Copenhagen shootings: Police kill ‘gunman’ after two attacks

     15 February 2015 Last updated at 08:10



Police in Copenhagen say they have shot dead a man they believe was behind two deadly attacks in the Danish capital hours earlier.

Police say they killed the man in the Norrebro district after he opened fire on them.

It came after one person was killed and three police officers injured at a free speech debate in a cafe on Saturday.

In the second attack, a Jewish man was killed and two police officers wounded near the city’s main synagogue.

Police say video surveillance suggested the same man carried out both attacks. They do not believe any other people were involved.

“We assume that it’s the same culprit behind both incidents, and we also assume that the culprit that was shot by the police task force… is the person behind both of these assassinations,” Chief Police Inspector Torben Molgaard Jensen told a news conference.

Pot-sticker paradise, hot-spring hotel just outside of Tokyo makes for a tasty retreat

 Meg Murphy

Ask a Japanese person to give some examples of Chinese food, and they’ll likely reply with things like chaahan (fried rice) and the quintessential gyoza (pot-stickers). With their crispy fried outsides and juicy, flavorful insides, you can’t go wrong with gyoza, and many would say that Chinese food chain GYOZANOMANSYU (餃子の満州), based in the Kanto region of Japan, is the leader of them all.

Those wishing to take the gyoza experience a bit further can visit the hot-spring hotel Toumeikan in Gunma Prefecture, managed by GYOZANOMANSYU, and for a mere 5,900 yen per night (roughly US$59) you can stay in one of their cozy Japanese-style rooms, take a relaxing soak in the onsen hot springs, and get your fill at their breakfast buffet. Located deep in the mountains of Gunma, yet within a two- to three-hour drive from Tokyo, makes this a great place for a weekend getaway. Albeit one involving lots of garlic and chives.

India election: Kejriwal party ahead in Delhi – exit poll

   7 February 2015 Last updated at 15:32

BBC

Voting has ended in the Delhi state elections which are seen as a popularity test for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The anti-corruption Common Man party (Aam Admi) of former tax inspector Arvind Kejriwal is in the lead and could win, early exit polls suggest.

Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded former policewoman Kiran Bedi as its pick for chief minister.

Turnout is estimated at more than 60%. Official results are due on Tuesday.

Over 13 million people were eligible to vote.

The turnout underlines the significance of the vote which is seen as the first real test for the prime minister since his convincing victory in general elections last summer, says the BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi.

 Tokyo art museum to hold exhibition on the links between anime, video games, and Japanese society

 Casey Baseel

Over the past quarter century, manga, anime, and video games have surpassed their former status as nice hobbies. Not only have all three become extremely lucrative industries, they’ve now been such integrated parts of popular youth culture for long enough to have had a significant influence on a large portion of Japan’s adult population, too.

With that in mind, one of Tokyo’s most prestigious art museums has announced an upcoming exhibition that examines the way comics, animation, and games have been affected by, and in turn have affected, Japanese society over the past 25 years.

ISIS: Japanese hostage beheaded

 

By Steve Almasy, CNN

Updated 0255 GMT (1055 HKT) February 1, 2015

A newly distributed ISIS release appears to show the decapitated body of captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, after an English-language lecture is given by masked ISIS member “Jihadi John” to the people of Japan.

The video, 67 seconds long, was released Saturday as others before it, by ISIS media wing Al Furqan Media, and cannot be authenticated by CNN.

“We are deeply saddened by this despicable and horrendous act of terrorism and we denounce it in the strongest terms,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in Tokyo, according to broadcaster NHK. “To the terrorists, we will never, never forgive them for this act.”

ISIS claims it’s beheaded one Japanese hostage, offers a swap for the other

 

By Jason Hanna and Greg Botelho, CNN Updated 0419 GMT (1219 HKT) January 25, 2015

A picture and audio posted online Saturday purport to show that one of two Japanese hostages held by ISIS has been killed after a deadline for ransom passed. It also appears to relay the group’s new demand for the other’s freedom: a prisoner exchange.

The static image, shown in a video file posted by a known ISIS supporter, shows surviving Japanese hostage Kenji Goto, alone, in handcuffs and dressed in orange, holding a photo of what appears to be beheaded compatriot Haruna Yukawa.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that the video is “highly credible.” U.S. authorities said they had no reason to doubt its authenticity.

Abe told Japanese broadcaster NHK that the killing was “abominable” and “unforgivable,” demanding the immediate release of Goto.

Fancy a cuppa? We explore the UK’s unusual takes on Japanese green tea

 evie lund

In the UK, where I’m from, people get really passionate about tea. It’s the first thing you offer someone who is a visitor to your home, and remembering how someone likes their tea made is one way of showing that you care about them. We’re also fussy about the ritual behind making tea (you should see what happens in my house when someone puts the milk in first). In this way, we’re kinda like the Japanese.

In Japan, they drink green tea rather than black tea, but their attitude towards it matches ours. It’s both something for all-day long refreshment, and for special occasions. They’re also really into the ceremony behind it, with chadou, or tea ceremony, being a celebrated art in Japan.

 Pope Francis: Huge crowds gather in Manila for Mass

  18 January 2015 Last updated at 05:27

BBC

Huge crowds have gathered to see Pope Francis celebrate an outdoor Mass in the Philippine capital Manila.

Thousands of people arrived at Rizal Park on Sunday morning, hours before the Mass is due to begin.

Twenty years ago, more than five million people attended a Mass celebrated here by Pope John Paul II.

The Vatican said Pope Francis would dedicate the service in part to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the country in 2013.

The Mass will be the Pope’s final full day in the Philippines, where there are 80 million Catholics, concluding his six-day tour of Asia.

 Fan parody of Ghostbusters set in Tokyo is totally “crossing the streams”【Video】

 KK Miller

Genre streams that is! There isn’t an ’80s movie that is more perfectly matched for an anime makeover than Ghostbusters. The story is flawless, the ghosts would feel right at home, plus all the crazy special effects could be easily accomplished through animation. The fact that they were able to do all of that in a live-action movie is part of what makes it such a classic.

This parody simply nails the movie, but you don’t have to take our word for it, you can see for yourself after the jump.

The YouTube channel Nacho Punch is no stranger to 1980s-style anime parodies, but this one feels just right. Set in Tokyo and drawn in a style of animation perfect for the era in which the movie and original animated series were born, the Tokyo Ghostbusters really shine in their one-minute debut.

Paris attacks: A city reeling after 72 hours which saw the staff of a satirical magazine gunned down, two police officers shot dead and two sieges end violently

  Cole Moreton charts the chain of bloody events that stunned France

COLE MORETON   Sunday 11 January 2015

They got what they wanted. From the moment the Kouachi brothers climbed out of their black Citroën in a quiet street in Paris on Wednesday morning it was inevitable that they would die.

Everything they did and said in the following 48 hours suggested they wanted to be martyrs. Not for Islam, whatever they claimed, but for a corruption of that faith, a cult that takes the name of Allah but worships death and power.

“I was ready to die in battle,” said Chérif Kouachi as long ago as 2007, but that sounds noble and this was not. Instead he put on military clothing and a balaclava, loaded a pair of Kalashnikovs and walked with his brother towards the office of a satirical magazine called Charlie Hebdo, in the middle of a chilly morning in Paris.