Article:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in an evening address that Canada would not be intimidated by Wednesday's "brutal and violent attack" in Ottawa, in which an armed attacker shot and fatally wounded a Canadian Forces member at the National War Memorial before being shot dead in Parliament's Centre Block.

 The slain soldier is Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24,a reservist from Hamilton.

 Moments after Cirillo was shot at his post by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, MPs and other witnesses reported 30 to 50 shots fired inside the main Parliament building.

 It was confirmed later that the gunman was shot dead inside the building, felled by the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms and RCMP, according to MPs' accounts.

 CBC News has confirmed the dead shooting suspectis Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian born in 1982. CBC News has learned that Zehaf-Bibeau has a criminal record in Quebec dating back 10 years on some drug-related charges. Court documents from that time show that he lived at an address in Montreal.

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 He also has a criminal record in B.C., where he was convicted in 2012 of uttering threats and served one day in jail.

 In his brief address, Harper offered condolences for Cirillo's family, and for the family of Patrice Vincent, another soldier who was killed in an attack earlier this week.

 "For the second time this week, there has been a brutal and violent attack on our soil," he said.

 "But let there be no misunderstanding — we will not be intimidated, Canada will never be intimidated."

 NDP Leader Tom Mulcair andLiberal Leader Justin Trudeau delivered their own statements, condemning the attacks and pledging support for the government.

 Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the suspected gunman in Wednesday's Ottawa shootings, had a criminal record in B.C. and Quebec. (Twitter)

 Harper, who was on Parliament Hill at the time of the shooting and was safely whisked away, met with members of his cabinet before making his address. He then met with the Conservative caucus, who had been in lockdown on the Hill until after 8 p.m. ET.

 Harper's spokesman Carl Vallée said on Twitter that Harper also spoke briefly to U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday afternoon. Harper also spoke with Mulcair and Trudeau, the Prime Minister's Office said.

 Hundreds of people, including children at a daycare, waited hours to be evacuated from Parliament Hill as the area remained under lockdown. Late Wednesday OC Transpo buses began taking people away from the Hill as the lockdown eased.

 Caught 'by surprise'

 In an afternoon news conference, police would not say whether they still suspect another shooter is involved, saying only "there is no one in custody at this time."

 "This is a dynamic and unfolding situation," said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud, commanding officer of the national division.

 Michaud also suggested that police had no forewarning of the attack, saying "it caught us by surprise." He added that it's too soon to say whether the dead gunman was already known to security officials.

 Michaud added that police have maintained a "medium" level of security of Parliament for the past number of years, and that had not changed in recent days.

 Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau asked witnesses to the incidents to come forward.

 Ottawa Civic Hospital confirmed four people were taken to hospital: the soldier who died, and three who were released after treatment for minor injuries. One of those injured was a parliamentary security guard shot in the foot, according to CBC's Judy Trinh.

 Despite earlier reports of shots fired near the Rideau Centre shopping mall east of Parliament Hill, police later said "no incident occurred near the Rideau Centre."

 Chaos and bravery inside Parliament

 Alain Merisier, who works at the cafeteria in one of the Parliament Buildings, told CBC News that he saw a man in a car at the Centre Block with a long gun.

 Cpl. Nathan Cirillo guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National Memorial in Ottawa in a photo posted on Twitter Wednesday. Cirillo was shot and killed by a man who later attacked the Parliament buildings. (Twitter)

 CBC video and cellphone video shot by a Globe and Mail reporter showed a chaotic scene in the elegant hallway leading from the front doors of Parliament's Centre Block to the Library of Parliament during the attack.

 A sustained volley of shots was fired. Startled security personnel and political staff scrambled to take cover in the limestone alcoves as bullets flew.

 In the minutes after the shooting, MPs and parliamentary staff began tweeting and telling reporters that it was Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers who shot the gunman. The tweets included:

 NDP MP Craig Scott: "MPs and Hill staff owe their safety, even lives, to Sergeant at Arms Kevin Vickers who shot attacker just outside the MPs' caucus rooms."

 Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino, former head of the Ontario Provincial Police and ex-Toronto chief of police: "I am safe & profoundly grateful to Sgt at Arms Kevin Vickers & our security forces for selfless act of keeping us safe."

 Justice Minister Peter MacKay: "Thank God for Sgt at Arms Kevin Vickers & our Cdn security forces. True heroes."

 Eyewitness accounts

 Earlier, police sealed off the area around the National War Memorial while the injured soldier was given emergency medical aid.

 "We were waiting there for a city tour and suddenly I heard four shots," said Jan Lugtenborg, a tourist visiting downtown Ottawa from Holland.

 The barricaded Conservative Party caucus room is shown shortly after shooting began on Parliament Hill. (MP Nina Grewal/Reuters)

 "Suddenly I saw a small guy with long black hair … with a long rifle, and he ran away after the shots, across streets in the direction of Parliament Hill," he said.

 Raivo Nommick, another bystander, said "all of a sudden, I just heard a shot, turned around and there was a guy with a rifle .... and just pow pow.

 "Then I saw one of the other Armed Forces guys just running. He barrelled over, just ran right over. The other guy just dropped. I looked back and just dived underneath and immediately called 911."

 First responders arrive after multiple shots were fired at Ottawa's National War Memorial on Wednesday morning. (Laura Payton/CBC)

 Scott Walsh, who was working on Parliament Hill, said he saw a man running with a double-barrelled shotgun, wearing a scarf and blue jeans.

 Walsh said the man hopped over the stone fence that surrounds Parliament Hill, forcing someone out of their car at gunpoint. He then drove to the front doors of Parliament and fired at least two shots, Walsh said.

 Conservative MPs are transported in an Ottawa transit bus from Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday, after a gunman attacked Parliament Hill and was shot dead. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

 New Democrat MP Hélène Laverdière said she heard 20 to 30 shots inside Parliament, and hit the floor. She and fellow MPs Charlie Angus and Rosane Doré Lefebvre were later led out of the Centre Block to safety.

 MP Doré Lefebvre worried about getting her daughter from the daycare facility on Parliament Hill. Children from the daycare were not released until about 8 p.m.

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 We've run into a glitch. Please try again later. ||||| OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A masked gunman killed a soldier standing guard at Canada's war memorial Wednesday, then stormed Parliament in an attack that was stopped cold when he was shot to death by the ceremonial sergeant-at-arms. Canada's prime minister called it the country's second terrorist attack in three days.

 FILE In this March 25, 2011 file photo, Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers carries the mace from the House of Commons at the conclusion of the session in Ottawa. Two sources told The Canadian Press that Vickers... (Associated Press)

 A Royal Canadian Mounted Police intervention team walks past a gate on Parliament hill in Ottawa Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial has been shot by an unknown... (Associated Press)

 Police converge on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial was shot by an unknown gunman and people reported hearing gunfire inside... (Associated Press)

 Police and paramedics tend to a soldier shot at the National Memorial near Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. The soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial was shot by an... (Associated Press)

 An armed RCMP officer stands guard at 24 Sussex Dr., the official residence of the Prime Minister, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial has been shot by... (Associated Press)

 Paramedics and police pull a victim away from the Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial was shot by an unknown gunman... (Associated Press)

 A Royal Canadian Mounted Police intervention team responds to a reported shooting at Parliament building in Ottawa, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial has... (Associated Press)

 A Royal Canadian Mounted Police intervention team walks past a gate on Parliament hill in Ottawa Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial has been shot by an unknown... (Associated Press)

 Police continue to patrol a downtown street near the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario, on Wednesday, October 22, 2014. A gunman shot and killed a soldier at the National War Memorial in Ottawa... (Associated Press)

 This photo provided by the Prime Minister's office shows the head of RCMP Bob Paulson briefs Canadian prime Minister Stephen Harper on the shootings at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday Oct. 22,... (Associated Press)

 In this photo provided by Conservative MP Nina Grewal, members of Parliament barricade themselves in a meeting room on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014, after shots were fired... (Associated Press)

 An Ottawa police officer runs with his weapon drawn outside Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial was shot by an unknown gunman and... (Associated Press)

 Tomb guards walks at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014. The military increased security Wednesday at the Tomb of the Unknowns at... (Associated Press)

 Police surround Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. A soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial was shot by an unknown gunman and people reported hearing gunfire inside the... (Associated Press)

 "We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated," Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed in an address to the nation.

 Unfolding just before 10 a.m., while lawmakers were meeting in caucus rooms, the assault rocked Parliament over and over with the boom of gunfire, led MPs to barricade doors with chairs and sent people streaming from the building in fear. Harper was addressing a caucus when the attack began outside the door, but he safely escaped.

 Investigators offered little information about the gunman, identified as 32-year-old petty criminal Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. But Harper said: "In the days to come we will learn about the terrorist and any accomplices he may have had."

 A government official told AP that Zehaf-Bibeau was a recent convert to Islam. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

 Canada was already on alert because of a deadly hit-and-run assault Monday against two Canadian soldiers by a man Harper described as an "ISIL-inspired terrorist." ISIL, or Islamic State, has called for reprisals against Canada and other Western countries that have joined the U.S.-led air campaign against the extremist group in Iraq and Syria.

 Witnesses said the soldier posted at the National War Memorial, identified as Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, was gunned down at point-blank range by a man carrying a rifle and dressed all in black, his face half-covered with a scarf. The gunman appeared to raise his arms in triumph, then entered Parliament, a few hundred yards away, where dozens of shots soon rang out, according to witnesses.

 People fled the complex by scrambling down scaffolding erected for renovations, while others took cover inside as police with rifles and body armor took up positions outside and cordoned off the normally bustling streets around Parliament.

 On Twitter, Canada's justice minister and other government officials credited 58-year-old sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers with shooting the attacker just outside the MPs' caucus rooms. Vickers serves a largely ceremonial role at the House of Commons, carrying a scepter and wearing rich green robes, white gloves and a tall imperial hat.

 At least three people were treated for minor injuries.

 In Washington, President Barack Obama condemned the shootings as "outrageous" and said: "We have to remain vigilant." The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa was locked down as a precaution, and security was tightened at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington.

 Harper vowed that the attacks will "lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts" to keep the country safe and work with Canada's allies to fight terrorists.

 Police said in the initial hours that as many as two other gunmen may have taken part in the attacks. But by late in the evening, the cordon around Parliament was lifted and police said there was no longer any threat to the public in the area.

 Court records that appear to be the gunman's show that he had a long rap sheet, with a string of convictions for assault, robbery, drug and weapons offenses, and other crimes.

 Tony Zobl said he witnessed the Canadian soldier being gunned down from his fourth-floor window directly above the National War Memorial, a 70-foot, arched granite cenotaph, or tomb, with bronze sculptures commemorating World War I.

 "I looked out the window and saw a shooter, a man dressed all in black with a kerchief over his nose and mouth and something over his head as well, holding a rifle and shooting an honor guard in front of the cenotaph point-blank, twice," Zobl told the Canadian Press news agency. "The honor guard dropped to the ground, and the shooter kind of raised his arms in triumph holding the rifle."

 The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. had video of the gunman going to his car alone with his weapon after the shooting at the memorial. The car was later spotted parked in front of Parliament Hill, just down the block.

 Cabinet minister Tony Clement tweeted that at least 30 shots were heard inside Parliament, where Conservative and Liberal MPs were holding their weekly caucus meetings.

 "I'm safe locked in a office awaiting security," Kyle Seeback, another member of Parliament, tweeted.

 "I was just taking off my jacket to go into caucus. I hear this pop, pop, pop. Possibly 10 shots, don't really know. Thought it was dynamite or construction rather than anything else," said John McKay, a member of Parliament.

 He said security guards then came rushing down the halls, herding them toward the back of the buildings.

 "And then we started talking to another woman and she was apparently inside the library of Parliament, saw the fellow, wearing a hoodie, carrying a gun," McKay said, "and then the implications of this start to sink in."

 The attack came two days after a recent convert to Islam killed one Canadian soldier and injured another with his car before being shot to death by police. The killer had been on the radar of federal investigators, who feared he had jihadist ambitions and seized his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.

 Canada had raised its domestic terror threat level from low to medium Tuesday because of what it called "an increase in general chatter from radical Islamist organizations." As recently as Tuesday, Canada sent eight fighter jets to the Mideast to join the battle against Islamic State.

 After the shootings, officials canceled two events in Toronto honoring Pakistani teenager and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, including one in which she was supposed to receive honorary Canadian citizenship. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 for supporting schooling for girls.

 ___

 Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Benjamin Shingler also contributed to this report. |||||

 Sonja Puzic, CTVNews.ca

 Two “despicable attacks” on Canadian soldiers this week will not weaken the country’s resolve to fight terrorism at home and abroad, a sombre Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.

 Harper addressed the nation hours after a young soldier was gunned down at the National War Memorial in Ottawa and dozens of shots fired inside Parliament ended with the shooter’s death.

 The attacks in Ottawa occurred just two days after a Quebec soldier was killed in what Harper called an Islamic State-inspired attack in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, not far from Montreal. The suspect in that case was killed by police after brief chase.

 Harper said more information about the “terrorist” killed in Ottawa will surface in the coming days. CTV News has confirmed that the suspect in Wednesday’s attack is Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian citizen born in 1982.

 “This week’s events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world,” the prime minister said.

 “We are also reminded that attacks on our security personnel and on our institutions of governments are by their very nature attacks on our country, on our values, on our society, on us Canadians as a free and democratic people who embrace human dignity for all,” he said.

 “But let there be no misunderstanding -- we will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated.”

 Harper said the attacks will only strengthen Canada’s resolve and lead the government to “redouble our efforts and those of our national security agencies to take all necessary steps to identify and counter threats and keep Canada safe here at home.”

 National Defence Minister Rob Nicholson echoed Harper in a statement issued late Wednesday, saying that Canada’s deployments in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led fight against ISIS “will continue unimpeded.”

 The prime minister offered his condolences to the friends and family of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, the reservist who was “murdered in cold blood” Wednesday while standing guard at the war memorial. Harper also praised the passersby and first responders who tried to save his life.

 Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair called the shootings "a cowardly attack designed to strike at the heart of our democracy, the heart of who we are."

 But he said Canadians will once again wake up in a country “blessed by love, diversity and peace.”

 RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said Thursday that Zehaf-Bibeau had applied for a passport, and police were doing background checks. Zehaf-Bibeau was not on the list of “high-risk travellers” being tracked by Canadian authorities, Paulson said.

 Court records show that a Michael Joseph Zehaf-Bibeau was accused of robbery in Vancouver in late 2011. He was found guilty of uttering threats, a lesser charge.

 Panic on the Hill

 The chaos in Ottawa began around 9:52 a.m. Wednesday, when police received multiple 911 calls about a shooting at the National War Memorial.

 When paramedics and police arrived, the honour guard -- later identified as Cirillo -- was on the ground, surrounded by people who tried to help him.

 A short time later, the gunman entered Parliament’s Centre Block and dozens ofshots rang out as MPs, staff and reporters rushed to safety. The suspect was gunned down by Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms for the House of Commons.

 Three other people were taken to the Ottawa Hospital after the shootings. They were all discharged by Wednesday evening.

 Parliament Hill and Ottawa’s downtown core were under lockdown for hours after the shootings, but police have not said if other suspects were still on the loose.

 Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau said residents need to stay “vigilant” and report any suspicious activity to police. But he did not directly answer questions from reporters about the possibility that another shooter -- or shooters -- were still at large.

 Earlier Wednesday, Ottawa police Const. Marc Soucy said officers believe there may be more than one assailant. He said that police will be assuming that any other assailants are armed.

 Tony Zobl, 35, told The Canadian Press that he witnessed the soldier being gunned down from his fourth-floor office window directly above the war memorial.

 "I looked out the window and saw a shooter, a man dressed all in black with a kerchief over his nose and mouth and something over his head as well, holding a rifle and shooting an honour guard in front of the Cenotaph point-blank, twice," Zobl told CP.

 "It looked like the honour guard was trying to reach for the barrel of the gun. The honour guard dropped to the ground and the shooter kind of raised his arms in triumph holding the rifle."

 Zobl said he then saw the shooter run up the street toward Parliament Hill.

 Video captured inside Parliament showed officers filing down the empty corridor of the Hall of Honour as at least a dozen shots could be heard ringing out in the background. A security guard was reported to be injured in the shooting.

 “This is a dynamic and unfolding situation,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud told a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

 He said the attack caught the RCMP by surprise, but would not elaborate.

 “If we had known that this was coming, we would have been able to disrupt it,” he said.

 The RCMP also said it’s too early to say if the gunman was among the 90 or so suspected extremists being tracked by the Canadian government.

 Reports of a third shooting inside the Rideau Centre, a shopping mall near Parliament Hill, turned out to be false, Bordeleau said.

 “Today is a sad and tragic day for our city and our country,” Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said, adding that everyone is “looking for answers.”

 The shooting comes two days after a man attacked two Canadian soldiers in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. One of those soldiers, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, died from his injuries. The suspect, Martin Couture-Rouleau, was shot and killed by police.

 On Tuesday, Canada raised the domestic terror threat level from low to medium.

 Security beefed up

 The attack on Parliament Hill immediately prompted officials across the country to heighten security at government buildings, provincial legislatures and military bases.

 Soldiers are also being cautioned about wearing their uniforms in public when they’re not on active duty.

 U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Harper Wednesday and offered “any assistance” needed in the response to the attack, according to a tweet from the U.S. National Security Council.

 Obama also expressed “the American people’s solidarity with Canada,” according to the NSC.

 The president later publicly condemned the Ottawa shootings, calling them “outrageous.”

 “We’re all shaken by it,” he said, adding that the U.S. is closely watching the unfolding events.

 A statement from NATO’s secretary general also said that “NATO stands in solidarity with our ally Canada at this difficult time.”

 With files from Marlene Leung and The Canadian Press

 An earlier version of this story Wednesday incorrectly reported that Zehaf-Bibeau was on a list of “high-risk travellers” being tracked by Canadian authorities and had his passport seized.

 Live updates and commentary:

 On mobile? Tap here to access the live blog |||||Summary:

– Dramatic footage taken by a Globe and Mail reporter captures an exchange of gunfire inside the seat of Canada's government. More than 30 shots can be heard as authorities inside the Parliament building exchange fire with an attacker now identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. In an evening address to the nation, Prime Minister Stephen Harper described the "brutal and violent" Ottawa shooting as a terrorist attack—the second this week—and an assault on the values of "Canadians as a free and democratic people who embrace human dignity for all," the CBC reports. "Let there be no misunderstanding—we will not be intimidated," he said. "Canada will never be intimidated." The gunman—who fatally shot 24-year-old soldier Nathan Cirillo before entering Parliament—was shot dead outside an occupied caucus room and three people were hospitalized with minor injuries, including one who was shot in the foot. After earlier reports of up to two other shooters, lockdowns around Parliament and in Ottawa's downtown core have been lifted. Police say nobody else is in custody and there is no longer any threat to the public in the area, reports the AP. The National Security Council says President Obama, who publicly condemned the attack as "outrageous," has spoken with Harper and offered "any assistance" needed, CTV reports.


Here is a news article: Bernie Sanders cast himself as the natural successor to President Franklin D Roosevelt on Thursday. In his speech at georgetown university, he placed his "democratic socialism" at the heart of an American political tradition. USA TODAY

 Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at Georgetown University on Nov. 19, 2015, about democratic socialism and combating the Islamic State. (Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images)

 Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story misspelled Livia Matteucci's name.

 WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, hoping to dispel the notion that his ideas are “radical,” defined his democratic socialist political philosophy on Thursday as a belief that economic rights are essential to American values.

 Sanders, a Vermont independent running for the Democratic presidential nomination, told a packed auditorium at Georgetown University he doesn't believe the government should “take over the grocery store down the street” or own the means of production.

 But he hopes to build on the fight for economic rights led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and later by Martin Luther King Jr., who decried “socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.”

 Sanders, who has long promoted the values of Scandinavian countries, also said he would look to other countries that “have done a far better job” in protecting working families, elderly, children, sick and poor.

 “Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system which is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy,” he said during a speech that lasted more than an hour.

 Speaking six days after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Sanders called for a new organization, similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, that would allow current NATO partners, Russia and members of the Arab League to work together in confronting today’s security threats.

 Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at Georgetown University in Washington on Nov. 19, 2015. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)

 But he used the bulk of his speech to explain his political views, attempting to show how they fit within mainstream Democratic ideas. He highlighted what he believes are democratic socialist policy goals — such as health care as a right, free college tuition, investment in jobs and a living wage, and public funding of elections.

 “We need to develop a political movement which, once again, is prepared to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed is destroying our nation,” he said. “The billionaire class must be told loudly and clearly that they cannot have it all.”

 The much-awaited speech drew cheers from college students who waited in long lines in the rain to attend. The line for the 2 p.m. event began forming inside the building at 5:30 a.m.

 Livia Matteucci, 21, a psychology major from Houston, said she and other Georgetown students support ideas such as paid family leave and a higher minimum wage. But she questions whether such goals are attainable.

 “In a Congress that is so deadlocked — and I’m frustrated by it — I don’t know how it will be accomplished,” she said. “I don’t want to be cynical, but I want to be realistic.”

 Sanders, who answered questions submitted by students, said he understands that “some people are uncomfortable” with the word “socialist.”

 He said Roosevelt also fought cynicism when he “reinvigorated democracy” and “transformed our country.”

 “And, by the way, almost everything he proposed … was called “socialist,” Sanders said, drawing laughter.

 Sanders said it's time to achieve the vision for a “second Bill of Rights” that Roosevelt highlighted in his 1944 State of the Union address. The idea links economic security to the concept of freedom.

 “It is a vision that we have not yet achieved, and it is time that we did,” Sanders said.

 Follow @ngaudiano on Twitter.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1O6EyDD ||||| In a speech today at Georgetown University, Bernie Sanders laid out his vision of democratic socialism for the 21st century, and from the perspective of some lefties, he seems to have forgotten the socialism part. As Sanders himself said in the speech, "I don't believe government should own the means of production" a point that Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of the socialist magazine Jacobin, argues drains the socialist project of a crucial element of power.

 Socialists care about power — ownership and control. Missing from Sanders, but it's not a bad starting point. — Bhaskar Sunkara (@sunraysunray) November 19, 2015

 But as Daniel Schlozman, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University whose recent book When Movements Anchor Parties includes a detailed study of the origins of the New Deal coalition, points out, Sanders's project is really framed to try to bridge the gap between socialism and liberalism — to bring back a framework that was operative during the Great Depression and World War II but collapsed soon after.

 "In 1944, in his State of the Union speech, President Roosevelt outlined what he called a second Bill of Rights," Sanders said. "This is one of the most important speeches ever made by a president, but unfortunately it has not gotten the attention that it deserves."

 The speech was delivered in the middle of an enormous war that saw the United States closely allied with the Soviet Union. Consequently, Roosevelt's call for a "clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence" resonated not only with mainstream liberal Democrats but also with socialists, communists, and others on the far left of the political spectrum.

 3. Second Bill of Rights last moment when entire left -- CP, socialists, Dems -- behind a common agenda. #BernieAtGU — Daniel Schlozman (@daschloz) November 19, 2015

 As a policy agenda, it went nowhere.

 Democrats had the majority in both houses of Congress, but in practice a coalition of conservative Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans held sway.

 4. The conservative coalition -- GOP and Jim Crow Dems -- stopped 2nd Bill of Rights in its tracks, we lost moment for social democracy. — Daniel Schlozman (@daschloz) November 19, 2015

 But not only was the policy agenda halted, the political coalition that undergirded it collapsed during the Truman administration. The war between the United States and Germany ended, and the United States and USSR found themselves engaged in proxy wars in Greece and Turkey; then the United States and China were in a shooting war in Korea.

 5. And it also divided the left as Cold War battle lines hardened. @BernieSanders speech and candidacy aims to heal that breach. — Daniel Schlozman (@daschloz) November 19, 2015

 It's no coincidence that Sanders — like Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom — draws his strongest support from the youngest cohort of voters. To people under 30, the Cold War isn't even really a distant memory. It's simply an event from the past, no more directly relevant to present-day politics than World War I or the decline of the Roman Empire. That means the door that was shut back in the Truman years is opening up again. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Democratic socialism is nothing to be afraid of unless you think of FDR as a bogeyman, Bernie Sanders said in a landmark speech at Georgetown University on Thursday. "Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system [that] is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy," he said, per USA Today, explaining that he doesn't believe that "government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production." He quoted Martin Luther King Jr., who said the US has "socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor." Sanders—who said other countries "have done a far better job" in protecting the elderly, the sick, and the poor—likened the inequality in the US today to that of the Great Depression and noted that FDR was called a socialist for trying to deal with it, CNN reports. "Real freedom must include economic security," he said. "That was Roosevelt's vision 70 years ago. It is my vision today. It is a vision that we have not yet achieved. And it is time that we did." Sanders' plan isn't true socialism, but it "is really framed to try to bridge the gap between socialism and liberalism—to bring back a framework that was operative during the Great Depression and World War II but collapsed soon after," writes Matthew Yglesias at Vox. (Sanders was very pleased when Pope Francis praised a "radical Catholic activist" during his US visit.)


Article:
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, arrives for the a closed-door meeting of the committee on Capitol Hill, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018 in Washington.... (Associated Press)

 Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, arrives for the a closed-door meeting of the committee on Capitol Hill, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the probe into contacts between his campaign and Russia (all times local):

 6:15 p.m.

 The House intelligence committee has voted to release a Democratic rebuttal to a GOP memo on the Russia investigation.

 The panel vote was unanimous to make the classified Democratic document public. It now goes to President Donald Trump for a five-day review, and he will decide whether to allow its release — as he did with the Republican document last week.

 The Democratic document aims to counter the Republican document, which accused the FBI and Justice Department of abusing their authority in monitoring a onetime Trump campaign associate.

 A White House spokesman says Trump will "consider" the Democratic memo's release the same way he considered the Republican document.

 __

 9:10 a.m.

 Rep. Adam Schiff says a Twitter attack from President Donald Trump amounts to "false smears."

 Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, responded to Trump on Twitter Monday after the president called him one of the "biggest liars and leakers in Washington."

 Says Schiff: "Mr. President, I see you've had a busy morning of 'Executive Time.' Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or...really anything else."

 The California Democrat has slammed the release of a congressional memo that alleges FBI surveillance abuses in an investigation into the Trump campaign's Russia ties.

 Trump has said the GOP memo "vindicates" him. But Democratic and Republican lawmakers say that assertion is wrong.

 __

 8 a.m.

 President Donald Trump is lashing out at the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, saying he "must be stopped."

 Trump says on Twitter Monday: "Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!"

 Schiff has slammed the release of a congressional memo that alleges FBI surveillance abuses in an investigation into the Trump campaign's Russia ties. The California Democrat said on ABC Sunday that it was a "political hit job."

 Trump has said the GOP memo "vindicates" him. But Democratic and Republican lawmakers say that assertion is wrong.

 Schiff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 ___

 12:30 a.m.

 Some lawmakers doubt President Donald Trump's claim that a Republican-produced classified memo on FBI surveillance powers clears him in the Russia investigation.

 And that's both Democrats and Republicans who feel that way.

 They also expressed hope that special counsel Robert Mueller's work would continue without interference. Democrats could seek a vote on publicly releasing their rebuttal memo when the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee meets late Monday afternoon.

 The committee rejected that move last week. The Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, urged Trump to back the public release and said refusing to do so would show the president's intent to undermine the Russia investigation. ||||| The Democratic memo is expected to remain secret while the president reviews it, but its lead author, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), has said it will provide a point-by-point rebuttal to the Republican version. | Win McNamee/Getty Images House panel backs release of Democrats' memo on FBI

 The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously Monday in favor of publicly releasing a classified memo that Democrats say undermines allegations by President Donald Trump and his allies that the FBI abused its spying powers while investigating his campaign.

 Trump has five days to review the request to release the memo, which was written by committee Democrats.

 Story Continued Below

 Democrats have clamored to release their memo since last week, when Republicans decided to make public their own classified document over the objections of the FBI.

 Republicans’ memo, spearheaded by committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), claimed the FBI relied on a disputed dossier compiled by a former British spy to convince a court in October 2016 to grant a surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. They said FBI agents improperly failed to disclose that the spy, Christopher Steele, had been financed by the campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee for the research.

 But Democrats have said — and some Republicans have acknowledged — that the FBI did mention a potential political bias in its application, though it didn't specify Clinton or the DNC.

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 Democrats say Trump’s allies are trying to discredit the FBI to harm special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and whether any of the president’s associates were involved.

 The Democratic memo is expected to remain secret while Trump reviews it, but its lead author, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), has said it will provide a point-by-point rebuttal to the Republican version. Trump could attempt to block it from being made public; the White House said Monday it would “entertain” the request to release it.

 Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said they endorsed the release of the Democratic memo in a nod to transparency, but one lawmaker, Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) said the Schiff memo will only further "muddy the water" surrounding the Russia investigation. He called the claims in the Democratic memo inaccurate "for a million different reasons."

 "But I am all for letting the people see it and decide for themselves," he added.

 Rooney said he hoped Trump would support the release of the memo as he did for Republicans' and that he didn't see much that would need to be redacted.

 Schiff told reporters that Democrats had already provided copies of their memo to the FBI and Justice Department for review, a step he noted Republicans refused to take. He said he wants to ensure that any redactions to the memo are made by professional at those agencise rather than by the White House "for political purposes."

 Schiff also complained that Nunes declined, once again, to reveal whether the White House had any role in developing the GOP memo. He said Nunes denied the administration had a role in "drafting" the document but repeatedly declined to answer questions about other possible influence by the White House.

 Nunes spokesman Jack Langer rejected the idea that the White House had any influence over the memo.

 “The idea that the White House had any input whatsoever in the conception or writing of the memo is a totally false claim perpetuated by the Democrats and, as usual, dutifully reported by Politico,” he said in a statement.

 In a transcript of a committee meeting last week, Nunes was asked by Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) whether the White House had any role in the GOP memo and he said "as far as I know, no." He declined to answer further questions when pressed by Quigley.

  |||||Summary:

– President Trump has one more big decision to make in regard to "the memo." The House intelligence panel on Monday voted unanimously to make public the Democratic rebuttal to the GOP's memo on the Russia investigation. As with the original memo, the president now has five days to review it and decide whether to allow its release, reports the AP. Will he do so? A tweet Trump sent earlier on Monday about the lead Democrat on the panel, Adam Schiff, raises doubts about the prospect, notes the Washington Post. Trump accused Schiff of leaving committee hearings to "illegally leak confidential information" and said he "must be stopped." Schiff has previously asserted that the Republican memo is misleading and intended mainly to discredit the Robert Mueller investigation. He and his staffers compiled the 10-page rebuttal memo in question, and Schiff has said it presents a point-by-point refutation of the Republican version, reports Politico. The GOP memo made the case that the FBI and the Justice Department were politically biased against candidate Trump and improperly obtained permission to spy on his campaign.


Tamerlan Tsarnaev, shown in a 2009 arrest photo, sought early last year to change his first name to Muaz, after slain Dagestan rebel fighter Emir Muaz. (Cambridge (Mass.) Police Department)

 WASHINGTON — Less than three months before the Boston Marathon bombings, a bitter, frustrated Tamerlan Tsarnaev visited a federal immigration office in the Boston area and signed forms seeking to legally change his first name.

 Eager to recast himself in the model of a well-known rebel figure killed by Russian forces in 2009, Tsarnaev chose as his new name "Muaz," according to a previously undisclosed Homeland Security Department petition form, which was obtained by The Times. It was not only a tribute to Emir Muaz, a celebrated fighter in Russia's Dagestan republic, it was also the nickname rebels had given Tsarnaev during his six-month visit to the region in 2012, law enforcement officials say.

 Asked as part of the Jan. 23, 2013, application to explain his name change request, Tsarnaev described the decision in political terms, according to a federal law enforcement official close to the Boston bombing case. "He said, 'The Russian people have been terrorizing my home country for all these years.' This is why he needed to come back to America and help," the official said.

 A year after twin explosive-laden backpacks killed three people and injured more than 260 others at the Boston Marathon, the name-change petition is part of a growing body of evidence that portrays Tsarnaev as more radical and organized than previously believed.

 Defense attorneys for his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, say the older sibling may have been set off by what he believed was FBI pressure and attempts to recruit him as an informant.

 The emerging picture of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed as U.S. agents tried to arrest him days after the bombings, is likely to play a key role in the upcoming defense of his brother. Attorneys for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are expected to argue that his brother took the lead role in what became the worst domestic terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

 U.S. authorities believe Tamerlan was deeply radicalized during his 2012 visit to Dagestan, which, along with adjoining Chechnya, is home to an Islamist insurgent movement. They say he made an unsuccessful attempt to join the rebels and was either sent back to the U.S. to carry out a terrorist strike or took it upon himself.

 "You've got to be pretty full into this to want to change your name and not be just a nobody named Tamerlan," said the law enforcement source, who requested anonymity because the case is ongoing. "Maybe he thought because he could not get accepted over there, maybe he could do something here."

 At the bottom of the name-change form, Tsarnaev was advised that he would be required to take an oath of allegiance to the United States, including potentially serving in the U.S. armed forces. Rather than sign that part, he printed his name, then crossed out "Tamerlan" and changed it to "Muaz."

 Tsarnaev's anger toward the U.S. was fueled by what he perceived as pressure from American law enforcement agents to work for them, according to his brother's defense attorneys.

 Though the FBI has said that it met once with Tsarnaev to discuss his visit to the Caucasus region, lawyers for his brother claimed in court filings March 28 that federal agents interviewed him multiple times, a process that they said increased his anger against the U.S.

 In 2011, the Russian government asked the FBI to check on Tsarnaev, warning he might be preparing to travel to the Caucasus region. The FBI said it ran a series of checks, spoke with him and his parents, and reported back to Moscow that it had uncovered no links to terrorism.

 But according to his brother's lawyers, the FBI's involvement went further. They said in court papers that there was "more than one" FBI visit to talk with Tsarnaev and his parents, that he was questioned about his Internet searches, and that the bureau "asked him to be an informant."

 "Tamerlan misinterpreted the visits and discussions with the FBI as pressure, and they amounted to a stressor that increased his paranoia and distress," defense attorneys argued in the filings.

 Federal prosecutors, however, told defense attorneys in a March 14 letter that they had "no evidence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was solicited by the government to be an informant." They did not comment on whether there were multiple FBI visits.

 The image of Tsarnaev as a more radicalized fighter fits with the conclusion of a House Committee on Homeland Security report last month, which said he returned to the U.S. in 2012 with a near-manic desire to strike out against the U.S., evidenced in tirades he carried out at local mosques.

 Signs of his radicalization also included a YouTube account he posted under his name that included Russian-language videos on Islam and play lists of militant videos he compiled, the committee report said.

 The new revelations about Tsarnaev have prompted defense lawyers for his brother to characterize him as the key player who "supplied the motivation, planning and ideology behind the Boston Marathon attack," according to recent filings.

 Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to using a weapon of mass destruction and other federal charges. If convicted at his trial this fall, he faces a death sentence.

 His attorneys say Tamerlan "induced or coerced" Dzhokhar to take part in the attack and that the younger brother "acted under his domination and control."

 J. Reid Meloy, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, who has worked on notable terrorist cases including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, said an "undue or coercive behavior" defense can be hard to prove and difficult to sell to a jury.

 In an interview, Meloy said that one of the few examples in which it worked was the 2002 Washington-area sniper case in which 10 people were killed and three injured. An adult killer was put to death, while his teenage protege, who looked up to him as a mentor and father figure, was given life in prison without parole.

 "In my view of the evidence in the Boston case, I find no indication that the younger man had a psychiatric disorder," Meloy said. But he added, "It now seems very clear that this may be the most viable and convenient defense for the younger Tsarnaev."

 richard.serrano@latimes.com ||||| Lawyers for accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev asserted Friday that his older brother and alleged accomplice had been encouraged by the FBI to be an informant and to report on the Chechen and Muslim community, according to court records.

 “We seek this information based on our belief that these contacts were among the precipitating events for Tamerlan’s actions during the week of April 15, 2013, and thus material to the defense case in mitigation,” the lawyers said in their court filing.

 “We base this on information from our client’s family and other sources that the FBI made more than one visit to talk with Anzor [his father], Zubeidat [his mother] and Tamerlan, questioned Tamerlan about his Internet searches, and asked him to be an informant, reporting on the Chechen and Muslim community.

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 “We do not suggest that these contacts are to be blamed and have no evidence to suggest that they were improper, but rather view them as an important part of the story of Tamerlan’s decline. Since Tamerlan is dead, the government is the source of corroboration that these visits did in fact occur and of what was said during them.”

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 The lawyers suggested that Tamerlan Tsarnaev could have misinterpreted his interactions with the FBI as pressure from the agency, and that they could have “increased his paranoia and distress.”

 The defense wants to investigate those factors as it seeks to portray Tamerlan as a dominating family figure who may have pushed the younger Dzhokhar to take part in the April 15 bombings last year. Tamerlan was killed days after the bombings in a confrontation with police in Watertown.

 The lawyers’ allegation, based on conversations with family members and other sources, was made in a 23-page court filing Friday in which the lawyers sought a court order forcing prosecutors to turn over more evidence in the case.

 Specifically, they want additional evidence about Tamerlan’s radical views, which would be useful in the lawyers’ defense against the death penalty.

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 Lawyers argued that, now that prosecutors have declared they will seek capital punishment, Dzhokar should be allowed to present evidence of mitigating factors that would tilt a jury against the death penalty.

 Those factors include evidence about his age at the time of the bombings, which was 19, his lack of criminal history, and the possible influence of others, specifically a radical older brother, court records said.

 “The underlying data concerning the brothers’ activities, state of mind, and respective trajectories is critical,” the defense said. “Evidence that shows Tamerlan to have had a substantially longer and deeper engagement than his younger brother with extremist and violent ideology is mitigating for the light that it sheds on their relative culpability.”

 Prosecutors did not immediately respond to the defense request, though defense lawyers conceded that they have a March 14, 2014, letter in which prosecutors said they had “no evidence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was solicited by the government to be an informant.”

 Although the FBI does not comment on court matters, the bureau cited a statement Friday that it made Oct. 18, 2013, which said, “The Tsarnaev brothers were never sources for the FBI, nor did the FBI attempt to recruit them as sources.”

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 Dzokhar Tsarnaev, now 20, faces a 30-count indictment in his alleged role in the bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260. He and Tamerlan also allegedly shot and killed an MIT police officer before the confrontation with police in Watertown.

 Tsarnaev is being held at the federal prison at Fort Devens in Ayer. He is slated to go to trial in November.

 Prosecutors have described him as a young Muslim extremist who wanted to carry out jihad, or holy war, against the United States. They alleged the brothers learned to build the bombs through websites that supported Al Qaeda.

 In court requests filed late Friday, the defense lawyers sought a court order to force prosecutors to turn over a list of records, including reports related to the fatal shooting of MIT police Officer Sean Collier, the Watertown confrontation, and any evidence that an MBTA police officer was shot by fellow officers, rather than by Dzokhar Tsarnaev, who the lawyers say was unarmed.

 The request also targets records of the brothers’ Internet searches.

 One of the court requests asked for any information prosecutors collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act including any surveillance of Tamerlan’s return visits to Dagestan and the Chechnya region before the bombings.

 A recent US House of Representatives homeland security report indicated FBI officials in Moscow may have collected “electronic communication” between Tamerlan and a jihadist named William Plotnikov.

 “Any surveillance, evidence, or interviews showing that Tamerlan’s pursuit of jihad predated Dzhokhar’s would tend to support the theory that Tamerlan was the main instigator of the tragic events that followed,” the defense lawyers argued.

 The lawyers are also seeking the immigration records of Tsarnaev’s family members, including his mother, father, and brother.

 His father, Anzor, sought the family’s asylum in fleeing torture in Kyrgyzstan close to two decades ago, and the defense lawyers argued that the records would illustrate Tsarnaev’s family history.

 They also said that Tamerlan’s immigration records could yield more evidence about his encounters with federal authorities, specifically after his visits to Dagestan that caught the attention of Russian officials.

 The lawyers said they plan to argue that the unknowns about Tsarnaev’s “formative environment and relative moral culpability” and the possible “psychological domination” by his brother would support their case against the death penalty.

 Globe correspondent Haven Orecchio-Egresitz contributed to this report. Milton J. Valencia can be reached at MValencia@globe.com. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– On Jan. 23, 2013, less than three months before the Boston Marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was ready to reinvent himself. He applied that day to change his first name to "Muaz," in honor of a rebel from Russia's Dagestan republic who was killed by Russian forces in 2009. Muaz was also the nickname bestowed upon Tsarnaev when he visited Dagestan in 2012, officials say. The previously unreleased name change application was recently obtained from the Department of Homeland Security by the Los Angeles Times. The reason Tsarnaev gave for changing his name, according to an official who spoke to the Times: "He said, 'The Russian people have been terrorizing my home country for all these years.' This is why he needed to come back to America and help." This detail, and others that are emerging, paint the elder Tsarnaev as more radical than he was originally believed to be—and defense attorneys for younger brother Dzhokhar are likely to use that picture in court, to argue that Tamerlan was the leader and coerced his brother to participate. Dzhokhar's lawyers have argued that Tamerlan may have become increasingly "distressed" after the FBI interviewed him about the trip to Dagestan, possibly believing the bureau was pressuring him "to be an informant, reporting on the Chechen and Muslim community," the Boston Globe reported last month.


Article:
Those of you who were hoping the Apple Watch would usher in a new era of flatulence apps, prepare to be disappointed: Apple has already rejected the first app that serves no purpose other than to allow people to make fart sounds from their wrist.

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 Back in March, we reported on Fart Watch, the first Apple Watch fart app. Like a glorified whoopee cushion, the idea was that you put your iPhone underneath someone’s seat cushion, then used your Apple Watch as a remote to let a fart rip by pushing a big blinking “Fart” button on your wrist.

 “Sadly,” it appears that Fart Watch, and by extension other farting apps, are not welcome on the App Store. The developer of Fart Watch reached out to us to let us know that Apple had rejected his app, for the following reasons:

 2.11 – Apps that duplicate Apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra Apps 8.1 – Apps must comply with all terms and conditions explained in the Guidelines for Using Apple Trademarks and Copyrights and the Apple Trademark List 2.11 Details We noticed that your Apple Watch app is primarily a fart app. We do not accept fart apps on Apple Watch.

 Not that the world needs another farting app, but it’s surprising to see Apple taking such a strong stance on the matter when there are so many fart apps on the iPhone. Then again, it’s hard to sell something like the Apple Watch as a luxe fashion accessory when celebrities like Pharrel and Beyoncé are using their Apple Watches to fart on command.

 In the meantime, the developer of Fart Watch says he is already planning another Apple Watch business: WatchPops, a type of bling for your Apple Watch strap. You can sign up to be notified when it launches here. ||||| Smartwatches and fart apps are basically a match made in heaven: a remotely-triggered Whoopee cushion, basically. But Apple disagrees: putrid, fart-based comedy goes against the sophisticated, elegant image it’s promoting for The Watch.

 Apple’s dislike for fart apps was disclosed through its rejection of the (creatively named) Fart Watch app, which did exactly what it says on the tin. But the submission was rejected with this blunt notice from Apple, as Cult of Mac reports:

 2.11 – Apps that duplicate Apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra Apps 8.1 – Apps must comply with all terms and conditions explained in the Guidelines for Using Apple Trademarks and Copyrights and the Apple Trademark List 2.11 Details We noticed that your Apple Watch app is primarily a fart app. We do not accept fart apps on Apple Watch.

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 It’s probably just a matter of time until someone jailbreaks the Watch, and sideloading galore can begin. But until that momentous day arrives, you’re just going to have to hang onto your Whoopee cushions. [Cult of Mac] |||||Summary:

– Fart jokes are available on 3,000-year-old Sumerian stone tablets but apparently not on Apple's latest piece of 21st-century technology. The developer of Fart Watch, a whoopee cushion-inspired app that boasts it can "turn your Apple Watch and iPhone into a remote-controlled fart machine," tells Cult of Mac that Apple told him it had been rejected, because the company noticed it "is primarily a fart app" and "we do not accept fart apps on Apple Watch." It appears that fart apps go against the "sophisticated, elegant image" Apple wants for the watch, writes Chris Mills at Gizmodo, but it's "probably just a matter of time until someone jailbreaks the Watch, and sideloading galore can begin." (A French inventor says he can make farts smell like roses—or chocolate.)


Article:
Mississippi, Alabama and other Southern states are among the most highly religious states in the nation, while New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine in New England are among the least devout, according to some of the key measures used to determine levels of religiosity in the Pew Research Center’s most recent Religious Landscape Study.

 To begin, select a state to see where it ranks in terms of overall religiosity. In exploring the interactive it is important to keep in mind that differences between two states may not always be statistically significant due to the margins of error that are inherent in this survey data.

 There are many potential ways of defining what it means to be religious, but for the purposes of this analysis, we looked at four common measures of religious observance: worship attendance, prayer frequency, belief in God and the self-described importance of religion in one’s life. The interactive tool above allows you to rank the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia by each of these measures – and by the percentage of adults in each state who are “highly religious” overall.

 What does it mean to be “highly religious”? In our analysis, this includes any adult who reports at least two of four highly observant behaviors – attending religious services at least weekly, praying at least daily, believing in God with absolute certainty and saying that religion is very important to them — while not reporting a low level of religious observance in any of these areas, such as seldom or never attending religious services, seldom or never praying, not believing in God and saying that religion is “not too” or “not at all” important in their life. We also define a person as “highly religious” if they report three highly religious behaviors and a low level of religiosity on a fourth measure.

 In Alabama and Mississippi, 77% of residents are highly religious by this definition. In both states, for instance, 82% believe in God with absolute certainty. In addition, three-quarters of Mississippians say they pray at least once a day and 77% of Alabama residents say religion is very important in their lives.

 Meanwhile, only about a third of people in New Hampshire (33%), Massachusetts (33%), Vermont (34%) and Maine (34%) qualify as highly religious by these criteria. Roughly one-in-five residents of these states report attending religious services at least weekly, and roughly half or fewer say they are certain of God’s existence.

 Topics: Religion and Society, Religious Affiliation, Religious Beliefs and Practices ||||| Across America, states and regions differ in terms of their cultures, foods and accents. But one of the biggest distinguishing features is how religion impacts the people of each place.

 While religion is widespread across the country, the share of adults for whom religion is extremely important to their lives varies greatly between states. In the most religious state, 77% of the population are highly religious compared with 33% in the least religious.

 Christianity is by far the most common religion in the United States, with 70% of Americans identifying as Christian. To break it down further, 25% or Americans are evangelical, 21% are Catholic, 15% are mainline Protestant, and 6% are Protestant. States that are more evangelical tend to be more deeply religious overall.

 Despite the high levels of Christianity, the fastest-growing religious affiliation is actually no religion at all. The percentage of adults who are religiously unaffiliated adults grew in every state except for one, and it was the fastest growing ideology in almost every state for which there was data.

 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a 2014 Pew Research Center survey of all 50 states and their religious makeup. Using data from Pew, 24/7 Wall St. ranked states based on how highly religious their populations are. The study also determined the importance of religion residents’ lives, worship attendance, frequency of prayer, and the belief in God.

 To identify the most and least religious states, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a 2014 Pew Research Center survey of all 50 states and their religious makeup. Using data from Pew, 24/7 Wall St. ranked states based on how highly religious their populations are. Religion’s importance in one’s life, worship attendance, frequency of prayer, and the belief in God were also used in the determination. Trends were determined by comparing the percentage of adherents to the religion in a previous survey conducted in 2007. Pew surveyed more than 35,000 Americans. 24/7 Wall st. reviewed median age and the percentage of residents 65 and over from the American Community Survey.

 Click here to see the most religious states.

 Click here to see the least religious states. |||||Summary:

– Being able to freely turn to whatever higher power one chooses (or none at all) is one of the principles America was founded on, but in some states, residents take their religion more seriously than others. A Pew Research Center survey from 2014 was placed under the 24/7 Wall St. microscope to determine which states were most and least religious, and Mississippi took the No. 1 slot, while New Hampshire fell at the bottom. Christianity is the most common US religion (70% of Americans identify as such), but those who don't adhere to any religion are the fastest-growing segment, with the percentage of "religiously unaffiliated" adults increasing in all states except for one. See which states are most pious and which aren't as wrapped up in worship:


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By

 An English historian has come across the word ‘fuck’ in a court case dating to the year 1310, making it the earliest known reference to the swear word.

 Dr Paul Booth of Keele University spotted the name in ‘Roger Fuckebythenavele’ in the Chester county court plea rolls beginning on December 8, 1310. The man was being named three times part of a process to be outlawed, with the final mention coming on September 28, 1311.

 Dr Booth believes that “this surname is presumably a nickname. I suggest it could either mean an actual attempt at copulation by an inexperienced youth, later reported by a rejected girlfriend, or an equivalent of the word ‘dimwit’ i.e. a man who might think that that was the correct way to go about it.”

 Prior to Dr. Booth’s discovery, the previous earliest use of the word was in them poem Flen flyys, written around 1475. It had a line that read “fvccant vvivys of heli”, a Latin/English mix meaning “…they fuck the wives of Ely”. Historians have come across earlier uses of the word in medieval England, but have doubted that it was being used as a sexual reference. For example, the name John le Fucker appears in 1278, but this likely could be just a different spelling for the word ‘fulcher’ which means soldier.

 In his book, The F Word, Jesse Sheidlower explains “fuck is a word of Germanic origin. It is related to words in several other Germanic languages, such as Dutch, German, and Swedish, that have sexual meanings as well as meaning such as ‘to strike’ or ‘to move back and forth’.”

 Dr Paul Booth is the Honouray Senior Research Fellow in History at Keele University and Co-Director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Project: Gascon Rolls, 1317-1468. He plans on publishing an article about his discovery in the journal Notes and Queries.

 See also: By God’s Bones: Medieval Swear Words ||||| 19th Century drawing by Jean Frédéric Maximilien de Waldeck via The British Museum

 A historian in the UK just made an exciting discovery that's changing our understanding of the word "fuck."

 Paul Booth, an honorary senior research fellow in history at Keele University, was recently digging around in the Chester county court plea rolls from December 8, 1310—and really, who hasn't dug around in there? That was when he came upon three write-ups from the court clerk, telling the sad story of a guy with the unenviable name of Roger Fuckebythenavele, or seemingly: "Roger the Navel-Fucker."

 According to Themedievalists.org "fuck" popped up seemingly by accident in 1278 as part of a translation of the German word "fulcher," meaning soldier. That really wouldn't count. This, on the other hand, would be the first instance of the word being used the way we use it today, beating out recent discoveries like the one from around 1475, or one found last year from 1528.

 Here is Roger the Navel-Fucker's story in its entirety, courtesy of the UK's National Archives.

 1. County court of Chester, held on Tuesday after the feast of St Nicholas, 4 Edw. II, before Payn Tibotot, justiciar of Chester (8th December, 1310) A man called "Roger Fuckebythenavele" was exacted for the first time [the process preliminary to outlawry].

 2. County court of Chester, held on Tuesday after the feast of the Ascension, 4 Edw. II, before Payn Tibotot, justiciar of Chester (25th May, 1311) Roger Fukkebythenavele, exacted.

 3. County court of Chester, held on Tuesday the vigil of Michaelmas, 5 Edw. II, before Payn Tibotot, justiciar of Chester (28th September, 1311) Roger Fuckebythenavel', outlawed.

 What just happened to poor Roger? Granted, being "outlawed," means banished, but why the horrible moniker? Was the court clerk just being a dick, or is that Roger's real last name? To find out, we got in touch with Paul Booth, the guy who made the discovery, to ask for his expert opinion on what all this means.

 VICE: What's the significance of this discovery?

 Paul Booth: The significance is the occurrence of (possibly) the earliest known use of the word "fuck" that clearly has a sexual connotation.

 What were you doing when you found this?

 Part of what I am doing in my retirement is to study the legal records of Cheshire for the turbulent reign of Edward II (1307-27), which are extremely rich. This name simply popped out of the parchment. Roger had failed to answer at the county court, is being solemnly summoned ('exacted') and finally outlawed.

 Was the clerk cracking a joke, figuring that Roger would never know about it?

 As the name is written three times—spelled slightly differently each time—it is unlikely to be the case of the clerk just inserting a joke name, I think. Even if it were, that does not take away the significance of the use of the word 'fuck' in a name.

 So could it be his real name?

 If it is a real name—a nickname, presumably—there seem to me to be two possible explanations for its application to Roger. First, that it applies to an actual event—a clumsy attempt at sexual intercourse by an 'Inexperienced Copulator' (my name for Roger), revealed to the world by a revengeful former girlfriend. Fourteenth-century revenge porn perhaps? Or it could be a rather elaborate way of describing someone regarded as a "halfwit"—i.e., that is the way that he would think of performing the sexual act.

 Will this instance end up in the Oxford English Dictionary?

 I have told the OED about it, and it's up to them what they will do. You might like to ask them, and let me know what they say.

 Got any other great curse word stories from digging through these archives?

 I haven't come across any other names of this type myself, but my pal at Keele, Dr. Philip Morgan, tells me of names such as Hunfridus de aureo testiculo—Humphrey of the golden testicle, and Rogerus deus salvat feminas—Roger God-save-women, as well as the Winchester tenant, Alwin Clawecunt—speaks for itself.

 Follow Mike Pearl on Twitter. |||||

– What's in a name? Just a crass term that's endured for centuries, if this holds any water. An English history researcher says he's spotted the earliest-known "f-word" on record in court documents from 1310, the Telegraph reports. Paul Booth came upon a reference to "Roger F***ebythenavele"—likely the guy's nickname, Booth says—while analyzing court records during the stormy rule of Edward II (1307-27). The name is "written clearly, and three times, and I think that shows it's not a joke," says Booth. Looks like F***ebythenavele was summoned twice to court in Cheshire, in December of 1310 and May of 1311, and finally outlawed on September 28, 1311. A court clerk might have altered the guy's name for fun, Booth admits, but short of that he sees two explanations. "First, that it applies to an actual event—a clumsy attempt at sexual intercourse by an 'Inexperienced Copulator' (my name for Roger), revealed to the world by a revengeful former girlfriend," he tells Vice.com. "Fourteenth-century revenge porn perhaps?" Or it might be an "elaborate way of describing someone regarded as a 'halfwit'—ie, that is the way that he would think of performing the sexual act." Before this, the earliest f-word on record was the phrase (translated from a Latin/English mix) "…they f**k the wives of Ely" from the poem "Flen flyys," circa 1475, Medievalists.net reports. The word has Germanic roots and is related to words that have "sexual meanings as well as meaning[s] such as 'to strike' or 'to move back and forth,'" writes Jesse Sheidlower in his book The F Word.


Media caption The teenagers were last seen at a busy hitch-hiking spot, from where Yolande Knell reports

 Israel has vowed retribution against Hamas, the militant Palestinian group it says kidnapped and murdered three teenagers in the occupied West Bank.

 The bodies of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were found on Monday evening, after they had been missing for more than a fortnight.

 Israel PM Benyamin Netanyahu said: "Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay." Hamas denies any involvement.

 Israel launched more than 30 air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight.

 The strikes came in response to 18 rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza since Sunday night, the Israeli military said.

 Israeli troops also flooded into the Palestinian town of Halhul. The bodies were found under a pile of rocks near the town. An Israeli official said it appeared the teenagers were shot soon after their abduction.

 Israel named two suspects as Ayoub al-Kawasma and Abu Aisheh. The Israeli military said it set off explosives while raiding the homes of both.

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Israeli soldiers detonated explosives at the homes of two Hamas suspects

 Pictures showed extensive damage at the home of Abu Aisheh.

 One Palestinian was also shot dead after throwing an explosive device at Israeli forces carrying out an operation in the West Bank town of Jenin early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said.

 Analysis, by Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Jerusalem

 Israel's overnight air raids on Hamas targets in Gaza were an immediate response to a wave of missile attacks launched from the Palestinian enclave since Sunday.

 They should not be seen as a definitive response to the abduction and murder of the three teenage boys whose fate has transfixed this country over the course of the last two-and-a-half weeks.

 In keeping with Jewish religious custom the funerals will take place on Tuesday - and only when they have passed and the outpouring of national grief they will prompt has died down will Israel's governments finalise its military and political plans.

 Having firmly focused the blame for the murders on Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to demonstrate to the Israeli public that his response will be calibrated to match the huge sense of anger and outrage that is felt here.

 In the past, Israel has used targeted missile attacks to kill senior members of militant groups and it has the military capacity to target Hamas's stockpiles of missiles and rockets in a sustained campaign.

 And it will have a clear political goal too. Israel was angered by the creation of a Palestinian unity government which brought together Hamas with the Palestinian Authority, whose forces helped to look for the victims.

 Hamas said Israel was using the abductions "story" to justify a war on Palestinians.

 Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that if Israeli forces "carry out an escalation or a war, they will open the gates of hell on themselves".

 Media caption Vigils were held after the discovery of the bodies, as Yolande Knell reports

 'Action not words'

 The deaths of the students, who were last seen at a junction between Hebron and Jerusalem as they hitchhiked home, has sparked international condemnation.

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The abductions of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach sparked a massive search operation

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption A memorial service was held near the United Nations headquarters in New York

 Israeli security forces have set up blockades and closed down whole areas around Halhul, a few kilometres from where the teenagers were last seen.

 Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett wrote on Facebook: "Murderers of children and those who direct them cannot be forgiven. Now is a time for actions, not words."

 The teenagers' funerals, which will be held on Tuesday afternoon, will be the focus of intense grief and national anger, says the BBC's Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly.

 Late on Monday, rockets were launched from Gaza into south Israel. Israel then began air strikes against militant sites in the Gaza Strip.

 The ministry of health in Gaza said at least four people were wounded when an air strike hit a police station in central Gaza.

 Hamas and Islamic Jihad training facilities were also targeted, local sources said.

 Air strikes on electricity stations also caused widespread blackouts.

 A BBC reporter in Gaza says that Hamas denies carrying out the rocket attacks.

 'We wanted peace'

 Israel's Deputy Defence Minister, Dan Danon, told the BBC that Hamas "must pay a price".

 Media caption Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev: "All Israel is united in mourning"

 "We have to say it very clear if you kill innocent children on the way back from school, you cannot continue to work with us as usual," he said.

 Hamas has denied being behind the teenagers' abductions or deaths.

 Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused Israel of "trying to take advantage" of the situation "to open war against our people". He warned that Israel would "pay a price" for any "aggression".

 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called an emergency meeting of the Palestinian leadership.

 His spokesman Abdallah Abdallah expressed "regret" for the deaths. "We wanted peace to be created in this part of the world so no mother or no family will be bereaved for the loss of their beloved ones, Palestinian or Israeli."

 The disappearance of the teenagers on 12 June sparked a huge search operation in Palestinian towns and cities across the West Bank.

 More than 400 Palestinians were arrested, while five were killed by Israeli troops.

 Mr Netanyahu has said the incident is a consequence of "the partnership" between Hamas and the Fatah movement of Mr Abbas.

 The two signed a reconciliation deal in April after years of division and formed a unity government last month. ||||| Story highlights Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas is responsible, "will pay"

 Israel has arrested hundreds, demolished homes, closed institutions, he adds

 A little-known group supporting the "Islamic State" claims responsibility for teens' deaths

 The 3 teens are remembered as "gifted, pure, honest and decent" at their funeral

 Mourning three Israeli teenagers at their funeral Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his nation will avenge their deaths at "the hands of evil men" and show its strength in the process.

 "Throughout the history of our people, we have proved time and again -- in view of the horrors that we have experienced, the grief and sorrow -- the force of life that pulsates within us overcomes the forces of death," he said in Hebrew, according to a CNN translation.

 The Israeli leader lamented the killings of the three "gifted, pure, honest and decent teens," bloodshed that he said shows "a broad moral gulf (that) separates us from our enemies."

 "They sanctify death, we sanctify life," Netanyahu said, comparing the teens to those who killed them. "They sanctify cruelty, and we mercy and compassion. That is the secret of our strength."

 A short time later -- after the burials of Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frankel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, by each other in Modiin -- the Prime Minister spoke again about the three before a security cabinet meeting, saying, "May God avenge their blood."

 6 photos: Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers 6 photos: Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers – Mourners of Eyal Yifrach, 19, attend his funeral outside his house in Elad, Israel, on Tuesday, July 1. The bodies of Yifrach and two other Israeli teenagers, Naftali Frankel and Gilad Shaar, were found a day earlier after they were abducted last month on their way home from school in the West Bank. Hide Caption 1 of 6 6 photos: Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers – Avi and Rachel Frankel attend the funeral of their son, Naftali, in the West Bank settlement of Nof Ayalon on July 1. He was 16. Hide Caption 2 of 6 6 photos: Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers – Friends of Naftali Frankel attend his funeral service. Hide Caption 3 of 6 6 photos: Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers – Mourners gather around the body of Gilad Shaar, 16, during his funeral ceremony July 1 in Talmon, West Bank. Hide Caption 4 of 6 6 photos: Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers – A young man grieves during Shaar's funeral. Hide Caption 5 of 6 6 photos: Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers Israel mourns 3 dead teenagers – People hold Israeli flags during Shaar's funeral procession in Hashmonaim, West Bank. Hide Caption 6 of 6

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 "Whoever was involved in the kidnapping and the murder will bear the consequences," Netanyahu said Tuesday evening. "We will neither rest nor slacken until we reach the last of them. And It does not matter where they will try to hide."

 These actions are well underway. The Israeli leader noted that, already, hundreds of Hamas activists have been arrested, dozens of institutions in Gaza have closed and homes have been demolished.

 This is along with stepped-up airstrikes in Gaza -- Palestinian land controlled by Hamas, a militant Islamic organization that denied it is behind the abductions.

 The Israeli military said it launched 34 strikes targeting terror infrastructure targets since Sunday evening in response to 18 rockets from Gaza.

 The Palestinian Cabinet on Tuesday claimed 12 Palestinians have been killed since the military operation to find the teens began June 13; it did not identify them by name, nor detail how or when they died.

 CNN reported earlier, citing Palestinian medical sources, that at least one man died from a heart attack during a raid on his West Bank home last month; at least five were killed in clashes with the Israeli military; and two men accused by the Israeli military of being involved in recent rocket attacks were killed in an airstrike last week in Gaza.

 Addressing "all of those who are ... happy at our sadness," Israeli President Shimon Peres warned at Tuesday's funeral, "Terror is a boomerang."

 "I know that we will eventually get our hands on the murderers," Peres said, "and they will be punished."

 Israeli leader: 'Hamas will pay'

 The bodies of Yifrach, Shaar and Frankel were found Monday, nearly three weeks after their abduction while hitchhiking home from school in the West Bank.

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 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah party and is based in the West Bank, has condemned the abductions, even as the Palestinian Cabinet has criticized what it calls "Israel's illegal measures" in response.

 Yet Mark Negev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, suggested Monday that Abbas' Palestinian Authority bears some responsibility for what happened because "the terrorists came from areas under Palestinian Authority control and returned to territories under Palestinian Authority control."

 Still, while Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are clearly feeling the pressure, it's nothing compared to that facing Hamas Just listen to Netanyahu on Tuesday evening: "Hamas is responsible. Hamas will pay, and Hamas will continue to pay."

 The Israel Defense Forces named two men -- Marwan Kawasme and Omar Abu Aysha -- as the "Hamas terrorists who kidnapped" the boys. Their West Bank homes were destroyed overnight.

 Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported Tuesday that a little-known group called Ansar as-Dawla al-Islamiya (Supporters of the Islamic State) had claimed responsibility for the killings and threatened to "slaughter" the Palestinian Authority. CNN could not independently verify the claim.

 Hamas has made no such claim. Still, as it bears the brunt of the retaliation, the group warned that if Netanyahu "brings a war on Gaza, the gates of hell will open to him."

 Obama: Israel, Palestinian Authority should work together

 The teens' kidnappings and killings -- as well as the Israeli response -- have spurred strong reactions well outside the Middle East, including among U.S. politicians, New York's mayor and the Vatican.

 The advocacy group Human Rights Watch, for instance, said the killings "would amount to a war crime if committed by an armed group" even as it urged Israel to avoid "collective punishment."

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 British Prime Minister David Cameron has called the teens' deaths "an appalling and inexcusable act of terror."

 U.S. President Barack Obama similarly condemned what he called a "senseless act of terror against innocent youth." He reiterated "our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice."

 "And I encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue working together in that effort," Obama said. "I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation."

 READ: Who were the teens killed?

 Opinion: Slain teens call for justice, not escalation ||||| Bodies of three abducted students found in a shallow grave near Hebron, but Hamas denies involvement in murders

 Israeli jets and helicopters launched dozens of air strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight on Monday, just hours after the bodies of three abducted Israeli teenagers were found in a shallow grave near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

 The air strikes, ostensibly in response to an ongoing barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, came after the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, vowed the militant Islamist group Hamas, blamed by Israel for the kidnapping, would "pay a heavy price".

 The United Nations human rights office urged on Tuesday all Israelis and Palestinians to exercise "maximum restraint" as the tension across Israel and occupied Palestinian territory escalated.

 Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Frenkel, 16, who also had US citizenship, went missing while hitchhiking home from their religious schools in settlements on the West Bank on 12 June.

 Their bodies were found by soldiers and volunteers in a valley covered with stones and brush on Monday afternoon.

 The air strikes, which struck 34 locations in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip that Israel says were associated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, came as troops on the West Bank killed an 18 year-old Palestinian during a raid in Jenin. Israeli authorities claim the teenager was a Hamas member who threw an explosive device at Israeli soldiers.

 In Hebron, meanwhile, it was reported that the Israeli military had blown up the houses of two Hamas members named by Israel as suspects in the abduction Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Eisheh – the first punitive house demolitions since Israel halted the practice in 2005. The two men disappeared from their homes shortly after the abduction and have not been arrested.

 Following the discovery of the missing Israeli's bodies on Monday, new details about the teenagers' abduction and murder 19 days ago while hitching home from West Bank religious schools have emerged in the Hebrew press, including the fact that investigators believe that the teenagers were killed within a few minutes of getting into a stolen car near Gush Etzion junction.

 According to Israeli media reports, investigators found a bullet casing and other signs consistent with the youths being shot while sitting in the car, which was was later found abandoned and burned only a few kilometres from where their bodies were subsequently discovered. It is believed the three were shot shortly after one of the youths had managed to call an emergency hotline and whisper that they had been kidnapped after being alarmed that the car had made a sudden u-turn. Their bodies were buried in a field near the village of Halhul just north of one of the entrances to Hebron. Israeli officials believe the abductors had planned to trade the bodies for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

 Binyamin Proper, who was among the civilian volunteers that found the bodies covered with piles of rocks, told Channel 2 TV that a member of the search party "saw something suspicious on the ground, plants that looked out of place, moved them and moved some rocks and then found the bodies. We realised it was them and we called the army".

 The search for the missing teenagers prompted a vast Israeli military operation in the West Bank and the arrest of some 400 Palestinians – mainly Hamas members. The incident has dramatically increased tensions across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

 Prior to the discovery of the bodies, five Palestinians had been killed during the search operation.

 The case, which has received rolling Israeli media coverage, has gripped the Israeli public, prompting mass rallies and a huge outpouring of public sympathy for the mothers of the three teenagers.

 The families of Palestinians killed during the search – some of them also teenagers – have complained that the death of their children have been largely ignored in press coverage.

 Following the discovery of the bodies on Monday, Netanyahu issued a statement once again blaming Hamas.

 "Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay ... [They] were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by wild beasts."

 Israel's economy minister, Naftali Bennett, added his own statement vowing retaliation: "There can be no forgiveness for the killers of children and those who sent them. Now is the time to act."

 For its part, Hamas has denied involvement. Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Monday: "Only the Israeli version of the events has been published."

 "Israel is attempting to make way for aggression against us, against the Hamas ... No Palestinian group, Hamas or any other group, has taken responsibility for the action, and thus the Israeli version can't be trusted," he added.

 A ball of fire is seen following an Israel airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza. Photograph: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images

 The Israel media reported on Tuesday morning that Netanyahu had faced splits in his Cabinet in its deliberations over how hard to retaliate both for the murders and the increased in rocket fire.

 Senior officials stated both publicly and privately on Monday night and Tuesday morning that Israel was not seeking an "escalation with Hamas", suggesting that despite the rhetoric and the airstrikes in Gaza, retaliation might be limited.Several analysts in the Israeli media, including Amos Harel in Haaretz, have suggested Netanyahu is not keen to get embroiled in a long conflict with Hamas.

 Messages of sympathy continued to come from international leaders who also called for calm. In a statement issue by his office, British prime minister David Cameron said: "I am deeply saddened by the news that the bodies of the three Israeli boys kidnapped on 12 June have been found this evening.

 "This was an appalling and inexcusable act of terror perpetrated against young teenagers. Britain will stand with Israel as it seeks to bring to justice those responsible."

 US president Barack Obama also issued a statement saying: "As a father, I cannot imagine the indescribable pain that the parents of these teenage boys are experiencing."

 "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of terror against innocent youth.

 "From the outset, I have offered our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice, and I encourage Israel and the PA to continue working together in that effort. I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilise the situation. As the Israeli people deal with this tragedy, they have the full support and friendship of the United States." |||||

Write a summary.

– After the bodies of three kidnapped Israeli teens were found near where they were last seen in the West bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that "Hamas will pay"—and within hours, Israeli jets and helicopters began dozens of airstrikes on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. There were at least 34 airstrikes overnight, reports the New York Times, which calls the strikes an escalation of two weeks of skirmishes that have included the firing of rockets into Israel. More: In the West Bank city of Hebron, witnesses say the Israeli military has blown up the homes of Hamas suspects Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Eisheh, in the first punitive demolitions since Israel abandoned the practice in 2005, reports the Guardian. The two suspects disappeared shortly after the abduction. According to reports in the Israeli media, investigators believe the three teens were shot dead within minutes of being kidnapped, after one of them managed to call an emergency hotline. Their bodies were found in a field near Hebron 19 days after they disappeared. A Hamas spokesman says "no Palestinian group, Hamas or any other group," has taken responsibility for the killings. He accuses Israel of using the kidnap to justify attacks on Palestinians, and warns that if Israeli forces "carry out an escalation or a war, they will open the gates of hell on themselves," the BBC reports. One of the teens held American citizenship and President Obama has issued a statement saying "as a father, I cannot imagine the indescribable pain that the parents of these teenage boys are experiencing." He also urged "all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation." A West Bank man shot in the chest early today has become the sixth Palestinian to be killed by the Israeli military since the teenagers' disappearance sparked a huge crackdown, reports CNN.