News article:

The 60 pupils Waqar Ullah Khattak was supervising had barely started working through their test papers when the sound of gunfire began echoing around the chilly examination hall at the army public school in Peshawar.

 In the terror-wracked capital of one of Pakistan’s most violent provinces, Khattak and his fellow invigilators immediately recognised the sound of AK-47 assault rifles. “We had received some training on how to deal with unexpected attacks,” he said. “I told the students to hide on the floor.”

 It was to be the deadliest terrorist attack in Pakistan in memory. By the early evening, 141 people had been killed – 132 children and nine staff. The army’s spokesman said that 125 people had been injured, including seven army rescuers.

 The attack started before 10am, when seven terrorists wearing suicide bomb vests under their clothes crossed over the undefended back wall at the school in the upmarket military Cantonment area. One official said the men had parked a lorry next to the school and simply hopped across from the roof of the vehicle. Workers in the school’s kitchen said they initially mistook the heavily armed group for pupils late for classes, attempting to slip in unobserved.

 The entrance of the Army Public School in Peshawar. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

 Once inside, the men began a pitiless killing spree, going from classroom to classroom in the male-only section of the academy, which educates 1,000 boys aged five to 18, many of them the sons of army officers.

 “As soon as we entered the hall, firing started behind us in the hall. Our teacher said close the doors,” one pupil was quoted as telling NDTV. “We closed the doors and suddenly they entered, breaking the doors … As soon as we hid under tables, they fired bullets at our legs and our heads and then they burned our madam. They burned our madam. The firing continued but we didn’t move because whoever moved got shot at.”

 A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as the country’s main Taliban franchise calls itself, claimed the attackers were under orders to kill only boys beyond the age of puberty. But Akbar Khan, the father of a 17-year-old student, Omar, said they shot indiscriminately. “As a school prefect he was with a group being trained in first aid by the army when the terrorists burst in,” Khan said of his son. He said the firing triggered a stampede. “He [Omar] was hit in the elbow but managed to rush from the area and was among the first children to be brought to the hospital.”

 Although teachers did their best to protect their students, locking doors and barricading windows, the death toll rose throughout the day as elite Special Services Group commandos attempted to gain control of the site.

 In the mid-afternoon, two loud blasts echoed across the city – most likely the sound of bomb vests being detonated by men who, according to some witnesses, spoke to each other in Arabic.

 A soldier escorts children from the Army Public School in Peshawar. Photograph: Khuram Parvez/Reuters

 Groups of pupils still wearing their smart green blazers were rescued by soldiers or managed to escape and were ferried to hospital. Anxious parents tried to break through the army cordon. Some said security at the school had been insufficient given the level of threat.

 “Every second house we have a dead body and the entire city is in gloom,” said Akbar Khan, arguing that while the front of the school had an army guard, the back wall should have been guarded too. “Some people are cursing the [local] government, some people the national government, and some are blaming the army chief.”

 Later the Pakistani government launched what it called “massive air strikes” in the Khyber region against Taliban outposts.

 At Peshawar’s two hospitals, people flocked to try to donate blood after stocks ran low, and parents searched desperately for their children. “My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,” one man, Tahir Ali, told Associated Press as he came to collect the body of 14-year-old Abdullah. “My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.”

 Irshadah Bibi, whose 12-year-old son was among the dead, beat her face in grief and threw herself against an ambulance, Agence France–Presse reported. “Oh God, why did you snatch away my son?” she wept. “What is the sin of my child and all these children?”

 Crowds outside the Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar. Photograph: Bilawal Arbab/EPA

 Khattak, the exam invigilator, said a scene of carnage awaited him when, midway through the fighting, rescuers reached him and his pupils and escorted them to safety. “As we were running out we saw blood and dead students lying around on the floor – I will never forget it,” he said.

 A student who survived the attack said soldiers came to rescue students during a lull in the firing. “When we were coming out of the class we saw dead bodies of our friends lying in the corridors. They were bleeding. Some were shot three times, some four times.”

 Shahrukh Khan, a 15-year-old student at the school who was shot in both legs, said he witnessed the murder of one member of staff. “One of my teachers was crying, she was shot in the hand and she was crying in pain,” Khan told Reuters, lying on a bed in the city’s Lady Reading hospital. “One terrorist then walked up to her and started shooting her until she stopped making any sound. All around me my friends were lying injured and dead.”

 The teenager said he had decided to play dead after being shot, stuffing his tie into his mouth to prevent himself from screaming. “The man with big boots kept on looking for students and pumping bullets into their bodies. I lay as still as I could and closed my eyes, waiting to get shot again,” he told Agence France-Presse.

 “My body was shivering. I saw death so close and I will never forget the black boots approaching me – I felt as though it was death that was approaching me.” ||||| Story highlights Children "are dying on the frontline in the war against terror," Pakistan's defense minister says

 The death toll has climbed to 145 people, included 132 children and the school's principal

 Attackers gunned down students taking an exam in an auditorium, military spokesman says

 Attack was on a school mostly for soldiers' children; many of the dead between 12 and 16

 "'God is great,'" the Taliban militants shouted as they roared through the hallways of a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.

 Then, 14-year-old student Ahmed Faraz recalled, one of them took a harsher tone.

 " 'A lot of the children are under the benches,' " a Pakistani Taliban said, according to Ahmed. " 'Kill them.' "

 By the time the hours-long siege at Army Public School and Degree College ended early Tuesday evening, at least 145 people -- 132 children, 10 school staff members and three soldiers -- were dead, military spokesman Gen. Asim Bajwa said. More than 100 were injured, many with gunshot wounds, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani.

 The death toll does not include the terrorists who attacked the school, bursting into an auditorium where a large number of students were taking an exam and gunning down many of them within minutes, Bajwa said.

 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Soldiers patrol the streets in Peshawar, Pakistan, near a school that was attacked by the Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday, December 16. Militants stormed the military-run school in northwest Pakistan, killing more than 140 people, most of them children. More than 100 people were injured. Hide Caption 1 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Relatives carry the body of a victim during his funeral procession. Hide Caption 2 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A victim's coffin is carried from an ambulance. Hide Caption 3 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – The uncle and cousin of injured student Mohammad Baqair comfort him as he mourns the death of his mother, a teacher who was killed in the attack. Hide Caption 4 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A man comforts a student who survived the attack. Hide Caption 5 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Parents escort their children away from the school. Hide Caption 6 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A wounded student receives treatment at a Peshawar hospital. Hide Caption 7 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Pakistani soldiers hold positions close to the school. All the militants in the attack were eventually killed, a police official said. Hide Caption 8 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Pakistani soldiers take position near the site of the attack. Hide Caption 9 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A student is wheeled into a hospital in Peshawar. Hide Caption 10 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A man and woman rush to a Peshawar hospital treating victims of the attack. Hide Caption 11 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Family members wait outside the school. Hide Caption 12 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – People gather at a hospital where victims were being treated. Hide Caption 13 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Pakistani soldiers position themselves at a fence near the besieged school. Hide Caption 14 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A Pakistani soldier clears the area outside the school. Hide Caption 15 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – An injured student lies in bed at a Peshawar hospital after the attack. Hide Caption 16 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A hospital security guard helps an injured student at the school. Hide Caption 17 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Parents leave with their children near the site of the attack. Hide Caption 18 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A plainclothes officer escorts rescued students away from the school. Hide Caption 19 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Pakistani troops reach the site of the attack. Hide Caption 20 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Volunteers carry a student at a hospital in Peshawar. Hide Caption 21 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – An injured girl gets rushed to a hospital in Peshawar. Hide Caption 22 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A man comforts a student standing at the bedside of an injured boy. Hide Caption 23 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – A Pakistani soldier takes position on a bunker close to the besieged school. Hide Caption 24 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Relatives of a student killed in the attack mourn over the student's body. Hide Caption 25 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – Hospital staff transport an injured student in Peshawar. Hide Caption 26 of 27 Photos: Photos: Taliban attack Pakistani school Taliban attack Pakistani school – The body of a victim lies at a hospital in Peshawar. Hide Caption 27 of 27

 Map: Peshawar, Pakistan

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 "They started shooting indiscriminately," Bajwa said, "and that's where maximum damage was caused."

 Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurrassani said the militants scaled the school's walls around 10 a.m. (midnight ET), intent on killing older students there.

 The Taliban had "300 to 400 people ... under their custody" at one point, said Khurrassani, whose group is called Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. But Bajwa said there was no hostage situation, as the attackers' focus was shooting to kill rather than taking captives.

 They were eventually met by Pakistani troops who pushed through the complex building by building, room by room. By 4 p.m., they'd confined the attackers to four buildings. A few hours later, all the militants -- seven of them, according to Bajwa -- were dead.

 Pakistani authorities spent Tuesday night inside the school in Peshawar, a city about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the country's capital, Islamabad, looking for survivors, victims and improvised explosive devices planted to worsen the carnage.

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 As they searched, they discovered that the school's principal was among the terrorists' victims.

 The attack drew sharp condemnation from top Pakistani officials, who vowed that the country wouldn't stop its war against the Taliban.

 "We are undeterred. ... We will not back off," Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told CNN.

 But he said the ambush at the school is another example of how great his nation's sacrifices have been in fighting that's raged for more than a decade.

 "Even the children are dying on the frontline in the war against terror," he said. "The smaller the coffin, the heavier it is to carry. ... It's a very, very tragic day."

 Minister: Most of the dead were 12 to 16 years old

 On a typical day, the Army Public School and Degree College is home to about 1,100 students and staff, most of them sons and daughters of army personnel from around Peshawar, though others attend as well.

 Their nightmare began in late morning, when a car exploded behind the school. Pakistani education minister Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman explained to CNN that the blast was a ruse, meant to divert the attention of the school's security guards.

 It worked.

 Gunmen got over the walls and walked through where students in grades 8, 9 and 10 have classes and fired randomly, said Dr. Aamir Bilal of Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital, citing students. They came in with enough ammunition and other supplies to last for days and were not expecting to come out alive, according to a Pakistani military official.

 Seventh-grader Mohammad Bilal said he was sitting outside his classroom taking a math test when the gunfire erupted. He fell into bushes before running to the school's gates to safety.

 Ahmed, the 14-year-old student, remembered being in the school's auditorium when four or five people burst in through a back door "and started rapidly firing." After getting shot in his left shoulder, the ninth-grader lay under a bench.

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 "My shoulder was peeking out of the bench, and somebody was following," Ahmed recalled. "They went into another room, (and when) I ran to the exit, I fell."

 Bajwa told reporters that Pakistani security forces reached the school 15 minutes after the attack began.

 They found, he said, "the children ... drenched in blood, with their bodies on top of each other."

 Most of those killed were between the ages of 12 and 16, said Pervez Khattak, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital. But some adults in the school also were targets, like a 28-year-old office assistant who was shot and then burned alive, police official Faisal Shehzad said.

 Violent past

 Pakistan has seen plenty of violence, much of it involving militants based in provinces such as South Waziristan, North Waziristan and the Khyber Agency -- all restive regions in northwest Pakistan near Peshawar along its border with Afghanistan.

 It is the home base of the TTP, an organization that has sought to force its conservative version of Islam in Pakistan. The group has battled Pakistani troops and, on a number of occasions, attacked civilians as well.

 Peshawar, an ancient city of more than 3 million people tucked right up against the Khyber Pass, has often found itself in the center of it all. Militants repeatedly targeted the city in response to Pakistani military offensives, like a 2009 truck bombing of a popular marketplace frequented by women and children that killed more than 100 people.

 And the Taliban hasn't hesitated to go after schoolchildren. Their most notable target is Malala Yousafzai, who was singled out and shot on October 9, 2012 as she rode to school in a van with other girls. The teenage girl survived and, last week, became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote education and girls' rights in Pakistan and beyond.

 Yousafzai was "heartbroken by this (latest) senseless and cold blooded act of terror in Peshawar," saying Tuesday that "innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this."

 "I call upon the international community, leaders in Pakistan, all political parties -- everyone -- (to) stand up together and fight against terrorism," the 16-year-old added in another statement. "And we should make sure that every child gets a safe and quality education."

 Taliban: Revenge for killing of tribesmen

 Still, even by Pakistan and the Taliban's gruesome standards, Tuesday's attack may be the most abominable yet.

 This is the deadliest incident inside Pakistan since October 2007, when about 139 Pakistanis died and more than 250 others were wounded in an attack near a procession for exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, according to the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database

 Even the Taliban in Afghanistan, with which the TTP is closely affiliated, criticized the "deliberate killing of innocent people, women and children (as being) against Islamic principles" and expressed condolences to the attack's victims, according to spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.

 It comes after peace talks between the Pakistan Taliban and Pakistan's government as recently as last spring. The government released 19 Taliban noncombatants in a goodwill gesture, in fact.

 But talks broke down under a wave of attacks by the Taliban and mounting political pressure to bring the violence under control.

 In September 2013, choir members and children attending Sunday school were among 81 people killed in a suicide bombing at the Protestant All Saints Church of Pakistan. A splinter group of the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility, blaming the U.S. program of drone strikes in tribal areas of the country.

 And for the past few months, the Pakistani military has been conducting a ground offensive to clear out militants, spurring violence that's displaced tens of thousands of people and sparked deadly retaliations.

 Khurrassani, the Pakistan Taliban spokesman, told CNN that the latest attack was revenge for the killing of hundreds of innocent tribesmen during repeated army operations in provinces including South Waziristan, North Waziristan and the Khyber Agency.

 The TTP spokesman challenged that ordinary citizens were targeted, saying that five army vehicles are routinely stationed at the school.

 "We are facing such heavy nights in routine," Khurrassani said, rationalizing the siege shortly before it ended. "Today, you must face the heavy night." ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Mishal Husain was one of the first broadcasters to go inside the school

 The Pakistani city of Peshawar is burying its dead after a Taliban attack at a school killed at least 132 children and nine staff.

 New images from the school show the brutality of the attack, with pools of blood on the ground and walls covered in pockmarks from hundreds of bullets.

 Mass funerals and prayer vigils for the victims are currently under way.

 Gunmen had walked from class to class shooting students in the Pakistani Taliban's deadliest attack to date.

 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared three days of mourning over the massacre, which has sparked national outrage.

 He also announced an end to the moratorium on the death penalty for terrorism cases, which correspondents say is a move aimed at countering a view held by many Pakistanis that many terror suspects end up evading justice.

 World leaders have also voiced disgust at the attack, which even the Afghan Taliban have criticised.

 Image caption Images taken by a BBC team inside a classroom show the level of destruction

 Image caption An office belonging the school principal was hit by a suicide bomber

 Separately, Pakistan's army says it launched air strikes at militants in the Khyber and North Waziristan areas, although it is not yet clear if this was a direct response to the school attack. An offensive against the militants has been going on since June.

 At the scene: Mishal Husain, BBC News

 It is a very eerie atmosphere. These are premises that should be alive at a time of day like this to the sound of hundreds of children who studied here and began school as normal on Tuesday. But it is desolate now.

 The army has been working through the night to clear the premises of explosives.

 I am standing now at the bottom of the white stone steps that lead up to the auditorium. There are blood stains running right down the steps and towards the auditorium itself.

 There is a child's shoe on one of the steps. The auditorium, where children were taking exams, was one of the places within the school grounds that the militants first targeted.

 As I peer in now, the chairs that the children were sitting on are upturned, the place has been turned upside down and again I can see the blood stains on the floor right around me.

 Mr Sharif also convened a meeting of all parliamentary parties in Peshawar to discuss the response.

 Afghan role

 Meanwhile, Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif is in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on a surprise visit to discuss security co-operation aimed at tackling the Taliban insurgency.

 Pakistani Taliban (TTP) leader Mullah Fazlullah is believed by the Pakistani authorities to be hiding in Afghanistan and media reports in Pakistan suggest the school attack may have been co-ordinated from Afghanistan.

 But the TTP said the attack had been masterminded by its military chief in the Peshawar region, who it said had been in touch with the gunmen throughout the assault.

 A TTP spokesman told the BBC they had deliberately killed older pupils and not targeted "small children".

 BBC correspondents say the Taliban statement is being seen as damage limitation after the attack was universally condemned in Pakistan for its brutality.

 The TTP also repeated its earlier claim that only six attackers were sent, contradicting official accounts that seven gunmen were killed. The militants say the attack was revenge for the army's campaign against them, and that they chose the school as a target because their families had also suffered heavy losses.

 Scenes of devastation

 Reporters visiting the school for the first time saw pools of blood marking the floor and torn notebooks, clothing and shoes among the debris.

 "This is not a human act,'' military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa said during a tour of the school, the Associated Press reports. "This is a national tragedy."

 Image copyright AP Image caption Upturned chairs and blood stains left in the wake of the attack at the school's auditorium

 Image copyright EPA Image caption Funerals for the victims began hours after the attack on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday

 Image copyright AP Image caption Many schools in Pakistan closed as a mark of respect, with those remaining open holding special prayers

 Seven Taliban attackers wearing bomb vests cut through a wire fence to gain entry to the school, before launching an attack on an auditorium where children were taking an exam.

 Gunmen then went from room to room at the military-run school, shooting pupils and teachers where they found them in a siege that lasted eight hours, survivors say.

 A total of 125 people were wounded at Peshawar's Army Public School, which teaches boys and girls from both military and civilian backgrounds. All seven attackers were killed, while hundreds of people were evacuated.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Some wounded students remain at the main hospital in Peshawar

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Soldiers are guarding the gates of the school in Peshawar after the siege

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption There was anger at this candlelit vigil for the victims in Karachi, Pakistan

 Mohammad Hilal, a student in the 10th grade, was shot three times in his arm and legs when the gunmen stormed the school auditorium.

 "I think I passed out for a while. I thought I was dreaming. I wanted to move but felt paralysed. Then I came to and realised that actually two other boys had fallen on me. Both of them were dead," he told the BBC.

 Zulfiqar Ahmad, 45, the head of the mathematics department who was shot four times during the attack told the BBC he did not believe any of the 18 students in his class had survived.

 The victims are also being mourned elsewhere, with India's parliament observing a minute's silence in their honour.

 India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his country's "deepest condolences".

 Mr Sharif pledged to avenge a "national tragedy unleashed by savages".

 Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old who was shot by the Pakistani Taliban for championing girls' rights to education, also condemned "these atrocious and cowardly acts".

 Image copyright AP Image caption School pupil Mohammad Baqair lost his mother, a teacher, in the attack

 Pakistani embassies worldwide have lowered their flags to half-mast and opened books of condolences.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Some of the injured were carried to hospital in people's arms

 Deadly attacks in Pakistan

 Image copyright AFP

 16 December 2014: Taliban attack on school in Peshawar leaves at least 141 people dead, 132 of them children

 22 September 2013: Militants linked to the Taliban kill at least 80 people at a church in Peshawar, in one of the worst attacks on Christians

 10 January 2013: Militant bombers target the Hazara Shia Muslim minority in the city of Quetta, killing 120 at a snooker hall and on a street

 28 May 2010: Gunmen attack two mosques of the minority Ahmadi Islamic sect in Lahore, killing more than 80 people

 18 October 2007: Twin bomb attack at a rally for Benazir Bhutto in Karachi leaves at least 130 dead. Unclear if Taliban behind attack

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The Taliban has a history of targeting large crowds of civilians in Pakistan

 In Afghanistan itself, the local Taliban described the school attack as un-Islamic and said they were sending condolences to the families of the victims.

 The Afghan Taliban are currently stepping up their own attacks in Afghanistan and share roots with the Pakistani Taliban and usually share the same ideology too, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge reports from Kabul.

 Hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to have died in the recent Pakistan army offensive in the Khyber area and North Waziristan, regions close to the Afghan border. ||||| PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistanis mourned as mass funerals got underway Wednesday for 142 people, most of them children, killed the day before in a massacre by the Taliban at a military-run school in the country's troubled northwest.

 Pakistani students head to their school in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014. Pakistan is mourning as the nation prepares for mass funerals for 141 people, most of them children, killed in... (Associated Press)

 Mourners and relatives of Pakistani teacher, Saeed Khan, a victim of a Taliban attack in a school, carry his body, during his funeral procession in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban... (Associated Press)

 Relatives of Pakistani teacher, Saeed Khan, a victim of a Taliban attack in a school, gather around his body, during his funeral procession in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen... (Associated Press)

 People look at lists of attack victims displayed at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban attack on a school that killed more than 100 people. Nobel Peace Prize winner... (Associated Press)

 Pakistani journalists and civil society members hold a candle light vigil for the victims of a Taliban attack on a school, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run... (Associated Press)

 People visit survivors of a Taliban attack on a school at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city... (Associated Press)

 Pakistani blood donors wait their turn to donate blood for victims of a Taliban attack on a school, at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run... (Associated Press)

 A man comforts a child who survives a Taliban attack on a school that killed more than 100 people, admits at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run... (Associated Press)

 Pakistan's army spokesman Major-General Asim Bajwa briefs the media about a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the... (Associated Press)

 People who survived a Taliban attack on a school, receive treatment at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern... (Associated Press)

 People who survived a Taliban attack on a school receive treatment at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani... (Associated Press)

 Mourners and relatives of Pakistani teacher, Saeed Khan, a victim of a Taliban attack in a school, pray around his body, during his funeral procession in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Taliban... (Associated Press)

 A Pakistani injured student who survived a Taliban attack on a school that killed more than 100 people, admits at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014. Nobel Peace Prize winner... (Associated Press)

 Prayer vigils were held across the nation and in other schools, students spoke of their shock at the carnage in the city of Peshawar, where seven Taliban gunmen, explosives strapped to their bodies, scaled a back wall using a ladder to get into the Army Public School and College in the morning hours on Tuesday.

 Students were gunned down and some of the female teachers were burned alive. The attack was the deadliest slaughter of innocents in the country and horrified a nation already weary of unending terrorist assaults. Army commandos fought the Taliban in a day-long battle until the school was cleared and the attackers dead.

 The government declared a three-day mourning period, starting Wednesday. Overnight, the body of the school principal, Tahira Qazi, was found among the debris from the rampage. Her death raised further the earlier reported death toll of 141.

 Some of the funerals were held overnight, but most of the 132 children and 10 school staff members killed in the attack were to be buried Wednesday. Another 121 students and three staff members were wounded.

 "They finished in minutes what I had lived my whole life for, my son," said laborer Akhtar Hussain, tears streaming down his face as he buried his 14-year-old, Fahad. He said he had worked for years in Dubai to earn a livelihood for his children.

 "That innocent one is now gone in the grave, and I can't wait to join him, I can't live anymore," he wailed, banging his fists against his head.

 The Taliban said the attack was revenge for a military offensive against their safe havens in the northwest, along the border with Afghanistan, which began in June. Analysts said the school siege showed that even diminished, the militant group still could inflict horrific carnage.

 The attack drew swift condemnation from around the world. President Barack Obama said the "terrorists have once again showed their depravity."

 Pakistan's teenage Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai — herself a survivor of a Taliban shooting — said she was "heartbroken" by the bloodshed.

 Even Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan decried the killing spree, calling it "un-Islamic."

 Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to step up the campaign that — along with U.S. drone strikes — has targeted the militants.

 "We will take account of each and every drop of our children's blood," said Sharif, who rushed to Peshawar shortly after the attack to offer support for the victims.

 In neighboring India, which has long accused Pakistan of supporting anti-India guerrillas, schools on Wednesday observed two minutes of silence for the Peshawar victims at the urging of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called the attack "a senseless act of unspeakable brutality."

 ___

 Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Peshawar, Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Tim Sullivan in New Delhi contributed to this report. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– "We will take revenge for each and every drop of our children's blood," Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed as funerals began for 132 children slaughtered in a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar yesterday. Sharif said there would be three days of national mourning for the massacre at a military-run school, in which 10 staff members were killed, as well as all seven attackers, the BBC reports. Sharif also said he would reinstate the death penalty for terrorism. More: The attack was condemned worldwide, with Pakistan's archrival India, whose president called the attack "a senseless act of unspeakable brutality," observing two minutes of silence in schools, reports the AP. Even the Taliban in Afghanistan spoke out against the atrocity, calling it "un-Islamic." There are signs that the attackers—some of whom reportedly spoke in Arabic to each other—had intended to stay for a long siege, with some of them carrying stores of food, the New York Times reports. A security official, however, says they never attempted to take any hostages. "They were there to kill, and this is what they did," he says. One official tells the Guardian that the attackers accessed the school via an unguarded back wall. They may have parked their vehicle next to it and then just climbed on the roof of the vehicle and over the wall. A Pakistani Taliban spokesman says the attack was revenge for a military offensive against the militants in areas including North Waziristan, where he says hundreds of innocent people have been killed. The country's defense minister tells CNN that the country will not back off from the offensive, but that the slaughter is another example of the sacrifices Pakistan has made in its battle against the militants. "The smaller the coffin, the heavier it is to carry," he says. "It's a very, very tragic day."


Write a summary based on this article:

Posted by Michael David Smith on December 14, 2012, 10:19 AM EDT

 ESPN has admitted that commentator Rob Parker crossed the line when he questioned whether Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is not really black because he has a white fiancee. But Parker doesn’t seem to think he did anything wrong.

 After making those comments on Thursday morning, Parker was inundated with criticism on Twitter, and in his responses on Thursday afternoon, he generally acted as though he was the one who was owed an apology for anyone daring to question what he’d said. Parker called his critics, among other things, “uneducated” and “silly.”

 But Parker suddenly stopped tweeting on Thursday, presumably because his bosses at ESPN told him to knock it off. After all, if the critics who were going after Parker on Twitter are uneducated and silly, doesn’t that mean the bosses at ESPN who said Parker’s comments were inappropriate are also uneducated and silly?

 Before he went silent on Twitter, Parker also told critics to tune in to Friday’s First Take for more discussion of the matter. That’s right out of the First Take playbook: The show thrives on provoking controversy. But Friday’s First Take didn’t open with Parker or with any discussion of Griffin. Instead, the show simply ignored Parker’s comments and launched into an argument between panelists Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith about Sunday’s Steelers-Cowboys game. ||||| At a time when starting quarterbacks of color are hardly a rarity in the NFL, racial issues haven’t gone away.

 On Thursday, ESPN’s Rob Parker questioned Robert Griffin III’s blackness on “First Take,” prompting DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association to tell the Post in an email:

 “Robert can certainly take care of himself. Nonetheless, I hope that our men and for that matter, my own kids, will never beg for authenticity from someone who can only talk about the things that other people have the courage to do. People need to be held accountable for the offensive things that they say.”

 It’s been that kind of a season, though. Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers was ripped when, suddenly, a columnist noticed that his arms are covered with tattoos. Former NFL quarterback Warren Moon suggested earlier this season that questions about the attitude of the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton were racially motivated. Newton disagreed, saying, “When it comes to [racism], I don’t think there is any at all.

 But the topic still keeps coming up. David Whitley began a Sporting News column this way:

 San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick is going to be a big-time NFL quarterback. That must make the guys in San Quentin happy. Approximately 98.7 percent of the inmates at California’s state prison have tattoos. I don’t know that as fact, but I’ve watched enough “Lockup” to know it’s close to accurate.

 Kaepernick’s mom, Teresa, told USA Today that it “annoyed” her.

 “You are categorizing this kid on something like tattoos? Really? Saying other guys are role models because they don’t have them? Really?” Teresa Kaepernick said. “Some of these other guys don’t have crystal-clear reputations. That’s how you’re going to define this kid? It’s pretty irritating, but it is what it is.”

 It’s also generalizing in a way that really isn’t helpful and makes it seem as if the days of Doug Williams being asked about being a black quarterback really aren’t so far behind us.

 Follow @CindyBoren on Twitter and on Facebook.

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 ESPN spokesman says comments were “inappropriate”

 “First Take” transcript | Video

 RGIII: Post-racial superstar or The One? ||||| Commentator Rob Parker has been suspended by ESPN for comments made about Robert Griffin III. (Photo: ESPN)

 ESPN commentator Rob Parker has been suspended indefinitely as a result of disparaging racial comments he made about Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III on Thursday.

 "Following yesterday's comments Rob Parker has been suspended until further notice. We are conducting a full review," ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said.

 OUTLOOK: RGIII comments miss the point again

 DAD KNOWS BEST: Griffin II responds to comments on son

 Parker said of Griffin on ESPN2's First Take: "Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother? ... He's not real. OK, he's black, he kind of does the thing, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black, but he's not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he's off to something else."

 Robert Griffin II, Griffin's father, told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday, "I wouldn't say it's racism. I would just say some people put things out there about people so they can stir things up."

 Parker, 48, has worked as a reporter and columnist for newspapers such as Newsday, the Detroit News and the Cincinnati Enquirer. According to his web site, he started at ESPN in 2003.

 Parker gained notoriety in 2008 when, while he was a Detroit News columnist, he asked then-Lions coach Rod Marinelli about his daughter being married to the team's defensive coordinator. Parker asked Marinelli, whose team eventually finished the season winless, "Do you wish your daughter would have married a better defensive coordinator?"

 Parker later resigned from the paper and apologized to Marinelli, who said he didn't accept the apology.

 Best of Robert Griffin III in photos: |||||

– ESPN has indefinitely suspended commentator Rob Parker after his controversial "cornball brother" remarks about Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III yesterday, the network announced in a brief statement today. "Following yesterday's comments, Rob Parker has been suspended until further notice. We are conducting a full review," the network said, according to USA Today. Parker's comments, in which he said that Griffin was only "kind of black," set off a firestorm. The head of the NFL Players Association slammed Parker, telling the Washington Post that players should "never beg for authenticity from someone who can only talk about the things that other people have the courage to do." RGIII's father (who, yes, is named Robert Griffin II), chimed in as well, saying, "I wouldn't say it's racism. I would just say some people put things out there about people so they can stir things up." But Parker remained defiant on Twitter for much of yesterday, calling critical responses "uneducated" and "silly," NBC Sports reports.


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– Well, it should save on honeymoon airfare, anyway. A 38-year-old Indiana woman married Jesus Christ over the weekend, becoming one of his approximately 3,000 living wives worldwide, CBS News reports. The process is known as becoming a consecrated virgin and is relatively rare within the Catholic Church, with only about 200 in the US. She's not a nun: According to the United States Association of Consecrated Virgins, someone who marries Jesus lives a life of "perpetual virginity" dedicated to serving the church and performing works of mercy while still living in the secular world. Jessica Hayes, a high-school theology teacher in Fort Wayne, tells CBS affiliate WANE she made the decision to become a consecrated virgin after lots of "prayer and soul-searching." She says she believes God calls all people to become married; for some that means wedding their spouse, while for others it means committing to Jesus. Despite the non-traditional groom, Hayes still wore the traditional wedding dress and faced the traditional wedding questions. "My students asked if they should call me Mrs. Hayes when I come back to school next week, and no, I'm still Ms.," she tells WANE. "But, I am married to Jesus."

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception over the weekend for an unlikely wedding ceremony.

 The bride, Jessica Hayes, was marrying her groom, Jesus Christ. She became the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese's first consecrated virgin in 25 years, reports CBS affiliate WANE.

 Hayes' is currently the only consecrated virgin in her diocese. WANE reports that consecrated virgin is a fairly rare occurrence in the Catholic Church. There are only 200 in the United States and approximately 3,000 in the world.

 A consecrated virgin is not the same as a nun. Hayes will still live her life as a lay person.

 38-year-old Hayes is a high school theology teacher. She told WANE that this decision represents years of prayer and soul-searching.

 "I had been praying about it for years, trying to seek God's will for my life and not really finding it in any of the paths that I sought before," she said. "It was really a consideration of which things brought me the most joy and where my greatest happiness was."

 While it may not have been an average wedding ceremony, Hayes did face some of the same struggles that most brides face, such as finding the perfect wedding dress.

 Jessica Hayes during her wedding ceremony to Jesus Christ. CBS affiliate WANE

 "I've seen so many wedding dresses over the years that I think I've probably changed my mind very many times," she told CBS affiliate WANE. "I had to really consider the appropriateness of the occasion for my dress. I wanted my shoulders to be covered, and I would have to lie prostrate before the altar, so I really wanted to make sure that I was well-covered in a way that still shows the beauty of a bride."

 Hayes explained to WANE she will still go by Ms. Hayes, not Mrs.

 "My students asked if they should call me Mrs. Hayes when I come back to school next week, and no, I'm still Ms. But, I am married to Jesus," she said.

 Hayes believes in some sense, all people are called to be married.

 "It's just a matter of discerning how," she said. "So, my marriage is to Christ and someone else's marriage is to their spouse. A priest's marriage is to the church. That's a good desire that's planted in us by God. The real question is how, how is this lived most joyfully in me."

 Jessica Hayes during her wedding ceremony to Jesus Christ. CBS affiliate WANE

 Hayes said this is a vocation for women who feel a deeper call to spend their life more in knowing with Jesus. She chose to make a public commitment in serving the church. And she said she hopes her experience will help increase vocations among women.

 "I do think that not everybody has the same path," she said. "To be able to look at all of these different ways of life and to see people living them out joyfully is an invitation to consider a little bit more deeply what those things mean. As Catholics and as Christians, we're all called to that loving relationship with our God. So, I'm called to live it out in this way." ||||| Welcome to the website of the United States

 Association of Consecrated Virgins (USACV)

 A voluntary association of consecrated virgins living in the world. The purpose of the USACV is to provide support to its members in the faithful living out of their vocation to consecrated virginity and "…to assist one another in service to the Church as befits their state" (Canon 604, Code of Canon Law). The USACV website is designed both to serve our members and to provide information about the vocation of consecrated virginity lived in the world.

 The Most Blessed Virgin Mary is our primary patroness, and Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin, the first native American to be canonized, is also a patroness of the USACV. We hope you will enjoy browsing the pages of this website to learn more about the ancient vocation of consecrated virginity, newly restored in the Church in 1970 for women living in the world.

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 The Convocation in Miami

 The 2018 Convocation in Miami was a great joy for the virgins who attended.

 The Miami Catholic featured an article on the event. Click here to read it!

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 Order form for the 2018 Informational Conference recording is now available! Click here Order form for the 2018 Convocation recording is now available! Click here Our products can be purchased online! ||||| Copyright by WANE - All rights reserved

 Sara Wagner - FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Hundreds of people attended a wedding at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Fort Wayne Saturday morning. It may sound like a standard on a summer Saturday, but this marriage is one most people have likely never seen or heard of before.

 The bride's name is Jessica Hayes, the groom is Jesus Christ. Saturday morning, she became the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese's first consecrated virgin in 25 years.

 It's not the wedding day Hayes envisioned for herself as a little girl. Sure it came with the same struggles any bride-to-be would have, like finding the perfect dress.

 "I've seen so many wedding dresses over the years that I think I've probably changed my mind very many times. I had to really consider the appropriateness of the occasion for my dress. I wanted my shoulders to be covered, and I would have to lie prostrate before the altar, so I really wanted to make sure that I was well-covered in a way that still shows the beauty of a bride," Hayes said.

 Of course, she also wanted to make sure her guests had a good time.

 "I'm so happy to have had so many witnesses today because there may be others that the Lord is calling in this way that have now heard of this life and can consider it in their prayer," Hayes said.

 For the 38-year-old theology teacher from Bishop Dwenger High School, this commitment represents years of prayer and soul-searching.

 "I had been praying about it for years, trying to seek God's will for my life and not really finding it in any of the paths that I sought before. It was really a consideration of which things brought me the most joy and where my greatest happiness was. It seemed that all of those loves converged on this one thing where I could still be living in the world and be a part of the lives of my students and be studying and teaching and involved in a parish life, but I could also give myself more completely by making this total commitment of my life to serve the church in whatever capacity is needed and whatever capacity my own gifts are available for," Hayes said.

 A consecrated virgin is a fairly rare occurrence in the Catholic church. Saturday's ceremony makes Hayes the only one in the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese. There are approximately 3,000 around the world and more than 200 in the United States.

 "I think that in some sense, we're all called to be married. It's just a matter of discerning how. So, my marriage is to Christ and someone else's marriage is to their spouse. A priest's marriage is to the church. That's a good desire that's planted in us by God. The real question is how, how is this lived most joyfully in me," Hayes said. "I do think that not everybody has the same path. To be able to look at all of these different ways of life and to see people living them out joyfully is an invitation to consider a little bit more deeply what those things mean. As Catholics and as Christians, we're all called to that loving relationship with our God. So, I'm called to live it out in this way. Married couples are called to live that out in their married vocation and their love of their family. It's a way of life that really anticipates what all of us will live in heaven, that union with ourselves and Christ and a real knowing and loving of him. My path is choosing that closer following now because that's where my greatest joys lie."

 A consecrated virgin is different from a nun in that Hayes will still live her life as a lay person.

 "This is a vocation for women that feel that deeper call to spend their life more in knowing Jesus and making that a public commitment in serving his church, but are also called to live in the world," Hayes said.

 As one might expect, the vocation comes with some confusion.

 "My students asked if they should call me Mrs. Hayes when I come back to school next week, and no, I'm still Ms. But, I am married to Jesus," Hayes said.

 Hayes said she wants to use her experience to help increase vocations among women.

 "I think, especially with the young women I've worked with in my teaching so far, the religious life isn't something that many of them consider because we don't have women religious teaching with us in our schools like we used to years ago. So, many of them don't consider that as an option anymore because they don't see young women their own age considering it and joining it. That's really something I try to expose my female students a little bit more to," Hayes said.

 It's a spiritual journey Hayes can't wait to begin.

 "Even more so than looking forward to this day is a looking forward to the rest of my life just because it's a deepening of that commitment. Now that I've made a public commitment, that's really an encouragement to me to live up to that because people know that this is who I am and my life needs to be lived in conformity with that . So, it's one more step in that direction that others expect this way of life from me and I need to live consistently in my words and actions that love for Jesus," Hayes said. |||||


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Image copyright Reuters Image caption Oskar Groening, now 93, has said he had no direct role in killing Jews

 A former Nazi SS guard has said so many trains full of Jews used to arrive at Auschwitz that often two would have to wait with closed doors while people from the first were "processed".

 Most of those who disembarked were gassed to death almost immediately.

 Oskar Groening, 93, was speaking on the second day of his trial for being an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 Jews at the death camp.

 He has said he is "morally" guilty but had no direct role in the genocide.

 The charges against the former guard relate to a period between May and July 1944 when about 425,000 Jews from Hungary were taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex in Nazi-occupied Poland.

 Image copyright BBC Sport Image caption Oskar Groening described "orderly" scenes as trainloads of Jews were taken to the gas chambers

 Mr Groening, who is being tried in the German town of Lueneburg, said he was regularly assigned to the Auschwitz I section of the complex but also undertook guard duties at Birkenau, where the main gas chambers were located.

 "The capacity of the gas chambers and the capacity of the crematoria were quite limited," he told the court.

 "Someone said that 5,000 people were processed in 24 hours but I didn't verify this. I didn't know.

 "For the sake of order we waited until train one was entirely processed and finished."

 Torn away

 Survivors have said their arrival at Auschwitz was chaotic and deeply traumatic, with Nazi guards shouting orders, dogs barking and families being separated.

 Mr Groening described the scene as "very orderly" and "not strenuous" for him.

 "They all walked, some in one direction, some in another direction... to where the crematoria and gas chambers were," he said.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Auschwitz survivor Eva Kor recalled being forcibly separated from her mother

 One of the survivors, Eva Kor, 81, said she did not remember Mr Groening personally but could not forget the scene.

 "Everything was going very fast. Yelling, crying, pushing; even dogs were barking. I had never experienced anything that fast or that crazy in my entire life,'' she told AP news agency before addressing the court.

 Her parents and two elder sisters were taken straight to the gas chambers, while she and her twin sister, both 10 at the time, were used in experiments conducted by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

 Recalling the moment she was torn away from her mother, she said: "All I remember is her arms stretched out in despair as she was pulled away.

 "I never even got to say goodbye."

 On Tuesday, addressing the judges, Mr Groening said: "I ask for forgiveness. I share morally in the guilt but whether I am guilty under criminal law, you will have to decide.''

 If found guilty he could face between three and 15 years in prison.

 Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp

 Image copyright AFP

 Construction began in 1940 on site that grew to 40 sq km (15 sq miles)

 About one million Jews were killed at the camp

 Other victims included Roma (Gypsies), disabled people, homosexuals, dissidents, non-Jewish Poles and Soviet prisoners

 Auschwitz 'may turn away visitors'

 How the Holocaust unfolded, year by year

 Why did ordinary people commit atrocities in the Holocaust?

 How did one Englishman save 669 children from the Holocaust? ||||| LUENEBURG, Germany — One of the last remaining survivors of Auschwitz confronted the death camp's so-called accountant on Wednesday, saying her forgiveness of Nazi crimes did not absolve the perpetrators from taking responsibility.

 As a 10-year-old, Eva Kor became prisoner A-7063 at Auschwitz — torn from her family and subjected to horrific medical experiments at the hands of Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazis' so-called Angel of Death.

 On Wednesday, the now 81-year-old was in court for the trial of 93-year-old Oskar Groening — charged as an accessory to the murder of 300,000 people at Auschwitz.

 "Did you know Josef Mengele?" the Hungarian native asked a fragile Groening. "Did you hear about his experiments?"

 Kor took the stand as the grandson of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess looked on. She started with a statement about the deaths of 119 of her relatives and told the court how she and her twin sister, Miriam, were torn apart from their family within 30 minutes of arriving at Auschwitz.

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 "We were huddled in our filthy bunk beds, crawling with lice and rats, we were starved for food, starved for human kindness, and starved for the love of the mothers and fathers we once had," she said.

 And then the experiments began.

 Kor said she and Miriam were one set of approximately 1,500 sets of twins subjected to Mengele's gruesome procedures.

 "On alternate days — Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays — we were brought to a lab, which I call the blood lab," she recalled. "They took blood from my left arm and gave me at least five injections into my right arm. Those were the deadly ones."

 Related: Is 'Accountant of Auschwitz' Guilty by Association?

 But the young Eva Moses, as she was called at the time, told the court she had a "fierce determination to live one more day, to survive one more experiment."

 Kor recounted Mengele once looking at her medical charts and laughing sarcastically. "Too bad she's so young," she recalled him saying. "She has only two weeks to live."

 She said: "I knew he was right, but I refused to die."

 Groening was impassive as Kor issued her statement.

 "How do you feel about my forgiving you and all the Nazis for what was done to me?" she also asked. The judge would not allow him to answer Kor's questions, citing court rules.

 "My forgiveness has nothing to do with the perpetrators. It is an act of self-healing, self-liberation, and self-empowerement," she explained. "My forgiveness does not absolve the perpetrators from taking responsibility for their actions, nor does it diminish my need and right to ask questions about what happened at Auschwitz."

 Her testimony on the second day of the trial followed evidence from Groening centering on the selection process for Jews arriving at Auschwitz.

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 He told the court there were just three occasions when he was on the railway platforms — saying it was not his regular duty — and that he had nothing to do with deciding who would live or die. There were two doctors at the head of the lines of disembarking Jews who decided who was fit for work or not, Groening testified.

 Those on board the trains "hadn't a clue" what was about to happen to them, Groening added.

 The charges against Groening relate to the period between May and July 1944 when 137 trains carrying roughly 425,000 Jews from Hungary arrived in Auschwitz.

 At least 300,000 of them were sent straight to the gas chambers, the indictment says. Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust. |||||

– A former Auschwitz guard being tried on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder has testified that it was clear to him Jews were not expected to leave the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland alive. "I couldn't imagine that" happening, former SS Sgt. Oskar Groening told the Lueneburg state court today during the third day of his trial, the dpa news agency reported. Groening earlier described a veritable traffic jam of trains arriving at the Nazi death camp, reports the BBC. "For the sake of order we waited until train one was entirely processed and finished," Groening testified; that processing involved marching most passengers directly into the gas chambers. The charges against him span from a May-to-July period of 1944 in which some 425,000 Hungarian Jews were sent to Auschwitz. Most were immediately killed. "Someone said that 5,000 people were processed in 24 hours but I didn't verify this," he said. "I didn't know." The 93-year-old's testimony came in response to questions from attorneys representing Auschwitz survivors who have joined the trial as co-plaintiffs, as allowed under German law. Yesterday saw testimony from Eva Kor, now 81, who arrived at Auschwitz as a 10-year-old. As a twin, she was experimented on by Dr. Josef Mengele, reports NBC News. "On alternate days—Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays—[she and sister Miriam] were brought to a lab. ... They took blood from my left arm and gave me at least five injections into my right arm. Those were the deadly ones." NBC reports Groening was expressionless throughout her testimony. He faces three to 15 years in prison if found guilty.


– For decades, conspiracy theorists have claimed the famous "backyard photo" of Lee Harvey Oswald, which shows him holding the same type of rifle used to assassinate JFK, is a fake—a claim that Oswald himself made when he was arrested. But thanks to a scientist who has studied this photo before and stated previously it was "highly improbable that anyone could have created such a perfect forgery with the technology available in 1963," that claim has now been debunked. A new study out of Dartmouth, published in the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security, and Law, used sophisticated 3D imaging technology to analyze key details of the photo, including Oswald's pose, and found that the photo is indeed authentic, a press release notes. "Our detailed analysis of Oswald's pose, the lighting and shadows, and the rifle in his hands refutes the argument of photo tampering," Hany Farid, the study's senior author, says. Both the Warren Commission and a special House committee on assassinations had already found photo tampering hadn't taken place, and Farid had done studies in 2009 and 2010 that determined the photo's lighting and shadows were indeed feasible, per Phys.org. But some said that Oswald's pose in the photo, in which he appears to be standing somewhat off-balance, was a physical impossibility, so this time around Farid and his team put the photo through a rigorous 3D stability analysis. By adding appropriate mass little by little to each section of a 3D model of Oswald, they were able to examine Oswald's balance to show he certainly could have stood that way. The study also found, once again, that the lighting, shadows, and rifle length were also plausible. "With a simple adjustment to the height and weight, the 3D human model that we created can be used to forensically analyze the pose, stability, and shadows in any image of people," Farid says in the release. (The CIA has admitted to covering up JFK's assassination, though.)

Expand this summary.

A new Dartmouth study confirms the authenticity of the famous backyard photo of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the same type of rifle used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Credit: Warren Commission A new Dartmouth study confirms the authenticity of the famous backyard photo of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the same type of rifle used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.

 The findings refute continued claims that the photo was faked because Oswald's pose is physically implausible. The study, which uses a new digital image forensics technique and a 3-D model of Oswald developed by the Dartmouth researchers, appears in the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law.

 "Our detailed analysis of Oswald's pose, the lighting and shadows and the rifle in his hands refutes the argument of photo tampering," says senior author Hany Farid, a professor of computer science and a pioneering researcher in digital forensics whose team develops mathematical and computational techniques to detect tampering in photos, videos, audios and documents.

 Oswald was killed before his trial, so he never gave a full accounting of the assassination, which fueled theories that he was part of a conspiracy. The theories point to purported inconsistencies in the events of Nov. 22, 1963, and in the evidence collected against Oswald. One such example is a photograph of Oswald in his backyard holstering a pistol and holding a rifle in one hand and Marxist newspapers in the other. The photo was particularly damning because it showed Oswald holding the same type of rifle that was used to assassinate Kennedy.

 At the time of his arrest, Oswald claimed the photo was fake. In addition, it has long been argued that the lighting and shadows in the photo are inconsistent; that Oswald's facial features are inconsistent with other photos of him; that the size of the rifle is inconsistent with the known length of that type of rifle; and that Oswald's pose is physically implausible (it appears as if he is standing off balance).

 Dartmouth researchers used new digital image forensics and 3-D modeling techniques to confirm the authenticity of the famous backyard photo of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the same type of rifle used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Credit: Hany Farid

 The Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded claims of photo tampering were unwarranted. Also, Farid's studies in 2009 and 2010 refuted the claim that the lighting and shadows are inconsistent, but these studies did not address claims that Oswald's pose is physically implausible. In the new study, Farid and his team conducted a 3-D stability analysis to determine if this claim is warranted.

 Dartmouth researchers built and posed a physiologically plausible 3-D model of Lee Harvey Oswald to match his appearance in the famous backyard photo. Their analysis of the 3-D model revealed that although Oswald appears off-balance, his pose is stable. Credit: Hany Farid

 Farid teamed with Assistant Professor Emily Whiting, who specializes in architectural geometry, computer-aided design and 3-D fabrication. With the help of graduate student Srivamshi Pittala, they built a physiologically plausible 3-D model of Oswald and posed this model to match his appearance in the backyard photo. By adding the appropriate mass to each part of the 3-D model, they were able to perform a balance analysis on the 3-D model. This analysis revealed that although Oswald appears off-balance, his pose is stable. The analysis also revealed that the lighting and shadows are physically plausible and the length of the rifle is consistent with the length of the rifle used to kill the president.

 "Our analysis refutes purported evidence of manipulation in the Oswald photo, but more generally we believe that the type of detailed 3-D modeling performed here can be a powerful forensic tool in reasoning about the physical plausibility of an image," Farid says. "With a simple adjustment to the height and weight, the 3-D human model that we created can be used to forensically analyze the pose, stability and shadows in any image of people."

 Explore further: Professor finds that iconic Oswald photo was not faked (w/ Video) ||||| The PDF file you selected should load here if your Web browser has a PDF reader plug-in installed (for example, a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader).

 If you would like more information about how to print, save, and work with PDFs, Highwire Press provides a helpful Frequently Asked Questions about PDFs.

 Alternatively, you can download the PDF file directly to your computer, from where it can be opened using a PDF reader. To download the PDF, click the Download link above. ||||| 2009 study from Dartmouth that analysed the lighting and shadows of the Lee Harvey Oswald photo Dartmouth

 One of the most controversial photos in history is authentic, according to 3D analysis by Dartmouth College. The seemingly damning photo of Lee Harvey Oswald -- who was arrested and charged for the assassination of US president John F Kennedy, but died before trial -- pictures him holding the same type of rifle that killed JFK, and a couple of Marxist newspapers.

 Dartmouth College

 For over forty-five years the photo's authenticity has been disputed. Oswald said it was fake. And conspiracy theorists -- who believe the assassination was part of a government plot -- cite it as a key piece of evidence in their case. The claim goes that Oswald's pose is physically implausible, and that there are inconsistencies in the lighting, shadows, geometry, and proportions of the image.

 Any evidence of tampering in the photo would naturally be used as evidence for a conspiracy -- as unlikely as that remains. But two separate US inquiries have dismissed such claims. And now a study from Dartmouth College has used digital image forensics and 3D modelling to confirm the inquiries' findings, and prove that Oswald's pose in the picture is indeed plausible.

 Dartmouth College

 "Our detailed analysis of Oswald's pose, the lighting and shadows, and the rifle in his hands refutes the argument of photo tampering," said Henry Farid, senior author of the study.

 The researchers built a realistic 3D model of Oswald and manipulated it to stand in the same pose as the real Oswald in the photo. They added mass to different parts of the model in a "balance analysis" to see if the model remained stable. It did. They also confirmed that the rifle length is consistent with the one used to murder President Kennedy.

 Don't miss

 Farid and his team have previously analysed the lighting and shadows in the image -- and concluded the patterns are realistic.

 "It is highly improbable that anyone could have created such a perfect forgery with the technology available in 1963," said Farid in 2009. "As our digital forensic tools become more sophisticated, we increasingly have the ability to apply them to historic photos in an attempt to resolve some long-standing mysteries." ||||| HANOVER, N.H. - A new Dartmouth study confirms the authenticity of the famous backyard photo of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the same type of rifle used to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.

 The findings refute continued claims that the photo was faked because Oswald's pose is physically implausible. The study, which uses a new digital image forensics technique and a 3-D model of Oswald developed by the Dartmouth researchers, appears in the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law. A PDF and photos are available on request.

 "Our detailed analysis of Oswald's pose, the lighting and shadows and the rifle in his hands refutes the argument of photo tampering," says senior author Hany Farid, a professor of computer science and a pioneering researcher in digital forensics whose team develops mathematical and computational techniques to detect tampering in photos, videos, audios and documents.

 Oswald was killed before his trial, so he never gave a full accounting of the assassination, which fueled theories that he was part of a conspiracy. The theories point to purported inconsistencies in the events of Nov. 22, 1963, and in the evidence collected against Oswald. One such example is a photograph of Oswald in his backyard holstering a pistol and holding a rifle in one hand and Marxist newspapers in the other. The photo was particularly damning because it showed Oswald holding the same type of rifle that was used to assassinate Kennedy.

 At the time of his arrest, Oswald claimed the photo was fake. In addition, it has long been argued that the lighting and shadows in the photo are inconsistent; that Oswald's facial features are inconsistent with other photos of him; that the size of the rifle is inconsistent with the known length of that type of rifle; and that Oswald's pose is physically implausible (it appears as if he is standing off balance).

 The Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded claims of photo tampering were unwarranted. Also, Farid's studies in 2009 and 2010 refuted the claim that the lighting and shadows are inconsistent, but these studies did not address claims that Oswald's pose is physically implausible. In the new study, Farid and his team conducted a 3-D stability analysis to determine if this claim is warranted.

 Farid teamed with Assistant Professor Emily Whiting, who specializes in architectural geometry, computer-aided design and 3-D fabrication. With the help of graduate student Srivamshi Pittala, they built a physiologically plausible 3-D model of Oswald and posed this model to match his appearance in the backyard photo. By adding the appropriate mass to each part of the 3-D model, they were able to perform a balance analysis on the 3-D model. This analysis revealed that although Oswald appears off-balance, his pose is stable. The analysis also revealed that the lighting and shadows are physically plausible and the length of the rifle is consistent with the length of the rifle used to kill the president.

 "Our analysis refutes purported evidence of manipulation in the Oswald photo, but more generally we believe that the type of detailed 3-D modeling performed here can be a powerful forensic tool in reasoning about the physical plausibility of an image," Farid says. "With a simple adjustment to the height and weight, the 3-D human model that we created can be used to forensically analyze the pose, stability and shadows in any image of people."

 ###

 Professor Hany Farid is available to comment at farid@cs.dartmouth.edu. |||||


Summarize this article:

West Palm Beach police busted a juvenile who was posing as a doctor — with a white lab coat and all — for a month at St. Mary's Medical Center.

 Police said they got a call on Jan. 13 about a juvenile walking around in a white doctor's lab coat and carrying a stethoscope who was telling people he was a doctor.

 The juvenile's age is redacted from the incident report. Police and hospital staff agreed to not charge him with a crime.

 Staff at the medical center's OB/GYN office was alerted by a patient that a young male who "appeared to be a child" was dressed as a doctor and was inside an exam room. The patient said he had a lab coat with the St. Mary's logo and "anesthesiology" stitched on the front, according to the incident report.

 A security guard told police the boy is known around the hospital as a doctor. The guard said he had seen the "doctor" around for about a month, according to the report.

 Another security guard told police she had seen the boy gain access to secured areas of the hospital in the past week. Security footage showed the boy entering the lobby from the parking lot. Officers saw the car parked outside and could see a white lab coat on a hanger in the back seat.

 When interviewed by police, the teen told them that he has been a doctor for "years," and that his family could vouch for him.

 One of the OB/GYN's said he had never seen the boy at the hospital before. Later he told police he discovered a note from the boy on his desk, asking the doctor whether he could "shadow" him, according to the report.

 The boy's mother told police he is under the care of a doctor for an undisclosed illness but refuses to take medicine, according to the report.

 kjacobson@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6547 or Twitter @katejacobson ||||| WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Police say a teenager in Florida was “playing doctor” inside a real medical facility.

 The teen, who posed as a doctor, was able to walk the halls of St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

 Police say he wore a white coat with the St. Mary’s logo.

 “I think it’s just crazy. I can’t believe he got away with it for a month,” Stacy Morales said.

 The impostor was busted while wearing a stethoscope around his neck and a mask on his face.

 At the time, he was in an examination room with a patient.

 “He presented himself with a patient of our practice and introduced himself as Dr. Robinson,” Dr. Sebastian Kent said, an OB/GYN with St. Mary’s Medical Center.

 According to the police report, the teen was inside the examination room with a patient when Dr. Kent conducted an exam.

 “The first thing I thought was, ‘I am getting, I am really getting old because these young doctors look younger every year,” Dr. Kent said.

 The real doctor called security, who then called police.

 Even security guards around the hospital had seen him for weeks and believed he was someone who belonged there.

 “I saw him outside our office building with policemen surrounding him. I believe they had him in handcuffs. There was quite a commotion,” Dr. Kent said.

 The hospital said in a statement:

 “The individual never had contact with any hospital patients and did not gain access to any patient care areas of the hospital at any time. The hospital immediately notified local authorities, who took the individual into custody, and we are cooperating with their ongoing investigation.”

 The teen’s mother rushed to the scene, saying her son has an illness.

 She said he had not been taking his medication.

 Police and the hospital have decided not to charge the teen. |||||

– Apparently, the only thing necessary to pass yourself off as a doctor—an OB/GYN, no less—is an official-looking white coat. Fox 13 reports that a teenager pulled it off for a month at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. The center insists that the unnamed juvenile never had contact with patients, but he apparently came close. A police reports says the ruse finally came to a halt when the teen was inside an exam room with a doctor and his patient. “The first thing I thought was, ‘I am getting, I am really getting old because these young doctors look younger every year,” recalls Dr. Sebastian Kent. The suspicious doctor called authorities, and the youth was taken into custody. His mother later explained that her son has an undisclosed illness for which he's been refusing to take medication, and no charges were filed, reports the Orlando Sun-Sentinel. Based on interviews with security guards, "Dr. Robinson" had been walking the halls of the facility for about a month, and he had gotten into secured areas. "Terrifying," writes a blogger at Jezebel.


Write a summary based on this article:

Shane Bauer (2nd L), Sarah Shourd (3rd L) and Josh Fattal (2nd R) sit with their mothers during a news conference in Tehran May 20, 2010.

 TEHRAN |

 TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have delayed the trial of two Americans arrested near the Iraqi border in July 2009, a judiciary spokesman said on Monday, less than a week before they were due their first day in court.

 Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who say they were hiking in northern Iraq and were not aware they had crossed into Iran, are at the center of a much bigger dispute between the United States and Tehran, which have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

 Iran's judiciary spokesman said the trial could not go ahead as scheduled because of the absence of a third suspect, Sarah Shourd, who was arrested with the men but released on $500,000 bail in September this year and returned to the United States.

 "Due to the absence of the third person, the court has delayed the trial time so that in between this time the third person can return to Iran or, in the event of her refusal to appear, her case be dealt with differently," Qolamhossein Mohseni-Ejei was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

 Their lawyer said he was not aware the trial had been postponed.

 "It is illogical. If they want to delay the trial, they should announce it in a notification to me or to Sarah Shourd, but they didn't," Masoud Shafiee told Reuters.

 "So the trial should be held on Saturday then the judge will decide whether the trial will be delayed or not."

 Shourd was released shortly before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York. He said letting her leave jail was a humanitarian gesture due to concerns about her health. She denied the spying charge.

 SWAP

 The trial delay comes as Washington and other powers are trying to prod Tehran to return to talks this month about its nuclear activities which they fear are aimed at making an atomic bomb.

 Iran, which says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful, has said it is ready to restart the talks which stalled last year, but has yet to agree a date and has even suggested the talks should not address the nuclear issue.

 Ahmadinejad suggested in February that the Americans might be released as part of a prisoner swap for Iranians he says have been abducted or tricked into going to the United States and jailed without due legal process.

 One of those Iranians, a woman jailed for trafficking defense hardware to Iran, gave a telephone interview to Iran's state-run English language television channel on Monday in which she said she had been tortured.

 "They took me to the prison and they started to torture me in every possible way, more especially, you know, mentally," Shahrazad Mir Gholikhan told Press TV. She did not give any further details of her ill-treatment.

 Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said he hoped publicity about the case would help secure release of Iranian prisoners in U.S. jails. "Iran will pursue all channels regarding the matter," he was quoted by Fars news agency as saying. He did not mention the possibility of a prisoner swap. ||||| Besides stating that the three hikers were captured in Iraq, the American military report, by an anonymous official, also said, “The lack of coordination on the part of these hikers, particularly after being forewarned, indicates an intent to agitate and create publicity regarding international policies on Iran.”

 Ms. Shourd said that she was mystified by that conclusion. The three had no idea they were near the border and had not been warned about anything, she said. “Those claims are illogical and unsubstantiated. It is ridiculous to claim that mountain climbers would be agitating along a border.”

 Photo

 The United States State Department has never suggested the version published by WikiLeaks, she said, always maintaining that it did not know how their arrest happened.

 The State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, confirmed that on Sunday. “We don’t know whether they had two feet on one side or the other or one foot on each,” he said. “All we know is Iran has held them far too long.”

 Ms. Shourd described what began as a relaxed overnight camping trip, undertaken by three reunited friends from Berkeley happy to escape to the fresh, green Kurdish mountains from the sweltering Syrian plains.

 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.

 She had been teaching English in Damascus, Syria, where Mr. Bauer was working as a freelance journalist while both studied Arabic. Mr. Fattal came to visit, and they set off to Kurdistan after reading on a Web site that it was safe and listening to a friend rave about the place.

 Various Kurds suggested they visit Ahmed Awa, a spectacular mountain waterfall where local people camp overnight. The hikers had no idea it abutted Iran, Ms. Shourd said, and twice encountered Kurdish pesh merga soldiers who greeted them warmly. The music and laughter around scores of campfires at the waterfall gave no sense of imminent danger.

 The next day, they trekked up a dirt road past the waterfall. After a lunchtime nap, a soldier with a gun appeared on a ridge above them and gestured for them to keep climbing. He was the first person they saw on the mountain, Ms. Shourd said.

 Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 About 500 yards farther up, with no sign to indicate the border, a guard standing by a stone hut gestured for them to approach. A news report that a shot had been fired over their heads was wrong, she said.

 At a second, larger structure, according to Ms. Shourd, more guards repeating in Persian, “Mushkil nadereh,” or “no problem,” blocked their attempt to run away and ignored their pleas to return to Iraq. Four days and several moves later they ended up in Evin prison, where Mr. Bauer and Mr. Fattal remain.

 “I think we were extremely unlucky,” said Ms. Shourd, concluding that their one mistake was hiking too far. “I guess I never believed there would be so many hundreds of people close to a border.” |||||

– The three American hikers detained by Iran weren’t captured in Iraq, says Sarah Shourd: They were beckoned over the border by an armed soldier, she tells the New York Times in an effort to set the WikiLeaks version of the story straight. “We did not actually enter Iran until he gestured to us. We were confused and worried and wanted to go back." In Shourd's fullest account of her ordeal to date, she goes into detail about their fateful overnight camping trip, describing "scores of campfires" near the waterfall they were hiking to—which abutted Iran. “I think we were extremely unlucky,” says Shourd. “I guess I never believed there would be so many hundreds of people close to a border.” Her interview with the Times comes ahead of a court date for her fellow hikers, which was set for Saturday but has been delayed by Iran until Shourd “can return to Iran or,” if she refuses, her case can “be dealt with differently,” said an Iranian official. But her lawyer says the trial should go forward; neither he nor Shourd, he tells Reuters, were notified of the change.


Article:

 Ty is a 6-year-old brindle and white Bull Terrier (Photo via Frank Romano)

 A man is searching for his dog after he went missing Friday night, apparently from a cargo area at LAX.

 Frank Romano said he was flying to Tampa out of LAX via Delta Airlines Friday night with his family and his 6-year-old bull terrier, Ty. Ty was in the cargo area in a carrier Romano said he had purchased from PetCo. Romano's family boarded the plane, but a Delta employee escorted him off the plane and told him that an hour earlier, Ty had chewed through the door of his pet kennel and escaped. Romano found this odd.

 "I don't know how he could've bit through his kennel though when it had a metal door and was made of hard plastic," he said.

 Romano says the story about what happened to his "best friend" gets even more bizarre from there. For one, he doesn't understand why the Delta employee didn't tell him about Ty's escape immediately. Also, he said he was told that the kennel Ty escaped from would appear in baggage claim, but it never did.

 Romano said he searched around LAX, but Ty never turned up. The next day, his family flew to Tampa as planned. Romano has called Delta several times, but the situation has only become more confusing.

 "They give us the run around," he told LAist. "Even gave us a number to the cargo place at Tampa airport saying he was there. We called and said they had no dogs."

 If this story sounds odd, you might be disheartened to know that it's not uncommon. Delta apparently has a history of losing pets. The airline has allegedly lost so many dogs under their care that someone created a Change.org petition with over 2,000 signatures to demand they take responsibility.

 In 2011, a New York man bought a puppy in Alabama, then arranged to have the puppy sent back to New York along with him. Delta temporarily misplaced the dog, then found it in Atlanta. In 2011, a German Shepherd headed from California to Germany to join its owner—a couple in the Army—got loose in Atlanta while under Delta's care. That dog was later hit by a car and died. Another unsatisfied Delta customer reported that he and his girlfriend had adopted a stray dog in Mexico in 2010, spent money nursing him to health and then made plans to bring the dog back to their home in Canada with them. Delta allegedly also gave them the run-around as to where the dog was with a similar story about an escape, but couldn't seem to produce the dog.

 Delta also mixed up two children in 2010—a boy and a girl—sending one to Boston and the other to Cleveland when it was meant to be the other way around.

 Romano is still looking for Ty, and still doesn't have any concrete answers from Delta. A representative at Delta told LAist that they would look into this and get back to us tomorrow. We're hoping we see Ty and Romano reunited soon.

 Update, November 7, 12 p.m.: Delta has provided us with the following statement:

 Delta continues to investigate what happened, but early indications show that procedures were followed, and the dog may have compromised the kennel on its own. Delta immediately worked with LAX airport teams and the customer to locate the dog but was unsuccessful. We remain in contact with this customer, and we are fully supporting the search for their pet. Delta understands that pets are important members of the family and regrets this occurred while this pet was entrusted to our care. ||||| Update: In December 2010, Delta lost yet another dog. This time, a German Shepherd mix named Nala was being flown to Germany. During her layover in Atlanta, the airlines called the owner, saying she was trying to break out of her crate so they wanted to keep her overnight. The next day, they suddenly couldn't find the owner's number once Nala escaped. She was found dead along the highway about a week later. "It is really hard for me to believe their story," said the owner. But, like the others, she hasn't been able to receive any answers from Delta.

 Update: In November 2010, more problems were reported with Delta transporting dogs. While flying a family's two dogs from Germany to Washington state, via Atlanta, one died en route and the other was "misrouted" several times before finally being reunited with her family.

 The fact that Delta could so egregiously mishandle a dog after the loss of her companion and all the publicity around the other cases of incompetent animal transport shows that they are not committed to safe pet travel. Delta Airlines needs to investigate these cases, as well as conduct a review to update their policies and procedures around animal transport.

 *****

 In May 2010, Delta Airlines lost a dog who had been rescued in Mexico and was on his way to his new home in Canada. After giving the owners the run-around, they refunded the pet fee in the form of a $200 voucher. After public outrage, they offered more airline vouchers and reimbursement for what the couple had spent on vet care in Mexico. The dog has not been found, and Delta hasn't offered help to the rescue groups on-the-ground who are still looking for him.

 In June 2010, a week after sending two kids to the wrong cities, they flew a puppy to California who was supposed to be headed for Maine. Again, Delta has not been forthcoming with information on what happened, whether the puppy - who was diagnosed by a vet with dehydration and pneumonia - received any care or attention from staff, how the mistake happened, and whether they'll compensate the owner in any reasonable way.

 It is unacceptable for Delta Airlines to be so careless when transporting live animals. There's no amount of money - or airline vouchers - that can make up for a lost pet. Tell Delta to launch an internal investigation on what went wrong and how they will prevent it from happening again in the future. |||||
What is a summary?

– A man is trying to find his best friend after Delta Airlines lost track of the 6-year-old bull terrier Friday night. "I keep praying and wishing for him to come back," Frank Romano tells ABC News. Delta has told him they're looking for the dog, Ty, who seems to have gone missing at LAX when Romano and his family were headed to Tampa. After Romano boarded the plane, Delta staff told him Ty was missing, having bitten through the door of his kennel. Romano finds that confusing "when it had a metal door and was made of hard plastic," he tells the LAist. He searched the airport without finding the dog. The next day, he and his family headed to Tampa, where he is now. Meanwhile, he says he's received mixed reports from Delta, who at first told him they'd found the dog; then, "a few minutes later," said they hadn't. "They give us the run-around," he says. "Even gave us a number to the cargo place at Tampa airport saying he was there. We called and (they) said they had no dogs." Delta has lost enough dogs in the past to prompt a Change.org petition, LAist notes, pointing to three different incidents. "If I could I would go back to LA in a heartbeat," Romano says. "I bet I could find Ty faster than Delta can."