrera- also tested positive for a substance prohibited by MLB.

BC sophomore Courtney Castle gets in a dig during the Eagle's match against Fordham at this weekend's Boston College Invitational. BC Eagles photo via Twitter

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL- The NCAA's volleyball season got underway this weekend in Chestnut Hill with the 2012 Boston College Invitational.

To kick off the 2012 campaign, the Eagles played host to Texas Tech, Fordham, Siena and SUNY Binghamton on Friday and Saturday.

The lady Eagles got off to an 2-0 start on Friday when they swept the Binghamton Bearcats 3 sets to none.

Siena Junior Taylor Akana- named the MAAC Conference's Offensive Player of the Year in 2011 and Preseason Player of the year for 2012. Siena Saints photo

The Siena Saints and captain Taylor Akana presented a little more of a challenge to BC as the Eagles dropped the opening set 25-19, but the BC would rebound and win the next three consecutive sets by totals of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-20. Katty Workman led the Eagles with 12 kills while outside hitter Courtney Castle had 11 for BC. Over on the Siena side of the net, Taylor Akana and Rachel Stoklosa led the Saints with 11 each on the losing effort.

On Saturday, the Eagles went .500 on the court, sweeping Fordham 3 sets to none, but then dropping the match against the Texas Tech Red Raiders after taking a 2-0 lead.

With a 3-1 record, the BC Volleyball team will next head out to the west coast for the USC Tournament where they'll take on the host Trojans as well as Northern Iowa and Mississippi State.

CYCLING- Seven time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong will reportedly be stripped of his titles after announcing he would no longer fight an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

The announcement from Armstrong means that the USADA will recommend Armstrong be banned from all International Cycling Union (UCI) sanctioned events and that he be stripped of all titles dating back to 1998. The decision was made even though Armstrong had passed hundreds of tests administered during that timeframe.

France Arrests More Islamists in Aftermath of Jewish School Shooting and Murder of Partroopers

French counterterrorism police launched a series of predawn raids throughout the country on Friday, taking into custody 19 suspected Islamists who reportedly had training in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

President Sarkozy had promised a crackdown and he explained today the raids were 'in connection with a form of Islamist radicalism.

'There will be other operations that will continue and that will allow us to expel from our national territory a certain number of people who have no reason to be here.'

A police investigator said that the anti-terrorist unit of the Criminal Brigade detained five men before dawn in Paris who had suspected links to an Islamist movement. Weapons were also seized, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the department's rules.

The other arrests took place in Toulouse, Marseilles, Nantes and Lyon, the official said.

In Nantes, Mohammed Achamlane, the head of Forsane Alizza (Knights Of Pride), a radical Muslim group that formed two years ago, was among the detained. French officials had banned the group in February. President Sarkozy had promised a crackdown and he explained today the raids were 'in connection with a form of Islamist radicalism.

In addition to the raids, French officials barred radical Islamic clerics from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Territories from entering the country for an Islamic group's conference.

On Monday, French officials announced that some of the detained Islamists were suspected of planning to carry out the kidnapping a Jewish magistrate in Lyon.

Last week, Al-Jazeera's Paris bureau received a USB drive from Toulouse gunman Mohammed Merah showing footage of him carrying out the murders in front of the Ozar Hetorah school.

The Qatar-based network declined to air it or share with other networks, but investigators were reviewing the footage to see if Merah had any accomplices that are shown in the video. It was initially thought that Merah might've sent the video to Al Jazeera, but French investigators believe that Merah didn't mail the video himself, raising the likelihood of an accomplice.

After the school shootings, police were led to Merah's brother due to an bogus internet ad about a scooter for sale meant to lure one of the earlier known victims into an ambush being traced back to his computer. He was taken into custody around the same time as the standoff at Mohammed's apartment began.

Toulouse School Shooter Killed By French Authorities After 32-Hour Standoff, Had More Shooting Attacks Planned

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Toulouse Massacre Update- Neo-Nazi Former Soldiers Cleared; French Authorities Corner Algerian al Qaeda Operative

In the hours after yesterday's killing spree in front of a Jewish school in southwestern French city of Toulouse, investigators had focused their attention on three former soldiers in the French Army who were neo-Nazis and had also served in the same unit as the three soldiers who were gunned down at an ATM earlier this month.

According to reports published Monday, French police investigating the fatal shootings of a teacher and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse were searching for the three soldiers, who were dismissed from the army a few years ago after being photographed while giving Nazi salutes in front of a Swastika flag.

Monday's deadly shooting came just days after three soldiers — from the same 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment with which the dismissed trio served — were shot dead in broad daylight in Montauban 30 miles away last Thursday. Two of the murdered soldiers were Muslim.

But France Info's report, published Tuesday, said the three neo-Nazis were located by police and cleared of any suspicion. A police official told the website that two of the former troops were interrogated after the shooting attack on the Jewish school, while the third was questioned after the attack in Montauban.

Ynet's correspondent in Toulouse added that according to reports in France, one of the three neo-Nazis voluntarily reported to a police station to be interrogated.

Investigators from the DRCI (Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence) were focusing on 24 year old Mohammed Mera, a French national of Algerian descent who had reportedly travelled to the tribal area in Pakistan's North West Frontier province to fight alongside the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Merah was reportedly arrested by authorities in Afghanistan for planting bombs and sentenced to 3 years in prison, but was part of a massive April 2011 jailbreak that freed hundreds of inmates and captured Taliban fighters.

The DRCI had reportedly found Mera after checking e-mail correspondence from the first known victim. Mera was reportedly exchanging e-mails under a false account with a French soldier who was gunned down in a residential area of Toulouse earlier this month. Investigators traced the e-mails to a computer using the IP address of Mera's brother. Ballistics experts also conclusively matched bullets used in the school shooting as coming from the same one used to shoot the paratroopers.

On Wednesday morning, Mera exchanged gunfire with heavily armed police officers as they moved in to raid his Toulouse home- which was near the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school. Three officers were wounded and Mera barricaded himself inside his residence as he attempted to negotiate his surrender as the neighborhood was cordoned off.

CCTV footage from the schoolyard massacre also showed the shooter appeared to have some sort of digital camera around his neck to film the attack as it took place. DRCI investigators believe that Mera was ultimately going to post the footage of his attacks online at a jihad website.

Also on Wednesday morning, funeral services were held in Jerusalem for the four victims slain at the school. Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 30, his sons Arieh, 5, and Gabriel, 4, and 7 year old Miriam Monsonego were laid to rest with at least 2000 mourners present at the massive Gavit Shaul cemetary west of Jerusalem.

Gunman Opens Fire on Crowd Outside of Jewish School in Toulouse, Killing Four

A gunman on a motorbike opened fire on a Jewish school in southwestern France, killing four people- including three children- on Monday morning.

The massacre took place shortly after 8 AM when the shooter pulled up in front of the Ozar Hatorah Jewish School near the start of the school day, dismounted from his bike and opened fire on children, teachers and parents. Among the victims were 8 year old Miriam Monsonego, who was reportedly chased down and shot execution-style by the gunman.

Eyewitness accounts claim that the gun the assailant used had jammed before switching to a .45 and continuing his rampage before fleeing on the motorbike he arrived on.

The Ozar Hatorah Jewish school shooting came less than a week after three uniformed French soldiers in nearby Montauban were shot while waiting in line at an ATM.

Two of the soldiers were killed while the third remains in a coma. The shooting of the uniformed soldiers occurred at around 2:10 p.m. local time, on a street close to the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment base.

A locally-based official said that the perpetrator of the rive-by was riding a scooter and wearing a helmet with a visor. The rider opened fire on the soldiers while they attempted to withdraw money from an ATM.

The shooting follows a similar incident on Sunday, when a 30-year-old soldier was shot dead by a motorcycle-rider in a residential area of Toulouse, 29 miles south of Montauban

Witnesses report that the assailant in both attacks also arrived and fled on a black motorbike, wore a motorcycle helmet while shooting and one of the victims in the Montauban was shot execution-style. Three of the slain French soldiers are reportedly of Arab descent.

Much of Toulouse is made up of centuries-old buildings and narrow streets and alleys, making it easier for the gunman to evade police. The motorbike used by the assailant was reported stolen last month.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that it was obvious that the attack was anti-Semitic and stepped up security measures throughout the country, posting police officers and Gendarmerie outside of schools. President Sarkozy promised that 'exceptional' security measures would be taken in the mid Pyrenees region and suspended his re-election campaign.

With 400,000 to 500,000 Jews living in the country, France is home to western Europe's largest Jewish community. Over the last decade, France has seen a rise in anti-semitism- increasingly from Muslim immigrants- with Jewish cemetaries and schools being vandalised or torched as well as Jews wearing yarmulkes being assaulted by Arab gangs.

Another Costa-ly Mishap; Sister Ship of Costa Concordia Adrift in Indian Ocean After Losing Power

2012 is turning out to be a pretty rough year for Italy-based Costa Crociere. Six weeks after the Costa Concordia sunk after running aground in Italy, another ship in the Costa Crociere fleet lost power and was adrift in the middle of the Indian Ocean after a fire broke out in the engine room.

A French fishing vessel on Tuesday began towing an Italian cruise ship drifting powerless in the Indian Ocean to a nearby Seychelles island, but was not expected to reach the tiny resort island until Wednesday, officials said.

Seychelles authorities said they are making arrangements to evacuate people to the island of Desroches and then to transfer the more than 1,000 passengers and crew members to the main Seychelles island of Mahe by plane and fast boats.

No one was injured in the fire Monday, but the blaze set the cruiseliner adrift at sea in a region where Somali pirates prey on ships.

Two tug boats continued to steam toward the stranded cruise ship on Tuesday but were not expected to reach it until the afternoon. The tugs will tow the Costa Allegra back to the Seychelles' main port -- Port Victoria -- under escort by the coast guard and military.

The cruise ship company said that a helicopter took off from Seychelles' main island on Tuesday and will take food, satellite phones and VHF radios to the ship. Guests have been asked to prepare their luggage for disembarkation.

Photos released by the Seychelles on Tuesday showed hundreds of people milling outside on the decks of the Costa Allegra. Taken by an Indian navy plane, the photos showed calm seas and an upright ship.

The Costa Allegra has 636 passengers and 413 crew members on board. The fire knocked out power to the ship's engines as well as to its lights and air conditioning.

Unlike the Costa Concordia, which was built less than 7 years ago, the Costa Allegra is considerably older and was actually converted from a container ship. In 1969, the vessel was completed at the shipyards in Turku, Finland for a Swedish company and christened the MS Annie Johnson before changing hands a number of times and ultimately being converted to a cruise liner at the shipyards in Genoa, Italy in 1992.

A team of investigators from the Italian Coast Guard is being flown to the Seychelles to examine the stricken vessel once it reaches port. A special anti-piracy unit of the Italian navy is also reportedly accompanying the stricken vessel, a precaution regularly taken in the pirate-infested waters off the Horn of Africa.

The company that operates both the Costa Concordia and Costa Allegra- Costa Crociere- is an Italian subsidiary of Carnival Cruises [NYSE- CCL].

On This Day in 1945- US Army Lt. Audie Murphy Directs Artillery Fire, Singlehandedly Fends off German Counterattack

On this day 67 years ago today, newly-promoted Lt Audie Leon Murphy and members of his company came under fire from armour and infantry units of nazi Germany's Wermacht near the Franco-German border at Holtzwihr, France. Already awarded a purple heart for his service in Salerno and Anzio and two silver stars from earlier in the campaign in France, Murphy would be the one of the most decorated soldiers in WWII.

Murphy's Medal of Honor citation reads as follows:

2d Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by 6 tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, 1 of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machinegun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from 3 sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.

Keep in mind this happened just days after Murphy received his field promotion to 2nd. Lieutenant.

After the war, Murphy penned a biographical account of his wartime service in 1949 called 'To Hell And Back'. The Texas native also went on to have a fairly successful career as a Hollywood actor- portraying himself in the 1955 silver screen version of To Hell And Back- and country music composer before his 1971 death in a plane crash in Virgina.

Sour Grapes: Much to Miss France's Chagrin, Miss Angola Wins 2011 Miss Universe Pageant

25 year old Leila Lopes, an Angolan presently living in the UK, won the Miss Universe title at the 2011 pageant in Sao Paulo Brazil this week. The business student, originally from rhe seaside city of Begeula, is the first Angolan to win the pagent's title.


Miss Ukraine- 22 year old law student Olesya Stefanko from Odessa (above), was named the pageant's runner-up.

Ms Lopes replaces last year's Miss Universe winner Jimena Navarette (Miss Mexico- above) .

The decision to crown Lopes Miss Universe didn't sit too well with some of the other contestants pageant. Miss France (above)- 20 year old Laury Thilleman- was particularly critical in comments to French magazine Premiere.

“She was the only girl I didn’t know very well. We didn’t see her much; she was very discreet. She was often in jeans and not wearing makeup. We were all surprised by her win. Many girls made efforts that were not rewarded. I don’t know, something is missing in her temperament. The fact that the competition was held in Brazil surely played a role.”

Miss Brazil- 25 year old Priscilla Machado (above)- was actually named second-runner up in the 2011 Miss Universe tournament.

US, French Embassies in Damascus Stormed By Assad Loyalists

Nancy Pelosi visiting Bashr Al-Assad in 2007. Know them by the company they keep

An angry mob of Syrians loyal to president Bashr Al-Assad attacked the US Embassy on Monday, breaking windows, spray painting graffiti and raising a Syrian flag on US grounds. No embassy personnel were injured in the incident.

The State Department criticized Syrian authorities for their slow response to the incident and accused a Syrian TV station influenced by senior Ba'ath party officials of inciting the attack.

A French Foreign ministry reported that the France's Embassy in Damascus was attacked by a mob of Assad loyalists that forced their way onto the compound using a battering ram as Syrian security forces looked on. The crowd smashed windows on one of diplomatic vehicles and only dispersed after French guards fired warning shots in the air. Three embassy workers were reportedly injured in that assault.

AFP Photo

The attacks against the US and French embassies come a week after US Ambassador Robert Ford and French Ambassador Eric Chevallier visited Syrian opposition leaders in the restive city of Hama.

D-Day, The Higgins Boat & The Big Easy

Today marked the 67th anniversary of D-Day, the day the Allied assault on fortified coastal German positions in occupied Northern France began in earnest after months of preparation.

The decision to establish a National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, LA was influenced in large part by the then-ubiquitous barges used to ferry troops and supplies to shore for the Allies, not only on D-Day, but throughout the Pacific Theater as well. These craft were called 'Higgins Boats', named after Columbus, NE native Andrew Jackson Higgins.

In the 1920s, the woodworker left his native Nebraska to set up shop in New Orleans where he started an import/export lumber business. He also used some of that lumber to build shallow draft boats for trappers and oil men along the Gulf coast.

During the Great Depression, Higgins used his own capital to start up his own boatmaking business and had persistently lobbied the US Navy to demonstrate small craft of his design. Eventually the Navy relented, and while they were pleased with the performance of his 'spoonbill' bowed-craft during trials in the late 1930s, there was still the matter of men and equipment having to disembark by climbing over the sides of the craft, leaving them exposed to enemy fire in the process.


However, the US Navy learned of Japanese landing craft during the Manchurian invasion that featured a ramp for troops, supplies and vehicles to disembark via the bow once in shallow water or the beach. Higgins and designers from his shop were able to incorporate the front-end ramp into his design. The new craft was approved by the Navy and was known as the LCVP (short for Landing Craft- Vehicle, Personnel). However, the Higgins factory in New Orleans would turn out around 20,000 such boats throughout the course of the war- giving them the moniker 'Higgins Boats'.

International Monetary Fund Head Charged With Sexual Assault in New York City

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF prior to his weekend arrest for sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York, was released on $1 million bail and will be electronically monitored as well as being under watch by armed guards around the clock a New York judge has ruled on Firday.

Stauss-Kahn, who was considered by many to be a challenger to current French president Nicholas Sarkozy in next year's presidential elections, was arrested NY Port Authority officers at JFK International airport while on board a Paris-bound flight before it departed from JFK International.

According to the NYPD, a hotel maid entered Strauss-Khan's suite on the 28th floor of Manhattan's Sofitel hotel thinking it was vacant. It was there that the 62 year old Strauss-Khan chased her down and pulled her into another bedroom in his suite before sexually assaulting her. The IMF head apparently left in such a hurry that he left his cell phone and a number of personal items behind at the scene after the victim had escaped and called 911. Strauss-Kahn resigned as IMF head earlier in the week (some members of the Brazil-Russia-China-India bloc are hoping the new IMF head coupld be replaces with somebody from one of the aforementioned nations).

The accuser was identified as a 32 year old immigrant from the West African country of Guinea. It was also learned this week that the maid's address was an apartment block in the Bronx that is rented out exclusively to tenants that are HIV positive.

Forces Loyal To Ghdaffi Counterattack, Bombard Rebel Positions

[Map: AFP]

Mummar Ghdaffi's forces struck back at rebel-held cities in the eastern part of Libya with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery this week, retaking the oil port of Ras Lanuf and have made it as far east as Ajdabiya- some 100 miles south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Earlier in the month, the Libyan rebels- increasingly made up of soldiers who had defected from the Libyan Army- had made their way westward from Benghazi to the outskirts of Tripoli before being steadily pushed back eastward to their stronghold by Ghdaffi's forces.

Since then, the beleaguered Libyan rebels have been requesting assistance from outside the country- including arms and the possible imposition of a no-fly zone against Ghdaffi's Air Force.

In rebel-held eastern Libya, patience for diplomatic niceties is running short. At a checkpoint near the contested town of Ras Lanuf, Saluhaddin Sultan, 38, a rebel who used to work as a kitchen worker at an oil plant, gestured angrily and said: "Why aren't the Americans doing anything? They just watch and talk. Gaddafi has heavy weapons and he is killing us."

There was a personal reason for his anger. His brother-in-law and nephew, also fighters, had died a day earlier when their car was hit by one of Gaddafi's jets.

"We are fighting for our revolution, but we cannot protect ourselves from the planes," he said.

A couple of miles along the road from the checkpoint were two deep craters on the road edge, from another bombing raid which had killed a family in their car as they fled the fighting.

Jalal Elgallal, a Benghazi businessman educated in Britain who supports the revolution, added: "I lived in Britain for years, I admire Britain - as most Libyans do - and I would expect Britain to help the underdog. If we get a no-fly zone he can't bomb us, and our fighters could march on Tripoli and end this.

"We need your help to get rid of Gaddafi. Just think about what he has done to you in the past - Lockerbie, Yvonne Fletcher, terror attacks.

"This is your chance too to get rid of him. We could get rid of him quickly with some foreign help, otherwise doing this could cost tens of thousands of lives."

In Cairo, the Arab League called for the United Nations Security Council to establish and enforce a no-fly zone during an emergency meeting last week.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have also supported a Libyan no-fly zone while President Obama has been ambivalent at best and Germany and Russia have expressed doubts.

The British and Lebanese have put forth a proposed resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would present a 'menu' of options the international community could use to curtail the activities of Ghdaffi's regime and military. However, it's thought that Russia and China- permanent members of the UN Security council- are likely to oppose any external military intervention against the Libyan regime.

Major Richard Winters, Real Life Commander of Easy Company, Passes Away at 92

Major Richard "Dick" Winters, the Pennsylvania native and WWII Commander who's story was recounted in the Band of Brothers book and miniseries passed away in Campbelltown, PA at the age of 92. Winters passed away on Jan 2nd and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for some time. He was buried in a small, private ceremony on Saturday.

Throughout WWII, Winters was the commander of Easy Company, 506th regiment of the 101st Airborne Division which had fought their way through Western Europe on D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp and Hitler's 'Eagles Nest' Alpine retreat.

After the war, Winters led a relatively quiet life and worked in the agricultural feed business. In the 1990s, Winters was approached by historian Stephen Ambrose who was hoping to chronicle the story of Easy Company's slog through Western Europe for future generations. Ten years ago, Ambrose's Band of Brothers was made into an HBO miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Winters was gracious about his new found notoriety, but never entirely comfortable with it. He shied away of any description of himself as a hero, but was quick to add that he 'served in the company of heroes'.

I found out about Winter's passing from Philly blogger Wyatt Earp the other day. A little over a month ago, Wyatt also mentioned that a 9 year old in Western Pennsylvania has begun selling green wristbands marked 'HANG TOUGH' (similar to the Lance Armstrong/LIVE STRONG bracelets) in order to raise funds for building a monument to Major Winters in St. Marie du-Mont, France.

Sanctuary? Beseiged Iraqi Christians May Find New Home in Kurdistan

Overlooked by many in the news leading up to the 2010 mid-term elections was the terrorist massacre of at least 50 worshippers and clergy in Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic Church on November 1st. Terrorists thought to be with al-Qaeda in Iraq initially targeted the Baghdad stock exchange before moving to the church across the street. Iraqi security forces quickly cordoned off the area surrounding Our Lady of Salvation and attempted to negotiate, but the attackers threw grenades and detonated explosive vests when the Iraqi forces stormed the church, killing 49 parishioners and 9 policemen.

In the days following the church attack, more Iraqi christian were targeted by car bombs and mortar attacks, killing at least five more. Some of the survivors of the terrorist attacks were given asylum by France and flown to Paris for medical treatment.

Many of Iraq's remaining Christians are concerned for their own safety after the latest attacks and want to leave Iraq. However, leaders in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq have invited Iraqi Christians to relocate to Kurdistan from elsewhere within Iraq. Kurdistan's autonomy during the final decade of Saddam Hussein's regime and after Operation Iraqi Freedom has meant that for the most part the economic and security situation is far more stable than elsewhere in Iraq.

Iraq's president Jalal Talibani (a Kurd himself) has even raised the possibility of establishing Christian-majority provinces within Iraq in an interview with France 24 television.

Hmm....wait a second. The sanctimonious self-appointed righteous indignation brigades that were out in force preaching tolerance when that douchebag Florida pastor promised to burn a bunch of Korans on September 11 have been pretty quiet since the Our Lady of Salvation massacre.

This would mean Iraqi and Kurdish Muslims have shown more concern over the plight of Iraq's Christians than the professional whiners and victims in their perpetual seethe-apalooza trying to hold up even token opposition to the 9/11 mosque in Manhattan as bigotry and Islamophobia.

Even if the Our Lady of Salvation massacre never took place, there's still the matter of Egyptian Muslims torching the homes of Coptic Christians over rumors a Coptic man was in a relationship with a Muslim woman. Or the Pakistani Christian mother of two who was reportedly sentenced to death for 'blasphemy' after she rebuffed efforts by Muslim co-workers to convert her.

Just some food for though the next time the head of an Islamic organization says that pointing out what's taking place in the Islamic world is akin to '1930s Germany'.

[Hat Tip: Eat it or Wear It; Weasel Zippers]