In Haiti, public schools only meet about 20% of the demand for basic education in rural areas, and education costs, particularly for private schools, remain very high in relation to family income, according to the nonprofit Plan International USA.

Plan is working with local governments and schools to provide more children in Haiti with access to a quality education. The organization is building classrooms and school facilities, training educators and providing school supplies, textbooks and uniforms for children in need.

“[This is] so those costs aren’t passed on to families as a barrier to attendance,” explains Ann Wang, a plan communications specialist.

When the relatively high cost of school is decreased or eliminated, more children like Rose Matrie can get an education and develop their talents.

Watch the video for a glimpse into Rose Matrie’s world. You can help her and other girls growingup in Haiti.

Give

Support the campaign behind the film “Girl Rising” and give to the 10×10 Fund for Girls’ Education. Donations will be distributed evenly among the 10×10 nonprofit partners and help fund girls’ education projects around the world.

You can also help advance Plan’s work by donating to its “Because I am a Girl” campaign, which supports projects that help girls and women in the developing world. Through the “Gifts of Hope” program, you can symbolically donate things like school uniforms, vaccinations, school supplies or even girl-friendly latrines.

Share

Plan international USA created resources for students and teachers. These online booklets are designed to help people of all ages understand the challenges that many girls and women face around the world.

Impact

For even more ways to make an impact for girls education around the world, check out CNN’s Impact Your World resources or take action with 10×10.

More about CNN Films’ “Girl Rising” project

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The victim killed in a cleaver attack Wednesday was identified as Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The brutal killing of Rigby shocked the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying the act appears to have been a terrorist attack.

A police officer stands with flowers in a hail storm on Thursday, May 23, close to the crime scene in front of Woolwich Barracks in southeast London.

A man contemplates at a scene where flowers lay, outside Woolwich Barracks in London.

Flowers lie outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23.

Soldiers walk outside Woolwich Barracks on Thursday, May 23, near where the soldier was killed.

Notes and shirts sit outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23. The slain soldier was wearing a “Help for Heroes” shirt when he was killed.

British soldiers stand guard outside the barracks on May 23.

Members of the far-right English Defence League wear balaclavas as they gather outside a pub in Woolwich on Wednesday, May 22.

EDL supporters confront police in Woolwich on May 22.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson joins supporters at the crime scene on May 22.

A police officer guards a tent that’s been set up at the crime scene as investigations continue late May 22.

Mary Warder brings flowers to the scene of the crime on May 22 to pay respects to the victim.

Men place flowers near the scene on John Wilson Street.

A police officer guards a blocked-off area in Woolwich on May 22.

A general view of Woolwich Barracks, near the scene in Woolwich.

Police officers block off a road in Woolwich.

Forensic officers investigate the crime scene on May 22.

Police walk to the scene in Woolwich on May 22.

A still frame from video shows a man outside the Woolwich Barracks in London holding a cleaver and addressing the camera directly, moments after a serving soldier was hacked to death in the street on Wednesday, May 22. The man in the video swore “by almighty Allah” to keep fighting. British Prime David Cameron called the attack terrorism.

Britain’s prime Minister David Cameron addresses media representatives at 10 Downing Street in London on May 23, 2013, a day after a soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by two suspected Islamist extremists.

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Are you from the area affected, or London in general? What is your reaction to the incident? Send us your images, video and experiences.

London (CNN) — Why did Lee Rigby have to die?

That’s what people around Britain — its officials, its authorities, its citizens — asked themselves Thursday, a day after the soldier was hit with a car, then hacked to death on a London street in broad daylight.

There’s been no indication that the 25-year-old machine gunner, drummer and father of a 2-year-old boy knew the men who attacked him with meat cleavers. One of them who approached a man filming the gory scene in southeast London’s Woolwich neighborhood suggested Rigby had been targeted only “because Muslims are dying daily” at the hands of British troops like him.

Soldier slain in London was a machine gunner, Royal Palaces drummer, father

That man and another who suffered gunshot wounds in a confrontation with police minutes after Rigby’s killing spent Thursday in stable condition at separate South London hospitals.

Abu Barra blamed Wednesday’s attack not on his friend Michael Adebolajo — who he says is the bloody, cleaver-wielding man shown talking in the video aired by CNN affiliate ITN — but on the British government and predicted there may be more attacks.

“As long as (British) foreign policy is engaging in violence, they’re only inviting violence in retaliation,” Barra told CNN.

By sharp contrast, Cameron said “the fault lies solely with sickening individuals who carried out this attack,” adding that “nothing in Islam … justifies this truly dreadful act.”

“This was not just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life; it was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country.”

London attack: Terrorists targeting soldiers at home again?

Suspect knew British Muslim radical leader

It is understood that the two individuals suspected of carrying out the knife attack were known to Britain’s domestic security service. They had featured in previous investigations into other individuals, but were not themselves under surveillance.

Friends, acquaintances and British media identified the 28-year-old Adebolajo as the suspect seen on the ITN video. The identities of the other man, 22, and the two people arrested Thursday aren’t known.

A British national of Nigerian descent, Adebolajo converted to Islam and became passionate about his faith, said Barra.

British Muslim radical leader Anjem Choudary told CNN on Thursday that he knew Adebolajo, noting that the suspect attended demonstrations and a few lectures organized by Choudary’s group Al-Muhajiroun.

In fact, an ITN video from April 2007 shows Adebolajo standing behind Choudary at a rally protesting the arrest of men who allegedly made inflammatory speeches inside a mosque.

Barra described his friend as a “very caring” man who “just wanted to help everybody.” He was also “very vocal” about his feelings that Muslims were being oppressed, injustices he pinned, in part, on the British government.

London attack mirrors plot to behead Muslim soldier

In Kent, police arrested a man on suspicion of “racially aggravated criminal damage” at a religious building. And Wednesday night in Essex, a man with two knives was arrested after throwing a smoke grenade at the Al Falah Braintree Islamic Center and demanding someone come outside to answer to the Woolwich slaying, the mosque’s secretary Sikander Sleemy said.

Members of the far-right English Defence League clashed with police late Wednesday, with a tweet from its official account touting that “it’s fair to say that finally the country is waking up!:-) NO SURRENDER!”

“Don’t listen to the Government cover ups, The lies about Islam being peaceful,” read another EDL tweet Thursday.

Political and social commentator Mohammed Ansar appealed for “a sense of calm (and) perspective” after what he called “a really, really heinous act of, I would say, criminality, … not terrorism.”

“What we don’t need are knee-jerk reactions … to really ratchet up tensions and really stoke and inflame anxieties within communities,” he told CNN.

Watch: Terrorism analyst on soldier killing

Paper: Woman says she talked to attacker

The attack may have wide-ranging repercussions in Britain, including possibly enflaming sectarian tensions and leading to more violence.

But it’s already have an impact on people who live and work in Woolwich — the working-class, multicultural neighborhood where the mutilation took place — and witnessed the carnage firsthand.

A man who identified himself as James told London’s LBC 97.3 radio station that he saw two men standing by the victim, who was on the ground.

At first, James thought they were trying to help the man. But then he saw two meat cleavers, like a butcher would have.

Witness: Attackers ‘were just animals’

Amid the horror, an individual story of courage emerged Thursday in the person of a Cub Scout leader named Ingrid Loyau-Kennett.

Loyau-Kennett told Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper that she had jumped off a bus to try to revive a man — later determined to be Rigby — she thought had been hurt accidentally.

She swiftly realized the man was dead, and it was no accident.

“When I went up, there was this black guy with a revolver and a kitchen knife. He had what looked like butcher’s tools, and he had a little ax, to cut the bones, and two large knives, and he said, ‘Move off the body,’ ” she told the newspaper.

“So I thought, ‘OK, I don’t know what is going on here,’ and he was covered with blood. I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else.”

Unarmed police — like most in Britain — arrived at 2:29 p.m. Wednesday, nine minutes after the first call came in police. Armed officers were on site five minutes later. Witnesses recounted the suspects then ran at the police, who responded with gunshots.

Recalling the incident later on ITV, Loyau-Kennett said she wasn’t scared when she talked to one of those suspects — who then had a revolver, knife and cleaver in his bloody hands — minutes before those shots rang out.

“Better me than a child,” she said.

CNN’s Laura Smith-Spark reported and wrote from London, and CNN’s Greg Botelho did the same from Atlanta. CNN’s Dan Rivers, Jonathan Wald, Carol Jordan, Atika Shubert, Erin McLaughlin, Richard Allen Greene, Ed Payne and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/london-attack/index.html?eref=edition

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The victim killed in a cleaver attack Wednesday was identified as Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The brutal killing of Rigby shocked the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying the act appears to have been a terrorist attack.

A police officer stands with flowers in a hail storm on Thursday, May 23, close to the crime scene in front of Woolwich Barracks in southeast London.

A man contemplates at a scene where flowers lay, outside Woolwich Barracks in London.

Flowers lie outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23.

Soldiers walk outside Woolwich Barracks on Thursday, May 23, near where the soldier was killed.

Notes and shirts sit outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23. The slain soldier was wearing a “Help for Heroes” shirt when he was killed.

British soldiers stand guard outside the barracks on May 23.

Members of the far-right English Defence League wear balaclavas as they gather outside a pub in Woolwich on Wednesday, May 22.

EDL supporters confront police in Woolwich on May 22.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson joins supporters at the crime scene on May 22.

A police officer guards a tent that’s been set up at the crime scene as investigations continue late May 22.

Mary Warder brings flowers to the scene of the crime on May 22 to pay respects to the victim.

Men place flowers near the scene on John Wilson Street.

A police officer guards a blocked-off area in Woolwich on May 22.

A general view of Woolwich Barracks, near the scene in Woolwich.

Police officers block off a road in Woolwich.

Forensic officers investigate the crime scene on May 22.

Police walk to the scene in Woolwich on May 22.

A still frame from video shows a man outside the Woolwich Barracks in London holding a cleaver and addressing the camera directly, moments after a serving soldier was hacked to death in the street on Wednesday, May 22. The man in the video swore “by almighty Allah” to keep fighting. British Prime David Cameron called the attack terrorism.

Britain’s prime Minister David Cameron addresses media representatives at 10 Downing Street in London on May 23, 2013, a day after a soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by two suspected Islamist extremists.

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London (CNN) — The only thing more horrifying than the murder of a British soldier in a London street is the fear that there is little police can do in the age of “open-source jihad” to prevent these types of terror attacks.

“It’s always the one we feared, the lone wolf that can come from nowhere and not be on our radar,” said ex-London police chief John Yates.

On Wednesday two men hacked the soldier to death near his military barracks in Woolwich, southeast London before delivering a message to a witness’s camera: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone … this British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth.”

LATEST: London murder victim named

The message has all the hallmarks of classic al Qaeda rhetoric, and experts believe the blood-soaked men wielding cleavers for the cameras in London are just the latest proponents of the “open-source jihad” that seems to have grown just as the U.S.-led “War on Terror” scattered the organization’s terror cells around the world.

“Nearly a decade ago there was a debate within al Qaeda about the future of the organization,” according to Shiraz Maher, Head of Outreach at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. “Afghanistan had been overrun by U.S. forces, the Taliban had been forced to retreat, and as a result al Qaeda lost its ability to train recruits there.”

The organization needed a new plan to stay relevant as the U.S. struck at the heart of its traditional operation in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Enter a man called Abu Musab al-Suri, the so-called architect of the new al Qaeda, who had a simple plan to change the way al Qaeda took the fight to the West.

“Every Muslim should be an army of one,” Maher told CNN. “That was his grand idea — every individual Muslim should be an autonomous hub that goes out and strikes the West and you can’t contain it.”

READ: Slaughter of soldier on London street

Al-Suri may have had the vision, but it was al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) that translated it into reality in 2010 through the online speeches of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — since killed by a U.S. drone strike — and the publishing of “Inspire,” the English-language magazine that acts as a how-to guide for followers to carry out small-scale terrorist attacks in the West.

“Since 2010 al Qaeda has been telling its followers in the West: ‘Don’t try and do another 9/11 or 7/7-style attack because invariably these things catch the attention of security services and you go to jail. Think small, think easy, think unsophisticated. Really scale it down to make it difficult to detect, because really it’s a detection battle,’” Maher said.

So this is the growing struggle facing police forces around the world today, say experts — not more traditional terror cells, which are more likely to show up through traditional surveillance methods, but self-starters who become radicalized through online sermons and publications.

READ MORE: The changing face of terrorism

In 2011 New York police arrested Jose Pimentel and accused him of plotting to detonate pipe bombs that he allegedly learned to make after reading “Inspire” magazine. Pimental pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges and is awaiting trial.

The pressure cooker bombs that killed three people near the finish line of April’s Boston Marathon bore strong similarities to a design laid out in the first issue of the magazine titled “How to Build a Bomb in Your Mom’s Kitchen,” according to CNN’s Paul Cruickshank.

In 2010 British MP Stephen Timms was nearly killed when a 21-year-old British student stabbed him during a meeting with his constituents in east London. The student, Roshonara Choudhry, told police she had become radicalized after watching the speeches of al-Awlaki online, and tried to kill Timms because he voted in favor of the Iraq War.

Yates, who was Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner until he retired in 2011, told CNN: “As someone who has tried to prevent these attacks in the past, they’re the most difficult ones.

“If we have some serious targets, then of course you can apply the correct level of resources and tactics … (but) Choudhry had never come to the attention of any authorities at any point.”

OPINION: Real enemy in London hacking death

So what, if anything, can be done to prevent lone wolf attacks? The grisly murder in Woolwich has prompted calls for Britain’s government to look again at a shelved bill that would greatly expand law enforcement’s powers to monitor suspects’ use of the internet, which is currently only possible on a more limited basis.

“There is some internet surveillance going on,” said Yates. “It’s been made very clear by police chiefs in recent weeks that if you download something like ‘Inspire’ you will be arrested, it is an offence and you will be charged.”

So where to draw the line between free speech and invasion of privacy? The proposal to expand police powers for collecting online data caused uproar among privacy advocates in late 2012, but the government says more robust surveillance tools are now needed to effectively combat terrorism.

While acknowledging there are “powerful” arguments on both sides, Yates said: “All I know is that you’ve got to do something, because the level of sophistication in technology is going to make it extraordinarily challenging to improve the way that the internet and other means of communication are monitored if nothing’s done.”

READ MORE: UK Muslims condemn London slaying

But radicalization expert Maher said monitoring the internet and tracking down anyone who downloads an al-Awlaki speech or a bomb-making guide won’t solve the lone wolf problem.

“You don’t have to have read ‘Inspire’ anymore — everyone knows what’s going on because, if nothing else, the media talks about it so much. The idea of committing an unsophisticated attack against a high-profile symbol is out there. It’s an impossible thing to work against,” he said.

Yates says in order to prevent future attacks, counter-terrorism police must bolster their community engagement strategy — making local people feel “free and able to provide relevant information at the right time.”

“It comes back to the line from the 1980s with the IRA: ‘Communities defeat terrorism.’ That was the strap-line then, and it’s no different today.”

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Witness: Attackers ‘were just animals’

Fellow soldiers described him as having an engaging personality. He joined the army in 2006 and acquired the nickname “Riggers” in his platoon.

“He was a real character within the Second Fusiliers,” Lt. Col. Jim Taylor, commanding officer of the 2nd Fusiliers, said in a statement. “Larger than life, he was at the heart of our Corps of Drums. An experienced and talented side drummer and machine gunner, he was a true warrior and served with distinction in Afghanistan, Germany and Cyprus.”

Rigby also loved soccer’s Manchester United, soldiers said.

“He was one of the Battalion’s great characters, always smiling and always ready to brighten the mood with his fellow Fusiliers,” Warrant Officer Ned Miller of the 2nd Fusiliers said in a statement. “He was easily identified whilst on parade by the huge smile on his face and how proud he was to be a member of the Drums. He would always stop for a chat just to tell me Manchester United would win the league again.”

Rigby was born in Crumpsall, Manchester.

After joining the army, his first post was in Cyprus as a machine gunner in Dhekelia, the military said.

In 2008, he was assigned to Hounslow, West London, and became “an integral member of the Corps of Drums throughout the Battalion’s time on public duties, the highlight of which was being a part of the Household Division’s Beating the Retreat — a real honour for a line infantry Corps of Drums,” the ministry said.

London attack mirrors plot to behead Muslim soldier

In 2009, he deployed on operations “for the first time,” sent to Afghanistan’s Helmand province, where he was a member of a fire support group at Patrol Base Woqab.

He then returned to the UK and completed a second tour of public duties. Later, he followed the battalion to Celle, Germany.

In 2011, he became a recruiter at the Regimental Headquarters in the Tower of London.

London attack: Terrorist targeting soldiers at home again?

Rigby “was a cheeky and humorous man, always there with a joke to brighten the mood; he was an extremely popular member of the Fire Support Group,” said Capt. Alan Williamson, who was Rigby’s platoon commander from 2010 to 2011.

Rigby’s death has attracted worldwide attention because the slaying scene was captured on a cell phone camera. A man with bloodied hands, holding a meat cleaver and a knife, carried out the killing because, he said to the camera, “Muslims are dying daily.”

That man, Michael Adebolajo, and a second person are under arrest. They are being treated in London hospitals for injuries suffered in a confrontation with armed police at the scene, in southeast London’s Woolwich neighborhood.

Two other people were also arrested Thursday, London’s Metropolitan Police said. Authorities have not released the identities of the other three.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/uk-attack-soldier-profile/index.html?eref=edition

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The victim killed in a cleaver attack Wednesday was identified as Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The brutal killing of Rigby shocked the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying the act appears to have been a terrorist attack.

A police officer stands with flowers in a hail storm on Thursday, May 23, close to the crime scene in front of Woolwich Barracks in southeast London.

A man contemplates at a scene where flowers lay, outside Woolwich Barracks in London.

Flowers lie outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23.

Soldiers walk outside Woolwich Barracks on Thursday, May 23, near where the soldier was killed.

Notes and shirts sit outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23. The slain soldier was wearing a “Help for Heroes” shirt when he was killed.

British soldiers stand guard outside the barracks on May 23.

Members of the far-right English Defence League wear balaclavas as they gather outside a pub in Woolwich on Wednesday, May 22.

EDL supporters confront police in Woolwich on May 22.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson joins supporters at the crime scene on May 22.

A police officer guards a tent that’s been set up at the crime scene as investigations continue late May 22.

Mary Warder brings flowers to the scene of the crime on May 22 to pay respects to the victim.

Men place flowers near the scene on John Wilson Street.

A police officer guards a blocked-off area in Woolwich on May 22.

A general view of Woolwich Barracks, near the scene in Woolwich.

Police officers block off a road in Woolwich.

Forensic officers investigate the crime scene on May 22.

Police walk to the scene in Woolwich on May 22.

A still frame from video shows a man outside the Woolwich Barracks in London holding a cleaver and addressing the camera directly, moments after a serving soldier was hacked to death in the street on Wednesday, May 22. The man in the video swore “by almighty Allah” to keep fighting. British Prime David Cameron called the attack terrorism.

Britain’s prime Minister David Cameron addresses media representatives at 10 Downing Street in London on May 23, 2013, a day after a soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by two suspected Islamist extremists.

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London attack: Terrorists targeting soldiers at home again?

There is little sense of panic among the dozens of witnesses, some of whom argue rationally with the suspected killer. If the British can still be characterized as being hard to panic with stiff upper lips, this street scene was a bizarre illustration.

Others mill round taking photos — as if a celebrity has arrived. At one point a woman with a shopping trolley even walks past the man without changing course as he makes his radical statement. In the distance is the sound of police sirens: later the men will be shot — although both survive — by armed officers.

Read more: London attack mirrors plot to behead Muslim soldier

The soldier, later named as Lee Rigby, 25, a father of a 2-year-old boy, is wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of “Help for Heroes,” a military charity that in little more than five years has raised well over £100 million ($150 million) for members of the Armed Forces wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The two attackers get out of the car, then fall on Rigby, stabbing and slashing him to death with their knives and cleavers before they drag his body into the middle of the road.

The murder brings the mid-afternoon traffic on Artillery Place, just yards from the busy arterial John Wilson Street, to a standstill. From the relative safety of a stationary bus, passengers start to film: later the footage will be broadcast by the world’s media.

One clip starts by showing the car smashed into a lamp-post: then the camera pans round to show that this is no ordinary traffic accident. The footage reveals that the victim lying in the road being tenderly stroked by a passer-by. We do not know at this stage at what point Rigby died.

Watch: Terrorism analyst on soldier killing

About 50 yards behind the commotion a silent crowd of people has gathered to watch proceedings. One woman, apparently oblivious to the unfolding carnage, casually walks past the scene carrying her shopping bag.

In one clip that will later be streamed on a newspaper website, one bus passenger feels sufficiently emboldened to leave the vehicle while filming — even though it is far from clear that the attackers will not strike out at other people. Then, amazingly, one of the two suspected assailants walks up to the camera in an agitated state. He is dressed in black and wearing a black beanie hat, his hands drenched in blood. In his left hand he grips a knife and machete.

Opinion: The real enemy in London hacking death

The suspect begins to address the camera, as if explaining himself to a wider audience that goes beyond those gathered on the street.

“The only reason we killed this man today is because Muslims are dying daily by British soldiers,” he begins. “And this British soldier is one. It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I apologize that women had to witness this today but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments. They don’t care about you. You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start busting our guns, you think politicians are going to die?”

At this point in his rant, an elderly woman pulling a shopping trolley bustles past the man without even slowing and continues on her way. Both ignore each other.

The man continues. “No, it’s going to be the average guy like you, and your children. So, get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we can all live in peace.”

He then walks back up the road, towards the victim and a second man with whom he has a conversation. They make no attempt to flee the scene. Instead they walk up and down the street, having heated conversations with passers-by, some of whom plead with the pair to refrain from further violence.

One such bystander, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, will later tell the Guardian newspaper she spoke to one of the attackers. “He was very excited and he told me not to get close to the body. I didn’t really feel anything. I was not scared because he was not drunk, he was not on drugs. He was normal. I could speak to him and he wanted to speak and that’s what we did.”

Loyau-Kennett, a passenger on the bus, will tell reporters that she asked the suspect what he was going to do next. “He said it was a war and if the police were coming, he was going to kill them. I asked him if that was a reasonable thing to do but it was clear that he really wanted to do that. He talked about war but he did not talk about dying and then he left to speak to someone else.”

But the violence is not yet over. Fourteen minutes after the attack, police say, armed officers arrive. According to eyewitnesses, the two attackers, one of whom was brandishing a handgun, charged at the officers who opened fire, wounding both of the men.

The men are left at the scene while crowds surge around them, according to media reports. A police helicopter then arrives to take the men under armed guard to separate London hospitals. A large section of Woolwich is sealed off for the evening by forensics officers who comb the area around Artillery Place for evidence.

Wednesday’s attack is not the first time that soldiers in Woolwich have been visited with violence. In 1974 a bomb was thrown through the window of the King’s Arms pub at the far end of Artillery Place, killing a gunner as well as a sales clerk.

The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for that attack — but unlike the two attackers on Wednesday, they were far less brazen. They fled after the bombing and went on to kill more than 30 others in a 14-month campaign across London before surrendering to police in December 1975 following a six-day siege.

Wednesday’s killing is the first jihadist attack that has killed a victim since the July 7, 2005 bombings in London that killed 52 people and the four bombers. Just like the 1970s IRA bombing campaign and the 7/7 attacks, it is likely to resonate in London and the wider British society for a long period.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/london-attack-color/index.html?eref=edition

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The victim killed in a cleaver attack Wednesday was identified as Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The brutal killing of Rigby shocked the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying the act appears to have been a terrorist attack.

A police officer stands with flowers in a hail storm on Thursday, May 23, close to the crime scene in front of Woolwich Barracks in southeast London.

A man contemplates at a scene where flowers lay, outside Woolwich Barracks in London.

Flowers lie outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23.

Soldiers walk outside Woolwich Barracks on Thursday, May 23, near where the soldier was killed.

Notes and shirts sit outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23. The slain soldier was wearing a “Help for Heroes” shirt when he was killed.

British soldiers stand guard outside the barracks on May 23.

Members of the far-right English Defence League wear balaclavas as they gather outside a pub in Woolwich on Wednesday, May 22.

EDL supporters confront police in Woolwich on May 22.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson joins supporters at the crime scene on May 22.

A police officer guards a tent that’s been set up at the crime scene as investigations continue late May 22.

Mary Warder brings flowers to the scene of the crime on May 22 to pay respects to the victim.

Men place flowers near the scene on John Wilson Street.

A police officer guards a blocked-off area in Woolwich on May 22.

A general view of Woolwich Barracks, near the scene in Woolwich.

Police officers block off a road in Woolwich.

Forensic officers investigate the crime scene on May 22.

Police walk to the scene in Woolwich on May 22.

A still frame from video shows a man outside the Woolwich Barracks in London holding a cleaver and addressing the camera directly, moments after a serving soldier was hacked to death in the street on Wednesday, May 22. The man in the video swore “by almighty Allah” to keep fighting. British Prime David Cameron called the attack terrorism.

Britain’s prime Minister David Cameron addresses media representatives at 10 Downing Street in London on May 23, 2013, a day after a soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by two suspected Islamist extremists.

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(CNN) — Wednesday afternoon, former teacher Ingrid Loyau-Kennett was just a passenger on a bus passing through southeast London.

Thursday she was being hailed as one incredibly brave woman who confronted a man seconds after he hacked a British soldier to death in broad daylight.

READ MORE: Cameron condemns brutal hacking death, says Britain stands firm

It began when Loyau-Kennett, a Cub Scout leader, peered out of her window on the Number 53 bus, according to London’s Guardian newspaper. She saw a car that looked like it had crashed and a man on the sidewalk. “I thought it was a bit bizarre,” she said.

Thinking she could help, she got off the bus and hurried toward the bloody man.

“When I approached the body, there was a lady cradling him,” Loyau-Kennett said on ITV’s “Daybreak” Thursday morning.

Watch her recount what happened

She took stock of who was around. There were two men with weapons including a butcher knife and a meat cleaver. She earlier told the London Daily Telegraph one had a revolver.

One man’s arm and hand were soaked in blood.

“The guy who was the most excited of the two said, ‘Don’t go too close to the body,’” she recalled.

Her eyes zeroed in on the man’s weapon and the blood.

In a few seconds, Loyau-Kennett’s mind tried to process what she was seeing.

“I thought, ‘What the heck, what happened there?’ And I thought, ‘OK, obviously he’s a bit excited.’”

And then Loyau-Kennett did something that most people probably cannot imagine. She started talking to him.

“I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else,” she told the Daily Telegraph. “I thought these people usually have a message, so I said, ‘what do you want?’”

Indeed the men had a message.

“The only reasons we killed this man … is because Muslims are dying daily,” he said in video aired by CNN affiliate ITN.

“This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth,” the man said in the video. “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone.”

Loyau-Kennett kept trying to engage the man.

READ MORE: Slaughter of a soldier: Suspects and shoppers mingle on one London street

READ MORE: Terrorists targeting soldiers at home again?

READ MORE: UK Muslim groups condemn London slaying, urge leaders to act

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/uk-woman-terrorists/index.html?eref=edition

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Children of the conflict: Innocence interrupted by war

The news report aired by France 2 stated: “Here Jamal and his son Mohammad are the target of fire coming from the Israeli position. … But, a new round of fire, Mohammad is dead and his father badly hurt.”

However, the Israeli government committee report states: “There is no evidence that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) was in any way responsible for causing any of the alleged injuries to Jamal or the boy.”

It’s a statement that pains a still-grieving father. But Jamal al-Durrah is prepared to have his son’s remains exhumed to demonstrate that he was killed by Israeli bullets, as reported in 2000.

“I would like to show the world the truth, and I am sitting in front of my son’s grave and ready to accept an international independent investigation commission including Arabs,” he said. “If Israel agrees, I am ready to open the grave.”

The head of the Israeli government review committee, Yossi Kuperwasser, said he does not know what happened to Mohammad al-Durrah.

Showing the raw material provided by France 2 to CNN, he said, “See, he was supposed to be dead. He was declared dead a moment ago, understand, he was declared dead when he was lying (there.) That’s where he cut it. He said the boy is dead. But a second later, he (Mohammad al-Durrah) raiseshis hand.”

Analysis: Conflict shifts balance of power in the Middle East

Israel places the implications of the Mohammad al-Durrah story in a much wider context.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “It is important to focus on this incident, which has slandered Israel’s reputation. This is a manifestation of the ongoing, mendacious campaign to delegitimize Israel.

“There is only one way to counter lies, and that is through the truth. Only the truth can prevail over lies.”

The search for that truth has been conducted in courthouses, human rights reports and media investigations.

Cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, who filmed the event for France 2, and also works for CNN, has been at the center of trying to understand what happened on that fateful day.

Thirteen years later, he points to the camera that recorded the event as his most solid source, saying: “My witness is (my) camera. … I am sorry this camera does not talk, but really this camera recorded that footage.”

Mohammad al-Durrah’s story has become an important symbol in the Palestinian struggle for statehood. The image of his final moments is shown on stamps in Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran and Morocco.

Israel says that the false narrative of al-Durrah’s death has been used to justify terrorist attacks against Israel and worldwide anti-Semitism.

It is perhaps the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians over the righteousness of their narrative that will not let this image be forgotten.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/21/world/meast/israel-palestinians-disputed-video/index.html?eref=edition

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Read: World’s oldest marathon man, 102

“It was boiling hot and I felt I was going to die. But had I been on form I probably could have won. Bronze wasn’t bad, I’m hoping to go back next year (in Glasgow, Scotland) and get the gold.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/sport/olympics-weightlifting-zoe-smith/index.html?eref=edition

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(CNN) — Sure, serious-minded folks from the White House on down have taken to Tumblr, the popular blogging platform that Yahoo announced it had purchased this week.

When you host 105 million blogs, you’re bound to have all types. But since hitting the Web in 2007, the blogs that have emerged as hits on Tumblr have tended to be silly, snarky or both.

Photos: Big acquisitions in the tech world

With its quick and easy tools for posting and image-friendly layouts, Tumblr has become a natural landing spot for folks in the entertain-me-now world of the Web.

CNNMoney: Tumblr’s David Karp on Marissa Mayer and dropping out of school

With lots of folks giving the site a look for the first time since news of the $1.1 billion deal was announced, here are 10 fun Tumblr blogs you might want to check out:

Reasons My Son Is Crying

This one will probably resonate the most with parents who will likely recognize those moments where frustration meets hilarity.

Greg Pembroke of Rochester, New York, started the blog to find the humor in those out-of-left field toddler meltdowns, as practiced by his sons William and Charlie. Among the captions on his photos of weeping wee ones:

“He can’t climb into the sea lion tank.”

“I touched his foot with my foot.”

“We helped him put on the boots he loves to wear.”

He’s since opened the blog up to reader submissions — meaning there are now daughters crying, too.

Kim Jong Il Looking at Things

This blog, like the Dear Leader himself, is no longer active. But scrolling back through its hundreds of photos is still pretty hilarious.

Say what you will about his anti-West rhetoric and dictatorial tendencies. Kim Jong Il knew how to rock a pair of giant sunglasses. And he loved looking at things.

Among the North Korean propaganda shots are images of Kim stoically examining such items as fish, snack food, pizza dough, soy sauce and a juice box.

“Why is it so funny?” wrote Joao Rocha, who ran the blog from Lisbon, Portugal. “I have no idea either.”

Once you’ve inspected Kim’s inspections, don’t give up hope. As a self-described “shameless knock-off” shows, his successor, Kim Jong Un, likes to look at things too.

How Do I Put This Gently?

Even if you don’t follow the blog, you’ve probably seen some of its posts crop up on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

Tumblr probably played the biggest role on the Internet in reviving the animated GIF — those looping snippets of video that, when done right, are strangely entrancing.

This one takes scenes from movies and TV and uses them to describe everyday situations.

Humans of New York

If most of these are silly, HONY is captivating and, at times, poignant.

In 2010, having just lost his job in finance, Brandon Stanton set out to create a sort of photographic census of New York City. Three years later, he’s approached more than 10,000 people, taken 5,000 photos and, in the process, showcased the diversity of a city and a world.

He interviews each subject and usually captions the photos with a choice quote or detail from that interview.

Actresses Without Teeth

It’s actresses. Photoshopped. Without teeth. (Warning: Once these images are seen, they cannot be unseen.)

Literally Unbelievable

OK, folks. “Literally,” according to Merriam-Webster, means “in a literal sense or manner; actually.” So when you say something is literally unbelievable, it means no one should believe it.

If only some folks on Facebook could take their own advice.

This blog rounds up public Facebook posts in which people share articles from The Onion, a satire site, thinking they’re real. Its name comes from one reaction to “news” of Planned Parenthood’s “$8 billion Abortionplex,” complete with coffee shops, bars and a 10-screen movie theater.

“My favorite posts are the ones that express complete shock but not an ounce of doubt,” Hongo told CNN in 2011. ” ‘I can’t believe this!’ is a pretty funny response to something you should not believe.”

Rich Kids of Instagram

“They have more money than you, and this is what they do.”

This round-up of shots from the Facebook-owned photo app is enough to get even the biggest supply-side economist a little steamed.

Posing in front of their yachts. Partying in The Hamptons. Showing off their birthday-present Porsches or sipping Dom Perignon through a straw.

Each of those, and so much more, is on display for all the propaganda your class-warfare inclinations will ever need.

Awesome People Hanging Out Together

If you want to see famous people on the Internet, there are millions of places to find them.

But there’s something cool about the often-surprising meetings chronicled here that makes you wish you could be listening in.

Like President Gerald Ford kicking a soccer ball with Pele. Or Jack Nicholson listening to The Monkees warm up. Or CNN’s own Anthony Bourdain cooking something with a lot of tentacles while a horrified Christopher Walken watches.

From vintage images to glossy publicity shots, these are guaranteed to draw you in.

White Men Wearing Google Glass

A new entry to the Tumblr-scape, this one highlights, without words, an issue Google will face while pushing its innovative new piece of wearable tech. If you looked a little dorky before, you’ll look a lot dorky with these things strapped around your head.

Bun B’s Jumbo Coloring and Rap Activity Tumblr

Who among us has never wanted to color a picture of Vanilla Ice? Or do a connect-the-dots to put a crown on The Notorious B.I.G.’s head? Or pencil their way through a maze to help Humpty Hump find the Burger King bathroom (to get busy, obviously).

Almost all of us, I’m betting. But that’s what you get on this Tumblr, from the wonderfully twisted mind of rapper Bun B.

The mashup of childhood memories and hip-hop stars doesn’t make any sense. Which, in its way, makes perfect sense.

In other words, it’s perfect for Tumblr.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/tech/web/tumblrs-to-follow/index.html?eref=edition

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