Bombings kill 103 people in Pakistan



Bombings kill 103 people in Pakistan — A series of bombings in different parts of Pakistan killed 103 people on Thursday, including 69 who died in a sectarian attack on a bustling billiard hall in the southwest city of Quetta, officials said.

The blasts punctuated one of the deadliest days in recent years in Pakistan, where the government faces a bloody insurgency by Taliban militants in the northwest and Baluch militants in the southwest.

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Associated Press/Arshad Butt - A Pakistani paramilitary soldier and local residents gather at the site of bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. A bomb targeting paramilitary soldiers killed scores of people in southwest Pakistan, officials said. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) 

The country is also home to many enemies of the U.S. that Washington has frequently targeted with drone attacks. A U.S. missile strike Thursday killed five suspected militants in the seventh such attack in two weeks, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The billiard hall in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, was hit by twin blasts about 10 minutes apart on Thursday night, killing 69 people and wounding more 160 others, said senior police officer Hamid Shakeel.

The billiard hall was located in an area dominated by Shiite Muslims, and most of the dead and wounded were from the minority sect, said another police officer, Mohammed Murtaza. Many of the people who rushed to the scene after the first blast and were hit by the second bomb, which caused the roof of the building to collapse, he said.

Police officers, journalists and rescue workers who responded to the initial explosion were also among the dead, police said.

The sectarian militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack to local journalists. One of the group's spokesmen, Bakar Saddiq, said the first blast was carried out by a suicide bomber and the second was a bomb planted in a car and detonated by remote control.

Radical Sunnis groups often target Pakistan's Shiite minority, whom they believe hold heretical views and are not true Muslims.

Earlier in the day, a bomb targeting paramilitary soldiers in a commercial area in Quetta killed 12 people and wounded more than 40 others, said Shakeel, the senior police officer.

The United Baluch Army, a separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack on the soldiers in calls to local journalists.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, a bomb in a crowded Sunni mosque in the northwest city of Mingora killed 22 people and wounded more than 70, said senior police officer Akhtar Hayyat.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Associated Press )

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Instructor's heroic response to son's attack



Instructor's heroic response to son's attack — Gravely wounded by an arrow fired into his head, a Wyoming college instructor still managed to wrestle with his 25-year-old son who carried out the attack and give his students time to flee the classroom, say police who hailed the actions as heroic.

More grisly details of the horrific murder-suicide in Wyoming came to light Saturday, a day after the younger man killed his father's live-in girlfriend and then barged into his father's computer science class and shot him in the head with a high-powered bow and arrow.

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Associated Press/The Casper Star-Tribune, Alan Rogers - Crime scene tape surrounds he home of Casper College professors Jim Krumm and Heidi Arnold on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 in Casper, Wyo. The couple were killed by Krumm's 25-year-old son Chris Krumm on Friday morning. Arnold died from knife wounds on the street in front of the house, after which Chris Krumm killed his father and himself in a Casper College classroom. (AP Photo/The Casper Star-Tribune, Alan Rogers) MANDATORY CREDIT; TRIB.COM

As James Krumm, 56, then fought with son Christopher Krumm of Vernon, Conn., during Friday's attack, the handful of students in the Casper College classroom escaped.

Christopher Krumm had just stabbed to death 42-year-old Heidi Arnold at the home she shared with James Krumm two miles away.

When police arrived at the classroom, they found Christopher Krumm bleeding from self-inflicted knife wounds and taking his last breaths.

James Krumm was dead, Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said.

"I can tell you the courage that was demonstrated by Mr. Krumm was absolutely without equal," he said, adding that the instructor's actions could offer some measure of comfort to those affected by the killings.

Authorities believe "around six" students were in the classroom when Christopher Krumm entered, Casper police spokesman Justin Smith said. No students were hurt.

Walsh said police still were trying to figure out what motivated Christopher Krumm to attack his father and Arnold, a math instructor at the college. Arnold died of multiple stab wounds.

After shooting his father with the arrow, Christopher Krumm stabbed himself, then fatally stabbed his father in the chest in a struggle in the classroom, Walsh said.

Police began getting reports about the attack on Arnold soon after they responded by the dozen to the campus attack. Authorities locked down the campus for two hours while they scoured the grounds for any other attackers. They were reassured that Christopher Krumm acted alone.

He had smuggled the compound bow — a type much more powerful and effective for hunting than a simple, wooden bow — onto campus beneath a blanket, Walsh said.

He said Christopher Krumm also had two knives with him, and the knife used was "very large."

Arnold's body was found in the gutter of her street, and evidence suggested much of the attack occurred outside the home, Walsh said.

Neighbor Heather Meier said she came home from work Friday afternoon after picking up her 7-year-old daughter from school, and the two saw Arnold's body still lying in the street.

"As soon as we got home, we just shut the curtains," she said Saturday. "You know, tried to just watch some TV, have some snacks, mind our own business."

Across the street from her home, crime tape cordoned off Krumm and Arnold's faded blue and yellow house and part of the street. Meier, who has lived in the neighborhood for two years, said she met Arnold and James Krumm only once a few months ago and described them as quiet and very private.

Casper College instructor Kevin McDermott said Arnold and James Krumm were well-liked on campus.

"I knew these people pretty well, so it's hurting me. ... It's breaking my heart," said McDermott, who teachers algebra and computer networking at the school. "They were really good, kind-hearted people. People like Jim and Heidi are what make Casper College such a great college."

McDermott described James Krumm as a "real kind and gentle-mannered guy" who was well-respected by his students.

"Computer science majors took most of their classes from Jim. He was their adviser, and he had a big impact on them," he said.

McDermott added Arnold was a great teacher who "taught the tough stuff" and maintained a sunny disposition — "a person who always had a smile on her face."

Chris Unruh, a student in one of Arnold's pre-calculus classes this fall, said she was a kind instructor who was excited about recently getting two dogs.

"She cared about her students," said Unruh, 18. "She wanted all of them to succeed."

Investigators said Christopher Krumm had recently driven to Casper from Connecticut and had been staying at a local hotel. He had no significant history of encounters with police.

Authorities were uncertain what went awry in his relationship with his father.

"It's difficult to say. I don't think it was very close," Walsh said.

In Vernon, Conn., police Sgt. Timothy O'Connor said officers executed a search warrant at Christopher Krumm's last known address Friday to help authorities in Casper. He didn't know what investigators were looking for or may have found at the home.

"Whatever was recovered will be turned over to Wyoming because it is an active investigation," O'Connor said.

Christopher Krumm's previous addresses include one in the western Massachusetts city of Springfield and others in the Colorado cities of Golden, Fort Collins and Lakewood.

Casper, population 56,000, is about 250 miles northwest of Denver and Wyoming's second-largest city after the state capital, Cheyenne. Wyomingites refer to Casper as the "Oil City" because it is a hub of the state's oil industry.

Casper College is one of seven colleges in Wyoming's community college system. The campus was mostly quiet Saturday morning. Fathers and sons shot hoops in the school gym. A small group of drama students rehearsed a play in the school theater just across the street from the attack.

The building where the attack happened remained cordoned off by police tape that whipped in a brisk wind. A security guard let students back in, one at a time, to retrieve belongings they'd left behind.

Andra Charter, a 20-year-old sophomore, emerged with a coffee mug. She recalled hearing screams outside her biology class before getting word about what had happened.

"As we were walking out, there was a girl screaming, 'There's somebody stabbing Mr. Krumm!'" Charter said.

James Krumm was head of the college's computer science department. He was born north of London and also spent part of his childhood in Germany, according to the college website.

He held degrees from Casper College, a bachelor's degree and MBA from the University of Wyoming and a master's in computer science from Colorado State University.

Arnold held a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Oregon and a bachelor's degree in math from University of California Davis.

The college planned a candlelight vigil and memorial service Tuesday. ( Associated Press )


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Mother Raised Daughter As Boy For 2 Years In Secret



Mother Raised Daughter As Boy For 2 Years In Secret - A Brazilian girl was placed with a foster family when it was discovered her mother raised her as a boy for two years before an aunt discovered the truth, a Brazilian news program has reported.

The mother named her female baby Samuel and managed to erase the "female" check box on her birth certificate at the hospital, then checking the "male" box, R7 Noticias said. After the baby was discharged, the mother registered "Samuel" as a boy at a municipal office in the central Brazilian city of Senador Canedo.

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For two years the mother dressed her daughter in boy's clothes and cut her hair short, convincing family members, including the child's father, that the girl was a boy. A suspicious aunt uncovered the ruse when she peeked in the child's diaper, the station said.

The British tabloids are having a field day with the gender-bending story. "I didn't suspect a thing," the paternal grandmother is quoted as saying in a Daily Mail translation. "For me, he was a boy. Why would I think anything different?"

The grandmother added, "It was a huge shock for everyone. Now I have to get used to the fact I don't have a grandson any more, I have a granddaughter."

The mother said she hid her daughter's sex because the mother was abused as a child and hoped that the girl could avoid the same fate by being a boy, The Telegraph said.

The municipal office that accepted the false registration could also face charges, R7 said.

Masquerading girls as boys isn't so far-fetched, according to a 2010 New York Times article. In Afghanistan, families sometimes disguise girls because of societal and economic pressure to have boys, the Times reported, noting that the practice has endured across class boundaries and through wars and administration changes. ( huffingtonpost.com )


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Managers delighted their stores sold winning lottery tickets



Managers delighted their stores sold winning lottery tickets - Managers of a Missouri gas station and an Arizona food store said on Thursday they were delighted that they may have handed tickets to the two prospective multi-millionaire winners of a record $587.5 million Powerball lottery jackpot.

The two winning tickets were sold at the gas station and sandwich shop in the tiny farming town of Dearborn, Missouri, about 30 miles north of Kansas City, and the food store in Fountain Hills, Arizona, on the outskirts of Phoenix.

Although the identities of the ticket-holders were not immediately announced, they picked the winning numbers announced at the drawing Wednesday night: 5, 16, 22, 23, 29, and the Powerball number 6.

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Reuters/Reuters - Trex Mart truck stop manager Chris Naverz points to lottery tickets as he talks to a customer at the location, where one of two winning tickets in a $587.5 million Powerball lottery was sold at, in Dearborn, Missouri November 29, 2012. REUTERS/Dave Kaup

They will share an estimated $385 million before taxes if they opt to take the prize as a lump sum, or the $587.5 million can be paid out to them as annuities over three decades, the Multi-State Lottery Association said.

Kristi Williams, a clerk at the Trex Mart convenience store in Dearborn, said she and another employee high-fived each other when they learned the morning after the drawing that one of the two winning tickets had been purchased there.

Store manager Chris Nauerz, who was working Wednesday when the lucky ticket was purchased, called the news "shocking." He said the station gets a mix of customers, both locals from Dearborn, population 500, and truck drivers passing through on nearby Interstate 29.

"It's pretty crazy to think somebody locally could possibly be a millionaire and not know it yet," Nauerz said. "And the fact that I may have even handed over the ticket is even wilder."

The popular lottery - which is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands - had not had a winner for two months.

After no one won the top prize in Saturday's drawing, the pot grew by about $263 million to $587.5 million amid a national frenzy to buy tickets.

Bob Chebat, the manager of the store in Arizona where the second lucky ticket was purchased, said customers bought 986 tickets yesterday and that there was a good chance he had sold the winning ticket.

"It's almost as good as me winning," Chebat said.

"People say all the time that I'll throw you a million if I win, and no one ever has ... I guess we'll see what happens now."

Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based, said people from around the world called hoping for a chance to play but were told they had to be in a participating location to buy a ticket.

The previous Powerball top prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. The largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega Millions drawing, was shared by three winning tickets last March. (Reuters)


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UN vote last chance on 2-state solution



UN vote last chance on 2-state solution — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly before a historic vote on Thursday that it "is being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine."

The Palestinians were certain to win U.N. recognition as a state, but Israel and the United States warned it could delay hopes of achieving an independent Palestinian state through peace talks with Israel.

Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state solution.


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Associated Press/Richard Drew - in United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. In a statement Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to all nations to vote in favor of the Palestinians "as an investment in peace." (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Israel's U.N. ambassador, Ron Prosor, warned the General Assembly that "the Palestinians are turning their backs on peace" and that the U.N. can't break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.

The General Assembly vote was certain to succeed, with most of the 193 member states sympathetic to the Palestinians. Several key countries, including France, recently announced they would support the move to elevate the Palestinians from the status of U.N. observer to nonmember observer state.

Jubilant Palestinians crowded around outdoor screens and television sets at home Thursday to watch the United Nations vote.

Palestinians say a successful vote will strengthen their hand in future talks with Israel, which has lambasted the recognition bid as an attempt to bypass such negotiations.

The vote would grant Abbas an overwhelming international endorsement for his key position: establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. With Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu opposed to a pullback to the 1967 lines, this should strengthen Abbas' hand if peace talks resume.

The U.N. bid also could help Abbas restore some of his standing, which has been eroded by years of standstill in peace efforts. His rival, Hamas, deeply entrenched in Gaza, has seen its popularity rise after an Israeli offensive on targets linked to the Islamic militant group there earlier this month. ( Associated Press )


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