Assassination attempt on Canadian Prime Minister

A gunman shot and killed a soldier at a war memorial in Ottawa, before police engaged in a gun battle inside the parliament building.

Police confirmed a gunman was shot dead, but Canada's capital remains on alert as they hunt for more suspects.

At a press conference, police said the situation was "ongoing" and "fluid".

It came hours after Canada raised its terror threat level, after another soldier was killed on Monday in a hit-and-run attack by a Muslim convert.

The country earlier this month announced plans to join the US-led campaign of air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.

But there is no confirmation any of this week's attacks are linked to IS or the new military campaign.

Citing unnamed Canadian officials, US and Canadian news agencies identified the dead gunman as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

The latest incident began when soldiers guarding the memorial came under fire from a man carrying a rifle on Wednesday morning.

Shots fired at War Memorial at 9:52am today; one person injured," Ottawa Police tweeted.

A statement by Ottawa Police  later confirmed the soldier had died from his injuries. He has been identified in the Canadian media as Cpl Nathan Cirillo.

Minutes later, dozens of shots were fired inside the parliament building, Canadian MP Marc Garneau toldnews agencies.

Canadian parliamentary waiter Alain Merizier described seeing a dark car stop outside parliament's centre block and a driver with "a long gun" get out and run inside the entrance of the building, pursued by a parliamentary officer.

He said: "I was astonished more than frightened. You don't have time to be afraid."

MP John McKay described the moment the gunman attacked parliament: "There was a pop, pop, pop sound so the guards ushered us to the back of the building.

"How the gunman was able to walk down the hall of honour inside parliament with a rifle will become an area of investigation." Prime Minister Stephen Harper was addressing the cabinet at the time but he was safely evacuated. He later condemned the incident as a "despicable attack".

Police stormed the building and the gunman was shot dead in a heavy exchange of fire. It has not been confirmed that he was the one who shot the soldier at the memorial.

Multiple members of parliament credited Sergeant-at-arms Kevin Vickers, 58, with shooting the assailant dead.

"MPs and [Parliament] Hill staff owe their safety, even lives, to Sergeant at Arms Kevin Vickers who shot attacker just outside the MPs' caucus rooms," New Democrat MP Craig Scott tweeted.

In addition to Cpl Cirillo, at least three other people were injured in the incident. Ottawa Hospital said later on Wednesday that they had released three patients.

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The singing NUN

A singing nun who won the Italian version of the The Voice has released a cover of Madonna's Like a Virgin for her debut single.

Sister Cristina Scuccia, who won the singing contest in June, says she chose the song herself "without any intention to provoke or shock", but says she is ready for any criticism. "It's a song about the ability of love to make people new. To redeem them from their past. And that's how I wanted to interpret it.

Far from copying the original upbeat pop song, the 26-year-old Sicilian has turned the track into a ballad. And where Madonna's video saw her writhing around in a Venetian gondola while apparently being pursued by a lion, the Italian's effort is a more sedate affair. Sister Cristina says she doesn't think Madonna has heard this new take on her song. "But I'd love to see her face when she does, and when they tell her it's a nun singing

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a Blind act saves ManU

Daley Blind's late second half strike helped a lackluster Manchester United salvage a 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns in the Premier League.

United, who have now gone six games without an away win in the Premier League, their worst run for 18 years, looked sloppy in the opening stages and Stephane Sessegnon's well-executed finish put the home side ahead at halftime.

Substitute Marouane Fellaini equalized for United two minutes after the break, but Saido Berahino put West Brom back in front before Blind's low strike in the 87th minute.

A draw for United keeps them sixth with 12 points from eight games, while West Brom move up to 14th with nine points. Looking at the league table, it appears that Blind saves Manchester from slipping down further with a game next week this weekend at Chelsea. it simply means that a lose at chelsea will give the likes of Arsenal, Totenham etc to move ahead of machester thereby increasing their woes for the season. below is a snapshot of the current first 10 teams on the league table.

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Bombing in Irag

A series of bombs targeting restaurants across the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 21 people, police and medics said.

Twelve people were killed in Baghdad's northern Talibiya district on Tuesday when a car bomb blew up directly in front of a restaurant and another in a parking area.

A homemade bomb exploded close to a restaurant in Baghdad's Sheikh Omar neighbourhood, killing two civilians, and two more blasts near restaurants in the south of the capital left a further seven people dead, police and medical sources said.

The bombings are the latest in a series targeting members of Iraq's Shia majority who are considered heretics by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

ISIL has overrun large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria and surged towards Baghdad in June after seizing the northern city of Mosul but have not captured the capital. in a similar attack Kurdish fighters in the battle for the Syrian town of Kobane weathered a fresh onslaught by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as they awaited promised reinforcements from Iraq.

The Kurdish militia faced fierce attacks on Tuesday, fresh from heavy battles on Monday evening in which ISIL appeared to be trying to cut off the border with Turkey before the reinforcements could arrive.

This account is according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who also reported that coalition forces carried out further air strikes overnight, following weeks of attacks in and around Kobane.

Ankara's announcement on Monday that it would facilitate Kurdish forces from Iraq crossing its border with Syria to relieve Kobane's beleaguered defenders marked a major shift of policy and was swiftly welcomed by the US. Kobane has become a crucial symbolic battleground in the war against ISIL, which is fighting to extend areas under its control in Iraq and Syria, where it has declared an Islamic "caliphate" that has not been widely-recognised. An influx of well-trained Peshmerga fighters into Kobane could be a major boost for the Syrian Kurds.

Iraqi Kurdish officials have said they would provide training, although any forces sent would be Syrian Kurds. The US has also stepped up its commitment to the town's defence in recent days, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying it would be "irresponsible" and "morally very difficult" not to help.

Three C-130 cargo aircraft carried out what the US military called "multiple" successful drops of supplies early on Monday, including arms provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq.

Kurdish forces defending Kobane have welcomed the moves and issued appeals for more help.

The supplies were "intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobane," the US military said. 

ISIL lost at least five of its fighters to air strikes on Monday and a further 12 in ground battles, including two of its members who were suicide bombers, the monitoring group said.

Five Kurdish fighters were also killed.

A senior administration official said Monday's airdrop was in recognition of the "impressive" resistance put up by the Kurds and the losses they were inflicting on ISIL.

But US commanders said the top priority remains Iraq, where ISIL swept through much of the Sunni Arab heartland north and west of Baghdad in June and both government and Kurdish forces are under pressure.

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Bring back our girls

Abuja, Nigeria - Six months after the armed group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 Nigerian girls from a boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok, 219 remain in captivity after 57 escaped.

That may come as a surprise to many because the April 14 mass abduction that drew global shock, condemnation, and media attention has since been largely forgotten - except in Chibok that is.

Every day at Unity Fountain in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, family members of the girls, community members, and citizens in solidarity gather to chant the message that was heard around the world last April: "Bring back our girls."

None of the young women so far have been rescued, despite a global #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign that went viral and garnered support from such high-profile figures as the US president's wife, Michelle Obama and Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai.

World leaders from countries including the United States, United Kingdom, France, China, Canada and Israel offered assistance to Nigeria to free the schoolgirls, but to date no diplomatic or military action has secured their release. As far as our girls are concerned, they have been abandoned," said Mkeki Mutah, an uncle of two of the missing - 17-year-old Saratu and 18-year-old Elizabeth.

"There is a saying: 'Actions speak louder than words.' Leaders from around the world came out and said they would assist to bring the girls back, but now we hear nothing. The question I wish to raise is: why?" Mutah told Al Jazeera.

"If they knew they would not do anything, they wouldn't have even made that promise at all. By just coming out to tell the world, I see that as a political game, which it shouldn't be so far as the girls are concerned."

Does it mean its time to move on?

Thousands of people have been killed in Boko Haram attacks since the group was esteblished in 2002 in its fight to create an Islamic State in northeast Nigeria.

On April 14 - in one of its most brazen assaults to date - Boko Haram fighters stormed a high school in Chibok after dark as hundreds of young women wrote exams. The students were then loaded onto trucks and driven off. Fifty-seven managed to escape as they were being hauled away or soon after.

Boko Haram has demanded a swap for detained fighters in exchange for the girls, but so far President Goodluck Jonathan has refused.

Outrage over the abductions soon spread and the world's media began marking the number of days since the schoolgirls disappeared. But six months later, world leaders and the Western media have since shifted their attention to the international fight against the group calling itself the Islamic State (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq and the Ebola threat.

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Hurricane Gonzalo Reck havoc in london

A woman has died after being hit by a falling tree in high winds in London.

The tree fell opposite Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge at about 11:00 BST.

In a separate incident, a man hit by a tree blown over in nearby Belgravia has been taken to hospital with head, chest and leg injuries.

The storm is the tail-end of Hurricane Gonzalo, which hit the island of Bermuda last week, and is causing travel disruption across the UK.

Gusts of up to 70mph have been recorded in north Wales and the Isle of Wight, and a meteorological warning has been in place for much of the country.

Second man in hospital

A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We sent an ambulance crew, a responder by car, an advanced paramedic, a medical team from London's Air Ambulance by car and a duty officer to the scene.

"Sadly, despite our attempts to resuscitate the patient, a woman died at the scene."

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We treated a man reported to be in his thirties for leg, chest and head injuries. He was taken as a priority to St Mary's Hospital Paddington."

The storm has caused some travel disruption with flights cancelled at Heathrow. Other airports are reporting no major problems.

Fallen trees and high winds are causing problems on the roads, and there are delays and cancellations on many ferries.

The weather forecast sure that winds could be as strong as 60mph in England and 70mph in coastal parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland later.

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Some English Names Band in China

                                   Picture of the great wizard Dumbledore

Chinese state media have urged citizens to think carefully when choosing an English name, so that they don't pick one with an unfortunate meaning, it appears.

People are being warned against picking a name that could cause offence, or simply make no sense at all, in advice from the CCTV News website. Many Chinese people prefer to use an English name, particularly if they conduct business with the West. But CCTV says people should avoid fictional characters, names with the potential for sexual innuendo, or random words like Dragon, Fish or Lawyer, which could come back and haunt you "if you want a call back from that serious law firm in America".

An English name should "come with a 'feeling' or idea about what sort of person you are, and where you come from", so names such as Satan or Dumbledore are out, the website says. Women are told to think carefully about "food" names such as Candy, Lolly or Sugar, which might be seen as "stripper names". There's also a lengthy warning about names with sexual connotations, especially when used in conjunction with Dong or Wang, which "are used as slang for male genitalia... so avoid anything like 'Bunny Wang' at all times," the website says.

Instead, a "traditional" name like Elizabeth, Catherine, William or George is considered a good choice. "Pick one of these if you're looking for a 'safe' English name, often with implications of wealth," the website advises.

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