• More Than 130 Children Killed in Taliban Revenge Attack on Pakistani, Military-Run School

    The families of students attending the Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar, Pakistan, have been devastated by an attack on the facility earlier today, Dec. 16. Members of the Pakistani Taliban scaled the school's walls this morning and, once inside, their orders were to kill rather than take hostages. The hours-long battle left more than 130 dead so far, with the majority being children. Nine teachers at the school were also killed, some by being set on fire in front of their students. Sources say this suicide mission was carried out by at least seven militants and revenge was the motivation. The siege at the school and purposeful taking of innocent lives is said to be revenge for the killing of hundreds of innocent tribesmen and their children during a recent offensive by the Pakistani military. Two brazen attacks near Pakistan's largest airport in Karachi in June brought tentative peace talks to a screeching halt. Pakistan's military has since opted to shift its focus toward clearing out militants in tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan that do not have a strong government presence in place. Tens of thousands of people have reportedly been displaced, adding to the already existing strained tensions between the two.

  • Sierra Leone Cancels Public Christmas, New Year's Celebrations to Curtail Ebola

    Only about 10 percent of all people who are living in Sierra Leone are Christians who will be celebrating this holiday season, but the government has already put necessary restrictions on the festivities due to the continuing Ebola outbreak. Sierra Leone is now the hardest-hit country, surpassing the illness and death that even Liberia has seen, and its leaders are scrambling to find ways to keep Ebola from spreading. That has led them to determine that public Christmas and New Year's celebrations are now banned. People are now forbidden from gathering in groups to celebrate as they normally would. Military personnel will once again take to the streets to make sure that groups of revelers are not gathering together, which would basically intensify the risk of spreading the virus to each other. This is just one more way the everyday lives of the people of West Africa have been disrupted by this epidemic. As of Dec. 10, Sierra Leone had recorded 8,000 cases of Ebola and nearly 1,900 deaths. In West Africa as a whole, more than 18,000 people have been infected, resulting in more than 6,500 deaths. Those numbers are pretty harrowing, but the truth is many at the World Health Organization feared they would be far higher by now.

  • U.S. Sen. John McCain Weighs In on Hagel's Resignation from President Obama's Cabinet

    When U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced his resignation earlier today, it seemed that few Washington insiders were surprised. He reportedly had been dissatisfied with his job heading up the Pentagon and admitted that this decision was a mutual one made after only two years on the job. It had originally been Hagel's job to help guide our troops home after a 13-year war and to help our military to make as smooth a transition as possible. Hagel did accomplish that, but he seemed to see little hope of being able to do much else under the current administration. President Barack Obama has readily admitted that change is necessary and feels that putting a new person into the official role of Defense secretary might be a good move. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spoke earlier today about Hagel's frustration and how that did not mean he was no longer invested in his job, but instead felt that his options for action were extremely limited:
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