The lengthy report, “The FBI: Protecting the Homeland in the 21st Century,” is perhaps the most detailed, public examination to date of the FBI’s post-9/11 capabilities, highlighting the successes and limitations of the traditional crime-fighting bureau... One bright spot in the report: The CIA and FBI seem to be getting along better, putting aside the traditional friction that existed before the 9/11 attacks. “The relationship between the FBI and CIA domestically and overseas appears to be on solid ground, and is arguably the strongest it has been in their collective history.”
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The lengthy report, “The FBI: Protecting the Homeland in the 21st Century,” is perhaps the most detailed, public examination to date of the FBI’s post-9/11 capabilities, highlighting the successes and limitations of the traditional crime-fighting bureau...
FBI Director James Comey. A new report commissioned by Congress highlights the bureau’s post-9/11 successes and limitations. (Cliff Owen/AP)
ENLARGE
More news for flight 9525 was delayed
13 hours ago - James Corden's "Late Late Show" debuts to great re. ... The Germanwings Flight 9525 that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday took off from ...
The flight came down in a remote area of the French Alps, and the recovery team .... It mainly focused on short continental flights; The plane was delayed taking off ..... David Cabanes in Barcelona was meant to be on flight 4U 9525 but moved ...
16 hours ago - After a 30-minute delay, Germanwings flight 9525 takes off from Barcelona ... Flight 9525 begins to descend, about 300 feet within a minute ...
9 hours ago - MAP: How Germanwings Flight 9525 fell to Earth. ... Trending on Social Media. ESPN 980 morning show set to debut after unexplained delay.
11 hours ago - Website shows flight path of crashed Germanwings plane. Tue, Mar ... Germanwings confirmed its flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf went down with 144 .... NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes.
9 hours ago - #Germanwings flight 9525's departure from #Barcelona was delayed 26 minutes. Latest right now on #AC360 pic.twitter.com/6BoTS4SJPO.
2 hours ago - The crash site of Germanwings Flight 9525, located high in the French Alps, will make for a difficult search-and-recovery mission for French ...
23 mins ago - Investigators were hoping a "black box" discovered among the debris would help them figure out what caused Germanwings Flight 9525, from ...
#Germanwings flight 9525's departure from #Barcelona was delayed 26 minutes. .... Night falls on students' vigil for classmates on #Germanwings flight 9525 ...
More news for flight 9525
Germanwings Flight 9525 (4U9525/GWI9525) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, operated by the Lufthansa-owned
13 hours ago - The Germanwings Flight 9525 that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday took off from Barcelona en route to Dusseldorf around 10 a.m. local ...
15 hours ago - Last Updated Mar 24, 2015 7:09 PM EDT. SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France - The search for Germanwings Flight 9525, which crashed in the French ...
10 hours ago - Germanwings Flight 9525 was at its cruising altitude of almost 38,000 feet and steadily descended to 6,550 feet in the eight minutes before it ...
8 hours ago - The Airbus A320 airliner en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, Germany, suddenly shifted into a rapid dive only moments after reaching its ...
17 hours ago - Lufthansa said it did not yet know what had happened to Germanwings Flight 9525, which left Barcelona airport at 5:01 a.m. ET. Germanwings ...
23 hours ago - Germanwings Flight 9525 has crashed in the Alps of southern France on its way from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. There was a distress signal.
A Germanwings plane carrying 150 people has crashed in the French Alps on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf. The Airbus A320 - flight 4U 9525 - went ...
15 hours ago - The crash of Germanwings flight 4U9525 in the French Alps with the ... The A320 was on its second flight of the day, having earlier left ...
One bright spot in the report: The CIA and FBI seem to be getting along better, putting aside the traditional friction that existed before the 9/11 attacks.
“The relationship between the FBI and CIA domestically and overseas appears to be on solid ground, and is arguably the strongest it has been in their collective history.”
FBI Director James Comey. A new report commissioned by Congress highlights the bureau’s post-9/11 successes and limitations. (Cliff Owen/AP)
The FBI improved its ability to fight terrorism in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but a new report says the bureau still faces significant challenges as it continues to strengthen its intelligence capabilities to deal with nimble enemies.
The finding was part of an exhaustive review requested by Congress to evaluate the FBI’s response to the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations in 2004 and determine if the domestic law enforcement agency was moving quickly enough to deal with fast-moving threats.
The lengthy report, “The FBI: Protecting the Homeland in the 21st Century,” is perhaps the most detailed, public examination to date of the FBI’s post-9/11 capabilities, highlighting the successes and limitations of the traditional crime-fighting bureau.
The authors of the report, a year in the making, said the FBI had come a long way, improving the sharing of information and collaborating with intelligence partners. They said the progress has “undoubtedly contributed to protecting the homeland against another catastrophic terrorist attack.”
But the FBI has lagged behind in other key programs, such as analysis and the development of a deep roster of informants, the report said. The review looked at the FBI’s response to five high-profile terrorist plots since 2008 and said informants didn’t play any meaningful role.
Members of the 9/11 Review Commission said that there were warning signs in those cases, including the 2010 botched Times Square bombing and a thwarted al-Qaeda attack on New York’s subways in 2009, that the FBI should perhaps have been aware of.
The commission, which includes former attorney general Ed Meese, former congressman Tim Roemer and Georgetown University professor Bruce Hoffman, also faulted the FBI in their report for not being aware of outbursts in a mosque made by one of the brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing.
However, the review commission recognized that the “civil liberties sensitivities of source networks within religious institutions” make it difficult to develop sources in local communities.
Another area of concern dealt with the FBI’s ability to evolve into an organization with a “deep expertise in intelligence and national security.”
While praising the FBI’s focus on strengthening its intelligence capabilities and making them a priority, the review found that the transformation “requires faster progress and deeper execution.”
It was only last year that FBI Director James B. Comey created a new intelligence branch, headed by an executive assistant director.
In a news conference Wednesday at FBI headquarters to announce the results of the study, Comey, who took over the bureau in 2013, said report has been “a tremendously valuable thing to me as director.”
“We want the American people to see what they are getting for their money,” said Comey, who noted about 90 percent of the report was declassified. “What the FBI is doing. What the FBI is doing well. What the FBI could do better.”
Comey said much of the progress the FBI had made was due to the efforts of his predecessor, Robert Mueller, a former Marine who began running the bureau mere days after the 9/11 attacks.
Other issues identified in the report — which Roemer said hoped would serve as a blueprint for the FBI over the next quarter century — are the recruitment of people with the necessary skills to deal with complex missions, such as cyberthreats. Hiring linguists and integrating them in operations should be a “high priority,” the review found.
Leadership at the bureau was also examined, with the report finding “passive resistors” when it came to making necessary changes. The report said in the years ahead “visionary leadership will matter more than ever.”
The review also tackled the FBI’s relationships with other agencies such as the Department of Justice’s National Security Division. The NSD consults and in some instances approves certain FBI investigative activities.
The general perception among FBI agents and supervisors interviewed by the 9/11 Review Commission was that the “NSD works too slowly and has been insufficiently aggressive in supporting the FBI’s surveillance requests.”
One bright spot in the report: The CIA and FBI seem to be getting along better, putting aside the traditional friction that existed before the 9/11 attacks.
“The relationship between the FBI and CIA domestically and overseas appears to be on solid ground, and is arguably the strongest it has been in their collective history.”
Adam Goldman reports on terrorism and national security for The Washington Post.
Continue reading 10 minutes left
world
national-security
Get the WorldViews Newsletter
Free daily updates delivered just for you.
Please enter a valid email address
Our Online Games
Play right from this page
Read the whole story
· · · · · · ·
WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. has made great strides since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, but urgently needs to improve its intelligence capabilities and hire more linguists to counter the rapidly evolving threats to the United States, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The report by the F.B.I. 9/11 Review Commission said that the bureau needed to enhance its ability to gain information from people and to analyze it, contending that the bureau lags “behind marked advances in law enforcement capabilities.”
“This imbalance needs urgently to be addressed to meet growing and increasingly complex national security threats, from adaptive and increasingly tech-savvy terrorists, more brazen computer hackers, and more technically capable, global cyber syndicates,” the report said.
The F.B.I. has enough linguists in its large offices, but they are in “short supply” throughout the rest of the country, the report said. Often, linguists use a virtual system to communicate remotely with agents and analysts working on cases.
“Hiring additional linguists and integrating them should be a high priority,” the report said.
While the 2004 report of the national 9/11 Commission and subsequent reviews called for major changes to the F.B.I., the report released Wednesday was much less critical. Rather than a rebuke, it amounts to a status-check on the F.B.I. transformation that began in 2001.
Today’s bureau bears little resemblance to that organization, and some of the areas cited for improvement are markedly better than they were years ago. For instance, the report was much less critical about the F.B.I.’s foreign language ability than previous reports were.
The review commission was created by Congress in 2014 to assess the bureau’s progress since the attacks. In particular, the panel examined how the F.B.I. had put into effect the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
“Many of the findings and recommendations in this report will not be new to the F.B.I.,” the latest report said. “The bureau is already taking steps to address them. In 2015, however, the F.B.I. faces an increasingly complicated and dangerous global threat environment that will demand an accelerated commitment to reform. Everything is moving faster.”
The principal authors of the report were Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University; Edwin Meese III, the former attorney general; and Timothy J. Roemer, a former House member from Indiana and former ambassador to India.
The report said that to improve its intelligence gathering and analysis, the F.B.I. needed a five year “top-down strategic plan.”
It did not put all of the blame on the F.B.I., though, adding that budget cuts had “severely hindered the F.B.I.’s intelligence and national security programs.”
The panel was particularly critical of how the F.B.I. treats its analysts. It said that “despite its stated intentions to address concerns from its analysts” the bureau does not regard them as a “professional work force” that needs to be continually trained and educated.
The F.B.I.’s director, James B. Comey, who took over in September 2013, has said that raising the profile of analysts is one of his chief priorities.
The F.B.I. is far better at sharing information throughout the government than it was before the Sept. 11 attacks, the report said. But it needs to improve how it communicates with local law enforcement authorities and the private sector.
“Looking ahead, the F.B.I. will be increasingly dependent upon all domestic and foreign partnerships to succeed in its critical and growing national security missions — including against the rapidly evolving cyber and terrorist threats,” the report said.
Read the whole story
· · ·
 NPR |
FBI Lagging Behind US Terrorism Threat, Report Says
New York Times WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. urgently needs to improve its intelligence capabilities and hire more linguists to counter the rapidly evolving threats to the United States, according to a report released on Wednesday that examined the bureau's progress since the ... Panel Urges FBI to Expand Intelligence Work, Global FootprintWall Street Journal FBI adapts to face terrorism threats but still faces challenges, report findsWashington Post FBI needs better intelligence, information sharing: US reportReuters USA TODAY- Bryan-College Station Eagle all 3 The Globe and Mail-Reno Public Radio all 4 news articles » |
EDIRNE, Turkey (Reuters) - When the domes of Edirne's abandoned Great Synagogue caved in, Rifat Mitrani, the town's last Jew, knew it spelled the end of nearly two millennia of Jewish heritage in this Turkish town.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Habib al-Adly, who served as interior minister under president Hosni Mubarak, was freed from prison on Wednesday after being cleared of graft charges last week, the state news agency reported.
As a GP, I know that people differ in their approach to serious illness. Some want to make their own choice about treatment, even if it runs counter to the experts’ advice
Good news that Ashya King, the child with a brain tumour whose parents took him to Prague for treatment, is now cancer-free. Does this happy result vindicate the parents in their spirited quest to defy UK doctors? Does it prove that the NHS cannot offer world-class service? Is it a victory for David over Goliath? Or for patient choice over medical hegemony? I don’t think it is any of those things, although I’m very pleased that he’s doing so well.
A parent whose child is diagnosed with a brain tumour is terrified and will obviously want the best for them. Speaking from experience your instinct is to trust no one. The local hospital may not seem equal to the task and it is only natural to wonder whether something better exists “out there”. There must be a newer, better, less damaging treatment your child is being denied because the NHS is skint. There is such a loss of control when your child is ill. To take control, even if it means charging across Europe, may seem preferable to passively accepting what is on offer.
As the Thalidomide disaster showed, harms may not be immediately apparent
Continue reading...
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 2
CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab leaders meeting at a summit this week face rapidly deteriorating conflicts in Yemen and Libya, but have yet to agree on a concrete plan to counter a growing threat from Islamist militant groups and regional chaos.
LONDON (AP) -- The BBC decided Wednesday not to renew the contract of "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson after a fracas with his producer, ending his connection to the immensely popular program built around macho banter, off-color jokes and cars....
Jail for thief who tried to sell secret nuclear submarine documents by Steven Morris and agency
Marcin Kostrzewa sentenced to four and a half years after being caught in sting operation demanding £50,000 from ‘Polish spy’
A factory worker who stole restricted documents about British nuclear submarines and tried to sell them to an eastern European government has been jailed for four and a half years.
Marcin Kostrzewa, 32, went to the Polish embassy and offered documents and other material for £50,000, but officials tipped off British secret services and he was caught in a sting operation.
Continue reading...
Afghan security forces at the site of the suicide attack, which killed at least seven people in Kabul on Wednesday.
A Polish court has sentenced a Catholic priest to seven years in prison for molesting boys in the Dominican Republic, in a case that has tarnished the Catholic Church’s image.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday that Islamic State and its allies pose a "terrible threat" to the countries of western and central Asia.
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 3
BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece failed in a bid on Wednesday to secure a quick cash payment from the euro zone rescue fund to help stave off potential bankruptcy next month, raising pressure on Athens to deliver a convincing reform program within days.
American warplanes have begun flying over the Iraqi city as Iraqi forces battle Islamic State militants, and are expected to start airstrikes soon.
Eurozone finance ministry officials agreed that Greece has no legal claim to $1.31 billion that Athens was hoping to get back from the eurozone bailout fund.
SEYNE, France—French investigators were analyzing a damaged black box recovered from the Germanwings plane that slammed into the French Alps leaving all 150 aboard feared dead, as the search-and-recovery operation continued at the crash site.
The black box containing the cockpit conversations arrived Wednesday at the French air accident investigation office in Le Bourget, outside Paris, to be analyzed.
The first analysis from the recovered black box will likely be available Wednesday afternoon, French government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll said.
A Germanwings Airbus A320 flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf crashed in a mountainous region of southern France on Tuesday. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest details.
The recovery effort resumed early Wednesday, as search helicopters ferried police officers and emergency personnel to the site where the Airbus A320, operated by Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s low-fare brand Germanwings, crashed Tuesday morning after an unexplained 8-minute descent.
The bodies of the dead will be evacuated to the small Alpine village of Seyne for identification, said Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for the French Interior Ministry.
Emergency personnel are grappling with difficult conditions. The crash happened in a hard-to-reach area of the Alps, accessible only by hours-long treks or rappelling from helicopters unable to land on treacherous mountainous terrain.
Given the difficult weather, the steepness of the slopes and the large areas over which debris was scattered, the operation will last days or even weeks, said Mr. Brandet.
He said the officers who guarded the site overnight had secured the area, setting up ropes and other equipment to allow investigators to work without risking falling into Alpine ravines. Another team of 50 mountain rangers who left for the scene on Tuesday evening are working to establish a land route to the site, but weather conditions and the rugged terrain have made their endeavors difficult, said pilot Xavier Roy, who is coordinating air operations.
“So far, we are doing everything through helicopters,” he said.
It didn’t snow on the crash site, which would have complicated the search effort, said Mr. Roy, but modest rainfall rendered the ground instable and more dangerous. The whole mountain area has been declared a no-fly zone to allow the search-and-recovery mission to proceed freely.
Officials who flew over the crash site described an awful scene of desolation: a mountain face blanketed by small debris and body parts, suggesting that Flight 9525—en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf—disintegrated on impact.
The cockpit voice recorder, which is designed to store two hours of conversation and withstand impacts of as much as 3,400 times the force of gravity, could yield clues about whether the crew became incapacitated or were battling a technical malfunction. The device should also allow investigators to detect automated aural alerts from the plane that would help in reconstructing the sequence of events that led to the plane’s descent and eventual crash.
The BEA, the French air accident investigation office, has equipment at its headquarters in Le Bourget outside Paris to read the data even when the black boxes are damaged. The organization has vast experience extracting data from black boxes from Toulouse-based Airbus planes and is often called on by foreign governments to assist in their probes of crashes involving planes made by the European company.
The other black box, the flight data recorder that stores 25 hours of data on the aircraft’s systems and would cover the entire duration of the flight from Barcelona until impact, hasn’t yet been recovered.
ENLARGE
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that while no possible cause of the crash has been ruled out, a possible terrorist attack isn’t the focus of the investigation.
“It’s not the most likely hypothesis, because there is a concentration of debris,” Mr. Cazeneuve told French radio.
Alongside the investigation into what brought the flight down, authorities are working toward the difficult task of identifying the passengers aboard the flight, with coroners and other forensic experts assembled at the makeshift base camp in Seyne.
“In such a crash, the bodies are often torn apart,” said Germout Freitag, a spokesman for Germany’s Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, making identification “extremely difficult.”
The German bureau has sent three investigators to the scene to assist forensic officers on site and to research the causes of the crash, while Spanish police and the Guardia Civil, Spain’s paramilitary police force, is collecting samples from the homes of victims. Some of the victims’ family members were due to arrive in Seyne on Wednesday also to assist with the identification.
The crash has left two nations in mourning, with the bulk of the passengers hailing from Germany and Spain. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy are set to pay their respects to the victims on Wednesday afternoon in Seyne, alongside French President François Hollande.
Barcelona’s El Prat airport was a scene of grief Tuesday as family members of the flight’s passengers arrived there. Associated Press …
French President François Hollande, center, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel walk in a field Wednesday near the site of the crash of a Germanwings Airbus A320 near Seyne. Diego Crespo/Reuters …
1
of
18
SHOW CAPTION HIDE CAPTION
fullscreen
French President François Hollande, center, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel walk in a field Wednesday near the site of the crash of ...
A photo released by the French Interior Ministry shows search operations at the Germanwings crash site. Reuters …
Germanwings employees cry as they place flowers and light candles outside the company’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany. Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters …
Mourners gather at a memorial of flowers and candles in front of the school in Haltern am See, Germany, on Wednesday. Sascha Schuermann/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images …
The voice data recorder of the Germanwings jetliner that crashed Tuesday in the French Alps, after French investigators cracked open the plane’s badly damaged black box on Wednesday. Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses/Associated Press …
A helicopter of the French Gendarmerie takes off Wednesday from Seyne, France, for another search-and-rescue operation. Peter Kneffel/European Pressphoto Agency …
Members of the emergency services meet at dawn to start trying to recover the bodies and the remains of the Airbus A320 that crashed the previous day at the rescue center in Seyne. Officials said the flight was carrying 144 passengers and six crew members, and that all are feared dead.Alberto Estevez/European Pressphoto Agency …
A poster reading "Yesterday we were many, today we are alone" can be seen in front of a memorial of flowers and candles near the Joseph-König-Gymnasium secondary school in Haltern am See on Wednesday. Sixteen teenagers and two teachers from the school were assumed to be among the 150 dead in the crash. Sascha Scheurmann/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images …
Candles burn amid pins from airlines Condor, Germanwings and Lufthansa, from left, outside the Germanwings headquarters at Cologne-Bonn airport. Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters …
Wreckage and debris lie on the mountain slopes after the crash of the Germanwings Airbus A320 over the French Alps. The plane took off from Barcelona at about 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday.European Pressphoto Agency …
A French civil security services helicopter flies near the hard-to-reach site in the French Alps. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images …
An aerial photo shows what appears to be wreckage from the crash. Zuma Press …
Members of the French gendarmerie gather near the site of the crash. A marshal with the local mountain police said 300 emergency personnel had been dispatched to the area as of Tuesday.Boris Horvat/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images …
French police and mountain-rescue teams arrive near the site of Tuesday’s plane crash. Patrick Aventurier/Getty Images …
French forces standing by an army helicopter in Seyne on Tuesday. Sebastien Nogier/European Pressphoto Agency …
Family members of the passengers of the crashed plane reacting at Barcelona's El Prat airport in Spain on Tuesday. gustau nacarino/Reuters …
School Principal Ulrich Wessel grieving with students Tuesday at the Joseph-König-Gymnasium secondary school in Haltern am See. Sascha Schuermann/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images …
Barcelona’s El Prat airport was a scene of grief Tuesday as family members of the flight’s passengers arrived there. Associated Press …
The list of those on board the Airbus A320 is still being finalized. Different countries have given varying figures about the nationalities aboard the flight.
Lufthansa said its employees worldwide held a minute’s silence at 10:53 a.m. local time, the time of Tuesday’s crash, while Chief Executive Carsten Spohr was scheduled to appear at a news conference directly afterwards.
The emotional toll of the crash appeared to be weighing heavily on some Germanwings pilots and crew members, some of whom declined to fly on Wednesday.
The low-fare airline will borrow crew and 11 aircraft from its parent company and other airlines to run some of its scheduled flights, said a spokesman, adding that just one flight had been canceled. The flight number of the plane that crashed—4U9525—meanwhile, “will cease to exist,” he said.
Social Media Coverage From WSJ Reporters
—Nadya Masidlover, Christopher Bjork and Natascha Divac contributed to this article.
Read the whole story
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
This photo provided in Paris, Wednesday, March 25, 2015 by the BEA, the French Air Accident Investigation Agency, shows the voice data recorder of the Germanwings jetliner that crashed Tuesday in the French Alps. French investigators cracked open the badly damaged black box of a German jetliner on Wednesday and sealed off the rugged Alpine crash site where 150 people died when their plane on a flight from Barcelona, Spain to Duesseldorf slammed into a mountain. (AP Photo/Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses)
Reporters face assault, intimidation and murder, study shows
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 4
US test-fires nukes in California to remind Russia of its powerby The European Union Times
US Air Force shows a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.
The United States has test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from a facility in California in a move to relay a message of nuclear capability to the world.
The US Air Force fired the unarmed Minuteman III missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Monday, according to a statement by the Air Force.
The test-launch program “demonstrates the operational credibility of the Minuteman III and ensures the United States’ ability to maintain a strong, credible nuclear deterrent as a key element of US national security and the security of US allies and partners,” read the statement.
“With these launches, we not only verify our processes and the ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) weapon system, we provide a visual to the world that the Minuteman III is capable of striking pretty much anywhere with extreme precision,” Lt. Col Tytonia Moore said.
The California facility has conducted multiple missile tests over the years, most recently in September 2014.
The latest was tested along with massive NATO war games across Eastern Europe as the alliance plans to expand its military presence in the region amid the conflict in Ukraine.
In 2014, NATO forces held some 200 military exercises with the alliance’s General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg having promised that such drills would continue.
The US and NATO war games have been conducted amid tensions between the US and Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Western governments accuse Russia of destabilizing Ukraine by supporting pro-Russian forces there. Moscow, however, denies the allegation.
Read the whole story
· ·
Germanwings plane crash investigators begin examining black boxby Kim Willsher in Paris and Angelique Chrisafis in Seyne-Les-Alpes
Officials hope recordings of voices and sounds in the cockpit will explain why Airbus crashed into the French Alps, killing 150 people
French air investigators are examining one of the black boxes of the doomed Germanwings plane to find out why the aircraft crashed into a mountain in the French Alps, killing the 150 people on board.
The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) arrived at the French air investigation bureau on Wednesday morning. The first information about what happened on the flight deck before the tragedy is expected in a few hours, but investigators warned a full explanation would take weeks.
Continue reading...Egyptian Court Adjourns Trial of Al Jazeera Journalists to April 22 by webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
An Egyptian court said on Wednesday it adjourned until April 22 the trial of two Al Jazeera television journalists. The pair are charged with aiding a terrorist organization, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the government banned following an army takeover of power in July 2013. The army, led by current president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi who was then defense minister, toppled Egypt’s first freely-elected civilian President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Al...
Hackers aligned to Islamic State (IS) militants attacked 600 Russian websites last year, according to a new report by Russian cyber intelligence company Group-IB.
EU Criticizes Azerbaijan, Notes Ukraine's Challenges In Annual Reports by noreply@rferl.org (Rikard Jozwiak)
The EU sharply criticized Azerbaijan's government, saying there was a "regression in the democratic transition process and with regard to human rights and fundamental freedoms" in the South Caucasus nation in 2014. It also said of Ukraine that reform was conducted in the "very diffcult" context of economic troubles and armed conflict.
A Taliban spokesman says the U.S. decision to delay the reduction of troops in Afghanistan will badly undermine the chances for peace
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 5
A controlled explosion was carried out in a quarry at Cliffe, north Kent, this morning after the German device was discovered under a former pensioners home in Southwark, south London, on Monday.
FBI Tells Jurors of 'White Hat' Used to Identify Boston Bomberby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
The jury hearing the Boston Marathon bombing trial on Wednesday will hear more evidence about what FBI agents found when they searched Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's college dorm room days after the 2013 deadly attack. Jurors were shown the white cap that helped authorities identify him as a suspect in the bombing. During testimony at his federal death penalty trial on Tuesday, jurors were shown items found in his dorm room at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The white cap was found...
US-Russia nuclear conflict: The impossible is possibleby The European Union Times
What were the prerequisites for Russia to reunite with the Crimea and Sevastopol? What consequences did the move have for Russia, Ukraine and the world at large? Pravda.Ru asked these and other questions to President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov.
Tell us about the history of the Crimea. How did Russians, Tatars and people of other nations end up living there?
The deeper we look into the history, the less the clarity we can see, so we need to limit ourselves with a certain period of time if we want to understand which nation is the master of this or that territory. In fact, in ancient times, there were Greek colonies in Crimea. Then the Pechenegs came there. A threat was looming for the south of the then Kievan Rus back during those years. From the Crimean peninsula, they would often attack the wound Ukrainians to rob them and take away into captivity.
There were large slave markets in Hersonissos and Korsun. The love of many Ukrainians to fat developed historically. When the Crimean Khanate was making its raids, they would not take pigs – they would capture the rest of the livestock and domestic birds. Afterwards, Russia got stronger and did not want to tolerate that anymore. Russia could protect both her land, the people of the future Ukraine. The Crimean Khanate was destroyed, and the areas were annexed to Russia for the sake of public safety, first and foremost. That was a fair geopolitical conquest.
It is important that Russia would always develop the newly conquered territories, including the Crimea and Novorossiya. After the Russian victory, the Great and Little Russians started occupying the new land. Russia considered all the conquered people, including Muslims, her citizens.
And suddenly, during the Soviet times, it occurs to Nikita Khrushchev to deliver Crimea to Ukraine. It was not even legally formalized. What was the reason for such a move?
Well, first of all, that was due to Khrushchev’s limited brain. No matter what Khrushchev did, he would fail. There was a joke during the 1960s – one had to be a genius to leave Russia without bread. Khrushchev was that genius. Everybody remembers his passion for maize, including fields of maize in the Arctic. He did not like science. He was a man of emotions plus low education.
In the defense sector, Khrushchev saw that the USSR had rockets, and considered it sufficient. He cut all aviation and navy. He would make all decisions hastily. He gave Crimea to Ukraine in honor of the tercentenary of reunification.
A year ago, everything changed in Ukraine. What happened to Ukrainians?
First, I would like to throw a stone at Yeltsin. After all, when Yeltsin made the decision to destroy the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian elite, including Mr. Kravchuk, were putting pressure on him to sign a new union treaty. If Yeltsin had been a sensible man, and far-sighted strategist, he would have ordered to return all the land that Russia had given to other republics. One had to start with Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. For the sake of personal power and ambition Yeltsin did not think about it much. He did not want to depend on any political bureaus and congresses.
All the same, during the times of the Soviet Union, and even after its collapse, the Crimeans always considered themselves Russians, not Ukrainians. When Russia and Ukraine became independent states, the Crimeans were living in a hope to return to Russia. Sevastopol is a historical Russian city – you can see Russian history there everywhere. Those people were dreaming to return to Russia.
When the Kiev junta staged the coup in Kiev, the Crimeans said that they would not be a part of all that fascism. It was the Crimeans who started the operation. There are many military men living there, especially in Sevastopol. The operation started with self-organization and all went well.
After the Crimean events, the political situation in the world became very unstable. What did the Americans want to show when they were regrouping their ships?
The Americans finish building their missile defense system. They already cover a large Russian territory with their missile defense system, except for a few areas, where Russian strategic nuclear forces are based. With the European part of the missile defense system, they can reach Russia right up to the Urals. Even in the boost phase of our ballistic missiles they will be able to intercept them. Yet, they still can not reach the territory behind the Urals.
The Americans were looking forward to the moment when they could deploy their Aegis system vessels in the Black Sea basin. Of course, they wanted to install their radars and interceptors on the Crimean peninsula as well. They were planning to establish constant military presence on the Crimean Peninsula.
The Americans were doing their best to set Kiev and Moscow apart for good. I believe that they intended to conduct a referendum on Crimea’s independence. They would have definitely supported it by installing their puppet government in the region.
Do you think that the use of nuclear weapons is possible today?
During the Crimean events, Russia did not set its nuclear forces on a high degree of readiness. We held drills and exercises, where the level of readiness is always the highest. Officially, there was no such order, but the West saw the seriousness of our intentions in pursuing our interests.
The West wanted to flex its muscles to Russia, but Russia flexed her muscles to the West. Power curbs insolence well, as insolence excludes negotiations.
I do not believe in a nuclear conflict at the moment. No matter how strong and large the US missile defense system might be, Russian nuclear warheads will reach the territory of the United States. Of course, Russia would suffer more should a nuclear war start, because Russia does not have missile defense system per se. If they launch nuclear warheads at Russia – practically all of them will land on the Russian territory. Yet, I do not believe that the Russia and American leaderships will step of the path of mutual destruction.
The Americans have been taking advantage of Russia’s military reforms of recent decades. Those reforms were all about disarmament. Looking at our military-technical retreat, of course, the opposing party is obliged to go on offensive, which they did. They have been strengthening and enhancing their defense. The USA has had the largest defense budget in history during the recent years – it equals the military spending of all other countries.
Read the whole story
· · · · ·
'A revolution is impossible in Belarus'by Siarhei Bohdan for Belarus Digest, part of the New East network
Analysis: A stymied opposition, turmoil in Ukraine and a lack of interest from the west have effectively ruled out prospects of an uprising, writes Siarhei Bohdan
The political year for the Belarusian opposition begins today, on Freedom Day, with a state-sanctioned rally.
The day, which marks the foundation of the Belarusian People’s Republic in 1918, used to bring thousands to the streets of Minsk to oppose the government of Alexander Lukashenko – who has been in power since 1994.
Continue reading...
Ukrainian officials detained during government meeting
FoxReno.com KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukrainian police have detained the head of the state emergency service and his deputy on suspicion of fraud during a televised government meeting. The two officials were escorted out of Wednesday's meeting in handcuffs by police ... and more » |
 The Globe and Mail |
2 Ukraine officials arrested on live TV during gov't meeting
Fox News KIEV, Ukraine – Ukrainian police officers charged into a televised government meeting Wednesday and detained two top officials on suspicion of extorting bribes. Police snapped handcuffs onto emergency services chief Serhiy Bochkovsky and his deputy ... WATCH: Senior Ukrainian Officials Arrested on Live TVMediaite Ukrainian officials detained during government meeting ABC6OnYourSide.com all 56 Ukraine Police Detain Top Official At Televised Government SessionRadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty Reuters all 57 news articles » |
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 6
 |
Keep up-to-date with the latest news, subscribe here: http://bit.ly/AFP-subscribe SOURCE: AFPTV/US POOL The United States will slow its troop withdrawal...
|
From: AFP news agency
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 00:40 | More in News & Politics |
A convoy of U.S. Army armored vehicles is drawing crowds, cheers and tears as it makes an 1,100-mile journey from the Baltics through Poland and the Czech Republic to Germany.
 |
Keep up-to-date with the latest news, subscribe here: http://bit.ly/AFP-subscribe SOURCE: AFPTV In the heartland of Italian rugby near Brescia, basins...
|
From: AFP news agency
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 00:55 | More in News & Politics |
Senior Kyrgyz Official Arrested Over Alleged Bribeby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service)
A senior official at the Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General's Office has been arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe.
WARSAW (Reuters) - A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing children in Poland and the Dominican Republic was sentenced to seven years in jail by a Polish court on Wednesday.
 |
Keep up-to-date with the latest news, subscribe here: http://bit.ly/AFP-subscribe SOURCE: EBS Europe's safety police said Monday that nearly 2500...
|
From: AFP news agency
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 00:53 | More in News & Politics |
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 7
 |
Keep up-to-date with the latest news, subscribe here: http://bit.ly/AFP-subscribe SOURCE: AFPTV Press preview of a major Greek sculpture exhibition...
|
From: AFP news agency
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 01:06 | More in News & Politics |
Nagorno-Karabakh Soldier Had Sought Transferby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Armenian Service)
The parents of a soldier who crossed into government-held territory from Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region say their son had asked for a transfer to another unit.
Afghan officials say a suicide attack in Kabul has killed at least seven people.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A nuclear deal with Iran represents the trend of the times and is the will of the people, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart, pushing Iran once again to reach an agreement with major world powers.
Underlying the religious violence are issues of caste and class.
White House Israeli rebukes may backfire
Toledo Blade JERUSALEM — Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser, is hardly an advocate for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Eiland called on Netanyahu to cancel his speech to Congress this month, and he has criticized the prime minister's strategy ... and more » |
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 8
HAVANA (Reuters) - The European Union and Cuba agreed to speed up the pace of talks on improving bilateral relations, hoping to reach the basics of a deal by the end of 2015, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Tuesday.
 Christian Science Monitor |
What is driving a remarkable shift in US-Afghan relations? (+video)
Christian Science Monitor On Tuesday, President Obama announced that 9,800 US troops would remain in Afghanistan through the end of 2015, a shift from a planned drawdown of troops. By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer March 24, 2015. About video ads. U.S. to Keep 9,800 Troops ... Obama decides to keep around 10000 troops in Afghanistan through 2015The News International US to keep 9800 troops in Afghanistan into 2016: White HouseBrisbane Times U.S. will postpone planned troop withdrawal from AfghanistanNew York Daily News The Nation-Xinhua -DAWN.com all 287 news articles » |
President Petro O. Poroshenko let go Igor V. Kolomoisky; the men had been having a dispute over the future of two state-owned companies in which Mr. Kolomoisky owned a minority stake.
 Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 |
State Patrol trooper killed in Fond du Lac shooting
Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 A Wisconsin State Patrol trooper was killed in a shooting in Fond du Lac Tuesday night, CBS affiliate WDJT is reporting. Related Content. Angelina Jolie, 2012 Oscars · Local women undergo same surgery as Angelina Jolie · Police chief commends panel for ... and more » |
200 suspected jihadists prevented from leaving Australia
ABC6OnYourSide.com CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Officials says counterterrorism squads have prevented 200 suspected jihadists from departing Australian airports for the Middle East including at least three teenage boys this month. Officials had previously announced that two ... and more » |
A loosely organized effort by computer hacking collectives aimed at disrupting ISIS and other violent jihadist causes began last year after the group posted images of beheaded captives.
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 9
(CNN)Families are grieving. Flight crews are in despair and disbelief. Entire countries are in mourning.
That much is clear. But much else about Germanwings Flight 9525 -- which crashed Tuesday in the southern French Alps -- is not.
In the hours after the Airbus 320 went down, German Chancellor Angela Merkel conceded, "We don't know much about the flight and the crash yet. And we don't know the cause."
That was still true a day later. But some blanks are starting to be filled, such as exactly who was on the commercial airliner, how close authorities are to finding their remains and where investigators are in their probe.
Here's the key information that's available so far, and the big questions that remain.
The flight
Flight 9525 -- operated by Germanwings, a low-cost division of Lufthansa -- took off at 10:01 a.m. (5:01 a.m. ET) Tuesday from Barcelona, Spain, bound for Dusseldorf, Germany, with 144 passengers and six crew members aboard. Its takeoff was delayed by 26 minutes from its scheduled departure time because air traffic controllers didn't give permission to the plane to start its engines earlier and because of a small delay in the takeoff rotation, Lufthansa said.
The aircraft crashed shortly before 11 a.m. in a remote area near Digne-les-Bains in the Alpes de Haute Provence region. All aboard are presumed dead.
The big question: Why did it crash?
The final moments
At 10:45 a.m.,the plane had reached its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet. It then unexpectedly began an eight-minute descent, according to Germanwings.
The aircraft lost contact with French radar at 10:53 a.m, at a height of approximately 6,000 feet. Then, it crashed.
Air traffic controllers sent out a distress call after radio contact with the plane was lost.
The plane's crew, however, didn't issue a distress call, according to the French Civil Aviation Authority. Still, CNN aviation analyst David Soucie says that he believes the pilot "was definitely aviating and navigating, from what we can tell."
As to what caused this all to happen, authorities haven't said much.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told CNN affiliate BFMTV on Wednesday, "We cannot completely rule out terrorism, but it is not considered the most likely explanation at the moment."
Cazeneuve added, "We need to let the investigation do its work."
The big question: What happened on board, including in the cockpit, during those crucial last minutes?
The crash site
The plane went down in a rugged, sparsely populated part of the Alps. A local tourist official told French newspaper Liberation that the crash occurred on a particularly steep area of mountainside.
Helicopter crews found the airliner in pieces, none of them bigger than a small car, and human remains strewn for several hundred meters, according to authorities.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described it as "a picture of horror."
Access to the crash site is reported to be difficult, with no roads leading to it. Authorities were not able to retrieve any bodies Tuesday, with the frozen ground complicating the effort.
The big question: How long will it take for search teams to recover the human remains and key parts of the aircraft wreckage?
The people on board
The captain of Flight 9525 had flown for Germanwings for more than 10 years and had more than 6,000 flight hours on the aircraft model, according to the airline. Germanwings hasn't released details about the five other crew members.
Details have begun to emerge about some of the passengers on the plane, but officials have cautioned that there is still a degree of uncertainty at this point over who exactly was aboard.
Spain's King Felipe VI has said "high numbers of Spaniards, Germans and Turks" were on the aircraft. The Germans included 16 students and two teachers from Joseph Koenig Gymnasium, a school in the town of Haltern. Citizens of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Colombia and the Netherlands have also been confirmed to have been on the plane by their national governments.
The big questions: Who exactly was on board, and what are their stories?
The plane
The aircraft was a twin-engine Airbus A320 -- a model that is generally considered to be among the most reliable aircraft, according to Soucie.
The A320 that went down in the Alps was delivered to Lufthansa in 1991, Airbus says. It had clocked roughly 58,300 flight hours over the course of about 47,600 flights, according to the manufacturer. Germanwings says it was last checked Monday in Dusseldorf.
The big question: Did a problem with the plane lead to its descent and eventual crash? "It seems that an event occurred that compelled the crew to descend," CNN aviation analyst Les Abend says in an opinion article. "But that raises the question of what that event could be?"
The investigation
Hundreds of French firefighters and police officers are involved in the recovery effort in the Alps. Searchers have so far retrieved the cockpit voice recorder, one of the plane's two "black boxes," said Cazeneuve, the French interior minister.
The device, which is designed to capture all sounds on a plane's flight deck, is damaged but not beyond use, he said. The flight data recorder, which stores a vast array of parameters about the aircraft, hasn't been found so far.
The two devices are expected to be crucial in unraveling what led to the crash, though conclusive answers may not come quickly. Investigators typically spend months analyzing the recorders' information.
The big questions: When will the flight data recorder be found? And what will the devices' contents reveal about events aboard the plane?
Read the whole story
· · · · ·
Search Results
- Germanwings plane crash: What we know so farFlight 9525 took off at 10:01 a.m. Tuesday from Barcelona, Spain, bound for Dusseldorf, ... The flight's takeoff was delayed by 26 minutes from its scheduled departure time ...CNN - 3 hours ago
- Germanwings Flight 9525: The unusual nature of the crashCBS News - 13 hours ago
- German Airbus crashes in French Alps with 150 dead, black box foundReuters - 11 hours ago
In the news
Germanwings Flight 9525: The unusual nature of the crash ...
<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/.../germanwings-" rel="nofollow">www.cbsnews.com/.../germanwings-</a>flight-9525-the-unusual-n...
CBS News
Loading...
Airbus A320 crash - BBC.com
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/live/32030778" rel="nofollow">www.bbc.com/news/live/32030778</a>
British Broadcasting Corporation
Loading...
Timeline of Germanwings Flight 9525 crash | Globalnews.ca
globalnews.ca/news/1900159/timeline-of-germanwings-a320-crash/
How Germanwings Flight 9525 fell to Earth - Washington Post
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/" rel="nofollow">www.washingtonpost.com/</a>...flight-9525.../13c914be-...
The Washington Post
Loading...
German Airbus crashes in French Alps with 150 dead, black ...
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/.../us-france-crash-airbus-lufthansa-idUSKBN0" rel="nofollow">www.reuters.com/.../us-france-crash-airbus-lufthansa-idUSKBN0</a>...
Reuters
Loading...
Anderson Cooper 360° on Twitter: "#Germanwings flight ...
<a href="https://twitter.com/AC360/status/580522784285179904" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/AC360/status/580522784285179904</a>
France launches difficult search-and-recovery for ...
<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/.../france-launches-difficult-search-an" rel="nofollow">www.marketwatch.com/.../france-launches-difficult-search-an</a>...
MarketWatch
Loading...
Search resumes at Germanwings Flight 9525 crash site ...
Germanwings flight 9525 departure from barcelona was ...
<a href="http://www.scoopnest.com/user/AC360/580522784285179904" rel="nofollow">www.scoopnest.com/user/AC360/580522784285179904</a>
Read the whole story
· · · ·
Search Results
- Search resumes after Germanwings tragedy in AlpsGermanwings Flight 9525, from Barcelona, Spain to Duesseldorf, Germany, went into an ...CBS News - 3 hours ago
- Fast Crash in the Alps Kills 150Daily Beast - 54 mins ago
- Germanwings plane crash: What we know so farCNN - 3 hours ago
In the news
Germanwings Flight 9525 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Germanwings Flight 9525: The unusual nature of the crash ...
<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/.../germanwings-" rel="nofollow">www.cbsnews.com/.../germanwings-</a>flight-9525-the-unusual-n...
CBS News
Loading...
Germanwings Flight 9525: "Everything is pulverized" - CBS ...
<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/.../germanwings-" rel="nofollow">www.cbsnews.com/.../germanwings-</a>flight-9525-pulverized-pl...
CBS News
Loading...
What went wrong for the crew of Germanwings Flight 9525 ...
<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/.../what-went-wrong-for-the-crew-of-germ" rel="nofollow">www.cbsnews.com/.../what-went-wrong-for-the-crew-of-germ</a>...
CBS News
Loading...
How Germanwings Flight 9525 fell to Earth - Washington Post
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/" rel="nofollow">www.washingtonpost.com/</a>...flight-9525.../13c914be-...
The Washington Post
Loading...
Crashed Germanwings 9525 operated by Lufthansa's ...
Germanwings Flight 4U9525 Crash: 5 Fast Facts You Need ...
heavy.com/news/.../germanwings-airbus-a320-4u9525-crash-alps-france/
Germanwings plane 4U 9525 crashes in French Alps - no ...
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/.../world-europe-320302" rel="nofollow">www.bbc.com/.../world-europe-320302</a>...
British Broadcasting Corporation
Loading...
What happened to Germanwings flight 4U 9525? | World ...
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com" rel="nofollow">www.theguardian.com</a> › ... › Germanwings flight 4U9525
The Guardian
Loading...
Read the whole story
· · · ·
HALTERN AM SEE, Germany — It had to have been one of the happiest experiences of their lives, people said.
Sixteen German students had spent a week in a small town outside Barcelona, immersed in Spanish language and culture, as part of an annual exchange program. Their stay over, they and their two teachers were on their way back to this small town near Düsseldorf.
Many of their families were already at the airport waiting for their arrival when the unfathomable happened: The plane went down over the rugged terrain of the French Alps in Southern France.
A few hours later, the French authorities were declaring everyone on board dead, though in the dark and cold the search was called off before the bodies were recovered.
“It was a Spanish language exchange program and they were flying home after having what was probably the most wonderful time of their lives,” said Sylvia Loehrmann, the education minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. “It’s so tragic, so sad.”
The students, 10th graders from the Joseph-König-Gymnasium here, were about 15 years old. On Tuesday morning they departed the small, Catalan town of Llinars del Vallès on the 6 o’clock train, bound for the airport in nearby Barcelona.
The Germanwings plane crashed in a remote part of the French Alps.
OPEN Map
During their stay, the German students had not only spent time around Llinars del Vallès but also made several trips to Barcelona, which is about a half-hour away by train.
Pere Grivé, a town official, said in a telephone interview that he had seen the students. “I live near the train station, so I saw them quite a few times on their way probably to some cultural sites around Barcelona,” he said. “Everybody here is in complete shock.”
“These are tragic moments, especially for the families that are awaiting some sort of confirmation about their children, and of course also for the families that welcomed these children here,” he said.
In Haltern am See, a community of 38,000 in the flat countryside of western Germany, many people knew or were related to the families of the victims. During this time of year, tens of thousands of students just like them, all over the world, board planes for a week or two of foreign culture.
Some students at the Joseph-König school said they had found out about the tragedy only after classes were canceled and they were sent home from school in the early afternoon.
Students gathered later outside the low-slung concrete-and-glass building to place flowers and red and white candles on the steps of the school and on a concrete table tennis table near the entrance.
“We’re very sad,” said a 15-year-old named Nadia, a ninth grader at the school who wanted to give only her first name. She stood with a classmate, Christopher, also 15. They said they did not know the victims well, but knew their faces, as they know almost all the faces in the school, which has only a few hundred students.
“This is the darkest day in the history of our city,” Bodo Klimpel, the mayor of Haltern am See, told reporters, his voice choking in the struggle to hold back tears. “A feeling of shock can be felt everywhere. It is about the worst thing imaginable.”
The Joseph-König school planned to open on Wednesday morning, Mr. Klimpel said, but instead of regular classes, students and teachers would gather in the auditorium to begin working through their grief together.
That work had already begun Tuesday evening, when people packed the cavernous St. Sixtus Roman Catholic Church in the center of town, listening in silence as organ music played mournfully as people lined up to accept communion. Outside, a teenage girl sobbed uncontrollably, comforted by two adults, who held her hands as they gently led her away.
The church had opened its doors in the early afternoon, with social workers and psychologists providing extra assistance.
Luca Bobb, a seventh grader who is 13, said that his cousin had planned to go on the trip but decided against it at the last minute. “I have friends who knew them,” he said.
His mother, Ivonne Bobb, said she heard about the crash from customers at the hair salon she manages in town. Her husband, a bus driver, had often driven the two teachers who were on the plane, she said.
“I just can’t understand it,” Ms. Bobb said outside the school, where she had just placed a candle. “Haltern is small. I just can’t grasp it.”
Correction: March 24, 2015
An earlier version of a headline that appeared with this article on the home page of <a href="http://NYTimes.com" rel="nofollow">NYTimes.com</a> misstated the number of students who died. It is 16, not 15.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comments
Post a Comment