Polin Pumandele just wanted to sell some firewood to buy food to eat.
Instead, around 9:30 in the morning, a gang in the middle of a street in Bangui, Central African Republic murdered him in cold blood.
Why? Because he was a Christian. No other reason.
A Washington Post reporter was standing near the attack as the mob of Muslims grabbed Pumandele and slit his throat before throwing his body in a ditch to watch him die. The group threatened the reporter until he fled the area.
After Pumandele was dead, the gang loaded his body into a wheelbarrow, pushed it to the nearest Red Cross office and dumped the corpse on the doorstep.
According to sources connected to international peacekeeping forces in the area, the Muslims tried to claim that Pumandele had been part of a group that threw grenades into a mosque and thus his murder was justified. However, an investigation showed there was no grenade attack on the mosque.
The violence in the country is still onging despite 6,500 French and African soldiers in the country that try and maintain peace. Christians are being killed by Muslims on a daily basis.
North Dakota authorities are investigating the death of woman who was found in her home with an empty propane tank.
Debbie Dogskin’s body was discovered Tuesday morning at her Fort Yates home located on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
Temperatures on the reservation dropped to 1 degree below zero overnight according to Sioux County Sheriff Frank Landeis.
Autopsy results are expected today, but Landeis believes Dogskin “froze to death.”
Tribal officials have declared a state of emergency due to about 5,000 homes on the reservation are heated by propane. According to Tribal Chairman, Dave Archambault II, many residents are struggling to afford the more expensive fuel due to the high prices.
Chinese scientists have taken the very rare step of making a public announcement concerning a new strain of bird flu.
The Chinese government usually tries to keep news about a new bird flu strain from being released into the public until it is a major health issue. However, a new strain of the virus called H10N8 apparently has shaken health officials to the level they are acting quickly to warn the public.
A 73-year-old woman from Nanchang City in southeast China died after being the first person found with the virus and a second person is confirmed to be infected with the virus. The scientists say the quick transmission makes it a more likely possibility the virus, which they believe transferred from wild birds to chickens, has mutated into a form that can be easily transmitted from birds to humans.
The report of the woman’s death published in the Lancet medical journal said “the pandemic potential of this novel virus should not be underestimated.”
Dr. John McCauley of the World Health Organization said that H10N8 does not cause serious disease in poultry and thus it is difficult to detect. While they don’t believe the virus would transmit well between humans, Dr. McCauley admitted there was not enough information to make a definitive claim.
The World Health Organization has released a report showing a dramatic increase in cancer is likely over the next 20 years and that most of the cancer cases will strike in the emerging world.
The World Cancer Report shows a jump in new cancer cases of 1.4 million in the four years between 2008 and 2012. Of the 14.1 million new cases in 2012, 58% of the patients died from their disease.
However, the most shocking part of the report is that the WHO predicts cancer rates will increase as much as 70% in the next 20 years reaching an expected level of 25 million a year. Using the 58% mortality rate from 2012, that would mean 14.5 million cancer deaths in 2032.
The biggest growth in cancer rates will not be in the countries that currently face the most cases and have the strongest medical systems. The WHO reports says emerging nations with poor economies will see surges from cancers triggered by infections like cervical cancer and from tobacco, alcohol and processed food use.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men while breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women.
The gunman who walked into a Maryland shopping mall and shot two people inside a skateboard store reportedly was just looking to kill.
Police say that Darion Aguilar had a journal where he wrote that he was looking to kill people and that he was ready to die. The journal didn’t name anyone specifically that Aguilar wanted to kill but he mentioned having a “general hatred of others.”
He also wrote in the journal that he needed to seek help from a mental health professional but that he had not talked with his family about that need.
Detectives who have been going through Aguilar’s computer, cell phone and journal say that there is absolutely no connection to the two people he gunned down. There is also nothing that indicates why he chose the skateboard shop Zumiez for his rampage.
Police released new information yesterday that said Aguilar assembled his shotgun in the dressing room of the store and then opened fire.
A new report from three international war crimes prosecutors says the Syrian government committed the “systematic killing” of detainees under their control.
The report, which was leaked to the Guardian newspaper, shows that 11,000 detainees between March 2011 and August 2013 died at the hands of government jailers and military officials.
The source was a military police photographer who defected from the country in 2013. Before leaving the country, he collected memory sticks that contained thousands of photos of detainees killed while in custody.
The defector who is identified only as “Caesar” told investigators that he photographed as many as 50 bodies a day. He said the purpose of the photos was to allow a death certificate to be produced while denying their families access to the body. The cause of death was usually listed as a heart attack or “breathing problems.”
The report was commissioned by a London law firm on behalf of the government of Qatar which has claimed Syrian President Bashir al-Assad has committed multiple war crimes during the country’s current civil war.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Friday that over the counter laxatives could be a threat to health.
The release from the FDA said that laxatives are potentially dangerous if consumers don’t follow dosing instructions.
At least 13 deaths have been reported to the FDA because of laxative use.
The FDA said that adults over 55 or anyone with kidney disease should be very careful to use laxatives without a doctor’s approval.
“The bottom line is that these products are safe for otherwise healthy adults and older children for whom dosing instructions are provided on the Drug Facts label as long as they follow these dosing instructions and don’t take the product more often, or in greater amounts, than the label instructs,” Dr. Mona Khurana of the FDA said.
Wildlife officials in Utah have solved a mystery revolving around a cluster of dead bald eagles.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says lab tests confirmed that 27 bald eagles found in a small area all died from West Nile Virus.
The statement from the DWR guesses that the birds ate smaller birds who had been migrating through the area which were carriers of the virus. The cluster of birds infected include five other eagles who are being treated at a wildlife rehabilitation center.
The agency says the migration of the feeder birds is ending decreasing the likelihood of finding more dead birds. However, members of the public are encouraged to avoid contact with any dead or sick bird they may find.
Security for the February Sochi Russia Olympic Games is being called into question after back-to-back days of terror attacks in a major transportation hub north of the Olympic city.
A deadly homicide bombing on a bus in Volgograd has killed at least 11 and wounded dozens the day after a female homicide bomber detonated a backpack of explosives and shrapnel at the security checkpoint for the city’s main train station. At least 17 people are dead from that attack and hospital officials say the number of critically wounded patients means the death toll is likely to rise.
No group has claimed responsibility for the terror attacks.
Investigators say there is strong evidence linking the two attacks.
Volgograd is a major railroad hub for the region and thousands pass through the city every day heading to Moscow. The town is expected to be a major route for international visitors who will fly into Moscow and then travel to Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
At least one terrorist group has vowed to carry out attacks on the Winter Olympics.
A strain of bird flu that was discovered in 1965 has infected a human being for the first time.
A 73-year-old Chinese woman died earlier this month of respiratory failure and a post-mortem examination showed she had contracted H10N8 bird flu. The H10N8 strain was discovered in birds in 1965 but had never been found in a human being.
Doctors said the woman was admitted with severe pneumonia, high blood pressure, neuromuscular problems and a heart attack. They had not suspected bird flu at the time of her admission.
Family members in contact with the woman have not shown symptoms of the virus. Officials say the woman had contact with animals at a live bird market four days before she fell ill.
Chinese health officials and the World Health Organization say they will be increasing their surveillance of hospitals to look for more potential H10N8 victims.
This is the second new bird flu virus to infect humans in China in 2013. H7N9, which has killed 45 of the 137 people it has infected, was discovered in March 2013.
