Day: December 1, 2019

An Australian teacher held captive with an American colleague by the Taliban for more than three years believes U.S. special forces tried and failed six times to free them.

Timothy Weeks was released last month in a prisoner swap along with Kevin King, ending an ordeal that began with their abduction in 2016 outside the American University in Kabul, where they worked.

Weeks, 50, told a news conference Sunday he believed that Navy SEAL teams tried repeatedly to rescue them, sometimes missing them only by “hours” after the two hostages were moved to other locations by their captors.

‘I believe … they came in six times’

“I believe, and I hope this is correct, that they came in six times to try to get us, and that a number of times they missed us only by hours,” Weeks said.

One attempt came in April this year. Weeks said he was woken at 2 a.m. by his guards, who told him they were under attack from Islamic State fighters, and moved him into a tunnel beneath where they were being held.

“I believe now that it was the Navy SEALs coming in to get us,” Weeks said. “I believe they were right outside our door. The moment that we got into the tunnels, we were 1 or 2 meters underground and there was a huge bang at the front door. And our guards went up and there was a lot of machine-gun fire. They pushed me over the top into the tunnels and I fell backwards and rolled and knocked myself unconscious.”

Weeks said he and King were shifted through various remote locations in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan throughout their captivity and were often kept in tiny, windowless cells.

While their lives were often at risk, he said he never gave up hope of being rescued.

“I never, ever gave up hope, and I think in that sort of situation, that if you give up hope, there is very little left for you,” said Weeks, flanked by his sisters Alyssa and Jo Carter. “I knew that I would leave that place eventually. It just took a little longer than I expected.”

Love, respect for guards

While expressing thanks to President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the work that led to their release, Weeks said some Taliban guards he had encountered were “lovely people.”

“I don’t hate them at all,” he said. “And some of them, I have great respect for, and great love for, almost. Some of them were so compassionate and such lovely, lovely people. And it really led me to think about … how did they end up like this?”

He added: “I know a lot of people don’t admit this, but for me, they were soldiers. And soldiers obey the commands of their commanders. (They) don’t get a choice.”

Weeks said he had hugged some of his Taliban guards when they parted company on the day of his and King’s release.

Enormous relief

Still, the sight of the two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters arriving to take them away had been an enormous relief.

“From the moment I sighted both Black Hawk helicopters and was placed in the hands of special forces, I knew my long and tortuous ordeal had come to an end,” he said.

“Out of a big dust cloud came six special forces and they walked towards us and one of them stepped towards me and he just put his arm around me and he held me and he said, ‘Are you OK?’ And then he walked me back to the Black Hawk.”

Weeks, from the small rural city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales state, said his ordeal had had “a profound and unimaginable effect on me.”

His voice breaking, he said: “At times I felt as if my death was imminent and that I would never return to see those that I love again but by the will of God I am here, I am alive and I am safe and I am free.

“There is nothing else in the world that I need.”

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A Northern California high school football team has lost in a championship game one year after a deadly fire destroyed most of their town, including the homes of most players and coaches.

Paradise High School lost to Sutter Union High School 20-7 Saturday night in the Northern Section Division III championship game. The game comes just more than one year after the fire in Paradise burned roughly 19,000 buildings and killed 85 people.

In the end zone after the game, senior running back Lukas Hartley cried with his teammates, telling reporters “I didn’t cry this bad when my house burned down.” He said he plans to be a firefighter after he finishes high school.

“I’m just proud of all my brothers and thankful to God for putting me on this path,” he said.

Friday night tradition

Paradise coach Rick Prinz told the team after the game he was proud of his players.

“No one really knows how much they truly battled just to be at practice and to do what they did,” Prinz said. “They lost everything they owned a year ago. They are all living in different places. And to pull it together like this and help our community come together is truly amazing.”

Most of the people who lived in Paradise have moved away. But many have returned on Friday nights to watch the football team’s remarkable season.

The high school has a football tradition, consistently fielding competitive teams. The school produced Jeff Maehl, a wide receiver who played for the University of Oregon in the 2011 BCS national championship game and later played for two NFL teams.

Last year, the school was 8-2 and preparing to host a home playoff game when the wildfire swept through the town. The school survived, but nearly every player and coach on the team lost their homes. The team forfeited the playoff game, ending their season.

A season to heal

The team almost didn’t have a 2019 season. But the players were determined to play.

Erica Browe, 38, lost her home in the fire. She now lives in Redding. At first, her two teenage sons went to a new school. But she said they were miserable and their grades suffered. They now live in Paradise with some friends so they can attend their old high school and play football.

Returning to Paradise made a big difference in her sons’ lives, she said, and the team’s success encouraged the community nestled along a ridge in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

“It gives hope back to the ridge that we can still be strong and stick together,” she said.

Paradise High School finished the regular season undefeated, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 469-73. But their magical season ended Saturday on a rainy, cold night.

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A tiny wooden relic that some Christians believe to be part of Jesus’ manger arrived Saturday in its permanent home in the biblical city of Bethlehem 1,400 years after it was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope.

Sheathed in an ornate case, cheerful crowds greeted the relic with much fanfare before it entered the Franciscan Church of St. Catherine next to the Church of the Nativity, the West Bank holy site where tradition says Jesus was born.

‘A great joy’

The return of the relic by the Vatican was a spirit-lifting moment for the Palestinians. It coincides with Advent, a four-week period leading up to Christmas. Troubled Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is bracing for the occasion, where pilgrims from around the world flock to the city.

Young Palestinian scouts played bagpipes and the crowd snapped pictures as a clergyman held the silver reliquary and marched toward the church.

Christians make up a small minority of Palestinians and Bethlehem is one of the only cities in the West Bank and Gaza where Christmas is celebrated.

Brother Francesco Patton, the custodian of the Franciscan order in the Holy Land, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had asked Pope Francis to borrow the entire manger, but the pope decided to send a tiny portion of it to stay permanently in Bethlehem.

“It’s a great joy” that the piece returns to its original place, Patton said, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

Manger moved to Rome

A wooden structure that Christians believe was part of the manger where Jesus was born was sent by St. Sophronius, the patriarch of Jerusalem, to Pope Theodore I in the 640s, around the time of the Muslim conquest of the Holy Land.

On Friday, the thumb-sized wooden piece was unveiled to worshippers at the Notre Dame church in Jerusalem for a day of celebrations and prayer.

On Saturday evening, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and other officials attended a Christmas tree lighting in Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity.

Hundreds of faithful and residents also gathered for the festive annual event, which included fireworks and songs. Crowds cheered as the giant tree was illuminated.

Revelers and worshippers alike will pack the same square for Christmas Eve festivities later in December.

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Authorities say nine people have been killed after a plane crashed in South Dakota.

Peter Knudson with the National Transportation Safety Board told The Associated Press 12 people were aboard the Pilatus PC-12 when it crashed about 12:30 p.m. Saturday, shortly after taking off from Chamberlain, about 140 miles (225.3 kilometers) west of Sioux Falls.

Knudson says nine people were killed and three were injured. The single-engine plane was bound for Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Media reports say Chamberlain and central south-central South Dakota were under a winter storm warning at the time of the crash.

Knudson says weather will be among several factors NTSB investigators will review, but no cause has yet been determined. He says inclement weather is making travel to the site difficult.

No further information was immediately available.
 

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The number of suspected cases of measles on the Pacific island of Samoa has more than doubled over the past week to 3,530, and deaths related to the outbreak rose to 48 from 20 a week ago, the country’s Ministry of Health said Sunday.

Samoa has become vulnerable to measles outbreaks as the number of people becoming immunized has declined with the World Health Organization (WHO) saying vaccine coverage is about 31%.

The government started a mandatory vaccination program Nov. 20 after declaring a state of emergency because of the outbreak. The health ministry said in its statement that 57,132 people have since been vaccinated.

Schools and universities have been closed and most public gatherings banned on the island state of 200,000, located south of the equator and half way between Hawaii and New Zealand.

Of the 48 deaths, 44 where among children younger than 4. Since Saturday, there have been 173 new cases of measles recorded and four people have died.

Neighboring New Zealand and a number of other countries and organizations, including the U.N. agency UNICEF, have delivered thousands of vaccines, medical supplies and have sent medical personnel to help with the outbreak.

Measles, a highly contagious virus that spreads easily through coughing and sneezing, has been reported also in other Pacific nations, including Tonga and Fiji, but there have been no reports of deaths and the countries have greater vaccination coverage.

Tonga’s ministry of health said in a statement late last week that there were 394 cases of suspected measles identified, but only eight people required hospitalization.

Measles cases are rising worldwide, even in wealthy nations such as Germany and the United States, as parents shun immunization for philosophical or religious reasons, or fears, debunked by doctors, that such vaccines could cause autism.
 

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