Terrorism Solving the Lockerbie Case

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  810 words  |  Patria Henriques

A charred piece of shirt, a shred of green plastic the size of a fingernail, the letters MEBO and a cryptic diary entry. Those were the clues that finally unlocked a three-year-old mystery: Who planted the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, just before Christmas in 1988, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 more on the ground? The answer writ small, according to indictments issued last week in Washington and Scotland, is two Libyan intelligence officials: Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. [Read More]

The Las Vegas Shooting's Impact on the Gun Control Debate

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  14 minutes  |  2909 words  |  Kelle Repass

Over the roar of the guitar, the gunfire erupted. At first the country-music fans at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas thought the loudspeakers were malfunctioning or that the pyrotechnics had gone awry. But as the bodies crumpled, the crowd began to grasp the horror that was unfolding. The rapid pop pop pop exploded around Doris Huser, 29. She and her 8-year-old daughter had been in the bathroom, but when the shooting began, they pushed back into the crowd, toward the sound of the bullets, in search of Huser’s 5-year-old son and her developmentally disabled sister. [Read More]

The Men Who Escaped Auschwitz to Try to Warn the World

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  19 minutes  |  3848 words  |  Kelle Repass

In April 1944, two Jewish prisoners, one of them a teenager, would attempt what until then had been all but impossible: to break out of Auschwitz and successfully make their way to freedom. Their motive: to warn the world of the mass slaughter underway in a death camp whose existence was, at that time, barely known. Incredibly, they got out of Auschwitz. Then, over 11 days, travelling only at night, and with no map or compass, Walter Rosenberg, aged 19, and Fred Wetzler, aged 25, crossed the mountains, rivers and forests of Nazi-occupied Poland until they had reached their home country of Slovakia. [Read More]

The Realities of Raising a Kid of a Different Race

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  19 minutes  |  3928 words  |  Tandra Barner

As transracial adoption becomes more common, here’s what every parent should know Karen Valby is a writer who lives in Austin, Texas. She and her husband, who are white, have two adopted daughters, one Ethiopian and one African- American. Robyn Wells believed she went into the adoption of her Ethiopian son with eyes wide open. She and her husband Timothy, a police officer and Army veteran, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, brought Ben home when he was four years old. [Read More]

Tiger Woods has caused Masters ticket prices to jump past $6,000 for golf fans looking to spend all

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  138 words  |  Patria Henriques

Augusta National is the most iconic course in all of golf, so it's no surprise that tickets to the Masters are some of the toughest to acquire in all of sports. But the recent return to form of Tiger Woods has led to even more interest, with the price of an entry badge good for the entire tournament now surpassing $6,000 on resale websites such as StubHub and Vivid Seats. [Read More]

Under the Skin Movie Review: Scarlett Johansson Gets Naked, A Lot

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  814 words  |  Patria Henriques

Darkness, underscored by violins imitating a busy beehive. A flash of circular light that clarifies into a blinking eye. Fragments of familiar words in a woman’s voice, as if she were learning a new language. One female figure stripping another of her clothes and putting them on. An alien entity has come to Earth (Scotland, to be exact), called herself Laura and assumed the most beguiling of human forms: Scarlett Johansson’s. [Read More]

Virat Kohli (Cricketer) - On This Day

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  260 words  |  Kelle Repass

Profession: Cricketer Biography: Indian batsman Virat Kohli is known for his aggressive style and ability to chase runs. He first played for the Indian national team in 2008 in a one day international (ODI). He was part of the World Cup winning team in 2011 and made his test debut later the same year. Kohli became permanent captain of the Indian in 2014. By 2017 he was the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world and in October 2018 he became the fastest batsman to reach the 10,000-run mark in ODIs. [Read More]

Whispering Woods Braille Trail: Worlds Coolest Places of 2019

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  86 words  |  Tandra Barner

Evan Barnard believes that all people should have access to nature. At age 14, he set out to create Whispering Woods, a Braille nature trail. The trail uses Braille signs and guide ropes. They help people who are blind or visually impaired explore nature without assistance. Visitors can enjoy a safe sensory experience by feeling the scratchy bark of a tree, hearing a bird’s song, or smelling the earthy odor of the woods. [Read More]

Why I Don't Translate Non-English Words in My Writing

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  925 words  |  Kelle Repass

My novel The Great Reclamation had been out for a little over a month when I received the email. The woman said she was German and had lived in Singapore for a few years. She wrote that she thought my book was “wonderful,” but she “had some small points to nag about.” Like anyone who puts their words out publicly in the world, I am accustomed to unsolicited commentary; people have quibbles about endings and characters, typos and perceived inaccuracies. [Read More]

Why the Philippines Has Lots of Guns But Few Mass Shootings

 Posted on August 16, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  1044 words  |  Patria Henriques

Mass shootings are a result of a confluence of factors, but at the heart of the problem are guns—of which the Philippines has plenty. Firearms are sold openly in malls, and almost anyone can carry them, evenpriests andaccountants. Fixers canreportedly take care of formalities standing in the way of gun ownership, such as drug and psychological tests, and there are estimated to be some four million firearms in the nation of 110 million people. [Read More]