Attempted attack in the Thalys The six detainees were released

Six people were arrested following raids carried out on Monday as part of the Instruction to the attempted attack committed in the Thalys between Paris and Amsterdam on 21 August 2015. This Monday night, these individuals were all released . Information confirmed by the federal prosecution.

Four raids were conducted in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Haren. Weapons or explosives were not discovered, said the federal prosecutor.

Taken for hearing

The six detainees were taken for hearing. The investigating judge in charge of the file will decide in the coming hours whether to place them under arrest. Federal prosecutors declined to give information about the identities of those arrested. The searches took place without particular incident.

The investigation continues and the benefit of it, federal prosecutors will not communicate about the issue, he said.

These searches follow the attempted attack in a Thalys train to Paris on 21 August. Ayoub El Khazzani, aged 26, was then mounted heavily armed on board the high-speed train to the Brussels-Midi station. He was then hidden in the toilet, which he had left a handmade weapon just before the train crosses the French border. Four travelers (three Americans and one British) were interposed and had mastered the individual. Three passengers were eventually injured.

A few days after the events, Ayoub El Khazzani was indicted in France for attempted murder in relation to a terrorist undertaking.

"Attempted Attack in the Thalys The Six Detainees Were Released." 

RTBF. N.p., 20 June 2016. Web. 20 June 2016.

From <http://www.easybib.com/cite/view>

Response:

This article discusses a recent attack on the trains in Paris. I found this article quite vague and would have liked more detail on what attacks contained or how they were carried out and then eventually how they were stopped. The partial cause of my confusion most likely stems from the language used to write the article. The article was originally in French and then google translated it into English. In this translation some of the meaning might have been lost. The author has very little bias. I found it interesting that they caught six people after searching a train as a result of a previous attack. I would have liked to know more on how that attack was prevented. IT is refreshing to hear of cases where added security has made a difference in some potentially harmful situations. 

Stories of heroism emerge from Orlando nightclub massacre

Mixed amid the chaos and confusion in the Orlando shootings were stories of heroism and heart. Instincts kicked in for some people who escaped the gunfire. They risked their safety to help save the lives of others.

The shooting and hostage situation early Sunday morning at Pulse, which describes itself as "Orlando's hottest gay bar," left at least 50 people dead, including the gunman, Omar Mateen, and more than 50 injured, officials said.

When these all-too-frequent mass shootings now happen, we talk a lot about the hate that must have inspired them, reports "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley. But we also want to talk about the courage and survival that our fellow Americans demonstrate in the worst of circumstances.

 Eyewitness recalls Orlando mass shooting

"It just seemed like it wasn't ever gonna stop," witness Shawn Royster said.

Royster was with friends on the back patio of the Pulse Nightclub when the shooting began.

"What were you seeing and hearing in that moment?" Pelley asked him.

"Screaming, yelling. They were like dragging bodies. People that were wounded, just to get them out of the way. Sorry, sorry," Royster said, wiping away tears. "Yeah, probably the worst fear I've ever felt in my entire life, so ... I don't know. There just shouldn't be that type of hate."

But in the face of that hate came acts of heroism.

Josh McGill and friend Ashley Summers fled the club and lost track of one another. McGill found shelter behind a car.

"I was about to run for it, to the safe zone," McGill said. "And I hear someone kind of like mumbling, 'Help! Help!'"

Orlando shooting victim describes aftermath: "This is a nightmare"

A few feet away, 27-year-old Rodney Sumter Jr. lay wounded and bleeding, shot in each arm and once in the back.

"I only saw the one bullet at first, and I was like, 'We need to stop the bleeding.' And he's like, 'Okay.' So I took my shirt off and I tied it around as tight as I could and then I saw his other arm had been shot. So I took his shirt off, tied it around that one," McGill recounted.

The two hobbled their way to police at the scene.

"So the police officer turned to me and said, 'Okay, this is what the deal is. You're going to lay down in the back of that cop car and he's going to lay on top of you, and I want you to bear hug him and try to keep all the pressure on him as you can.' So I did," McGill said. "And they were like 'Also, like keep him conscious.'"

McGill held Sumter all the way to the hospital.

"I was like, 'I don't know if you're religious but I feel like I need to say a prayer. You're going to be fine.' I was like, 'I got you, man,'" McGill said.

"Orlando Nightclub Shooting: Stories of Heroism Emerge from Deadly Rampage." 

CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 13 June 2016. Web. 13 June 2016.

From <http://www.easybib.com/cite/view>

This article is about the Orlando shooting that happened on Sunday Night. Instead of focusing on the shooting itself and the negative aspects of it, this article focuses on a man who most likely saved someone's life. This article has a bias towards McGill. It talks about how he tried to save someone's life. I think it would have been nice if the article had elaborated on the shooting itself and then gone into the heroism that arose from it. This article left me wondering how the shooting was resolved and the shooter killed. It also would have been nice if the article had mentioned if Rodney Sumter Jr. had lived. I think that it is refreshing that in the midst of all this destruction and terrorism in the world there are still positive things to find. This article can remind us of the love we should have for our neighbors.

U.S. Lifts Decades-Long Embargo on Arms Sales to Vietnam

Barack Obama announces removal of ban on first visit, saying there is a new level of trust and cooperation with former enemy

The US has lifted a decades-old arms embargo on Vietnam in a historic move that follows the country’s growing assertiveness against China’s influence in the region.

Speaking on a visit to Hanoi, Barack Obama said Washington had fully lifted “the ban on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam that has been in place for some 50 years”. Obama is the third American president – after Bill Clinton and George W Bush – to visit since the war ended in 1975.

“At this stage both sides have developed a level of trust and cooperation,” he added during a joint press conference with the Vietnamese president, Tran Dai Quang.

Quang said the end to the embargo was “clear proof that both countries have completely normalised relations”.

Despite a shared communist ideology, Vietnam is one of several countries engaged in a fierce territorial dispute with Beijing over islands and reefs in the South China Sea, a route for roughly £3.17tn in trade. The area is also thought to have significant oil and gas reserves.

China has reclaimed several atolls that Vietnam says it owns, and built military installations and runways on some islands.

Vietnam, a country of 90 million, has also been a key partner for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a US-led trade deal seen as a counter to China’s growing influence.

However, Obama said the decision to lift the ban was not based on China but on “our desire to complete what has been a lengthy process towards moving toward normalisation with Vietnam”.

The Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times ran an editorial titled “Obama unable to turn Hanoi into an ally” and said while Beijing was a major opponent of Hanoi regarding the South China Sea, “the former is also considered by Hanoi’s mainstream elites as a political pillar for Vietnam’s stability”.

Activist groups have called for Obama to push for greater respect for human rights in Vietnam, where there are about 100 political prisoners in jail. In March, seven activists were sentenced for “spreading anti-state propaganda”.

The ruling Communist party has run a one-party state since 1954.

There has also been a recent round of arrests against environmental protesters, angered after 100 tonnes of dead fish were found near a Taiwanese-owned industrial complex.

The Vietnamese government has cracked down on any attempt to protest, blocking access to Facebook over the weekend.

And on Sunday, the BBC reporting team was told their accreditation to cover Obama’s visit had been withdrawn without reason.

Obama said on Monday that any future arms sales would need to meet strict requirements “including those related to human rights”.

Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, criticised the move.

“Obama has jettisoned what remained of US leverage to improve human rights in Vietnam – and basically gotten nothing for it,” he said.

“The United States government has been telling the Vietnam government for years that they need to show progress on their human rights record if they are going to be rewarded with closer military and economic ties. Yet today President Obama has rewarded Vietnam even though they have not done anything of note.”

Diplomatic ties between the US and Vietnam were restored in 1995. In 2007, the US allowed the sale of some non-lethal equipment and last December, Washington said it would provide five unarmed patrol boats to the Vietnamese coastguard.

Following his three-day trip in Vietnam, Obama will travel to Japan for a G7 summit and a visit to Hiroshima.

Citation:

Holmes, Oliver. "US Lifts Decades-long Embargo on Arms Sales to Vietnam." 

The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 23 May 2016. Web. 07 June 2016.

From <http://www.easybib.com/cite/view>

This article is discussing Obama's recent trip to Vietnam. Their relations have been strained in the past America has refused to sell them any arms. Obama has change this and agreed to lift the arms ban against them. This article mentioned some arguments for both sides of this issue but had a bias against what Obama decided to do. The article mentions that Vietnam has made no move to improve human rights and states that Obama rewarded them without cause and this will make matters worse. This statement shows the bias of the article. I found it interesting in how this truce relates to affairs regarding China. It will be interesting to see how China's relations change in the next couple of years.