• Caribbean politician shot dead while drinking beer on beach

    Prince Victor / EPA

    The body of Helmin Wiels is covered by a sheet on a beach in Curacao on Sunday.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

    A political leader on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao was shot dead as he drank beer on a beach Sunday, authorities said.

    Helmin Wiels, whose Pueblo Soberano party campaigns for independence from the Netherlands, was killed by gunmen who sped off in a car, according to multiple witnesses.

    The 54-year-old died instantly, according to the Curacao Chronicle, which posted a picture of his body on the beach surrounded by drinks.

    A motive for the killing remains unclear, but the Curacao government said Wiels had been threatened in the past and was under security protection, according to the Dutch Volkskrant newspaper.

    Wiels, who had sent his bodyguard home, was enjoying a beer on the island’s Marie Pampoen beach, near the capital, Willemstad, when two gunmen approached him and fired five shots, according to a BBC report.

    Michael Kooren / EPA, file

    Politician Helmin Wiels, who was shot dead on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao on Sunday.

    "This act was horrendous, terrible, and we are in shock,” said Curacao’s Prime Minister Daniel Hodge, according to the BBC. "We are not accustomed to these things on the island.”

    The government of Curacao -- which has a population of about 150,000 and lies just to the north of Venezuela -- said the Netherlands had offered to help with the investigation into the killing.

    Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the apparent assassination was a "cowardly deed."

    "Curacao has lost a driven politician who fought for his ideals and loved his country," Rutte said, according to the BBC.

    This story was originally published on Mon May 6, 2013 7:28 AM EDT

  • 2 police officers shot as Italian government sworn in

    Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

    An Italian policeman is carried away by paramedics after two policemen were wounded in a shooting outside the Italian prime minister's offices as the country's new ministers were being sworn in on Sunday.

    By Reuters

    ROME — Two police officers were shot and wounded outside the Italian prime minister's office on Sunday as Enrico Letta's new government was being sworn in around a mile away at the president's palace, RAI state television reported.

    One of the officers was shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, a police official said.

    One man, described as unemployed and in his 40s, was arrested at the scene of the shooting, a witness said, and it was initially unclear whether the attack was linked to the launch of the new government.

    Newly installed Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the attack appeared to be an isolated incident.

    "An initial examination of the incident suggests that this can be considered as an isolated act," Alfano told reporters, adding that further checks were being carried out.

    He said there was no cause for concern about the overall security situation in Italy but added that protective measures had been stepped up at potential targets.

    Letta, 46, the moderate deputy head of the Democratic Party (PD), on Saturday ended two months of political stalemate since February's inconclusive election when he brought together former political rivals in a broad coalition government.

    Letta's ministers stepped forward one by one to swear allegiance to the republic before President Giorgio Napolitano, who personally picked Letta as prime minister and had a central role in the choice of his cabinet team.

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  • Reports: Canadian shoots doctor, lawyer to death in Philippines court

    Chester Baldicantos / AP

    Police examine the scene where prosecutor Maria Teresa Casino was wounded at the Regional Trial Court building in Cebu city in central Philippines on Tuesday.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A Canadian man shot dead a doctor who was suing him and the doctor’s lawyer in a court in the Philippines on Tuesday, according to reports.

    Police said the man had smuggled a pistol into the court in the central city of Cebu, the AFP news agency reported.

    The report said the Canadian had been accused of petty mischief.

    A government prosecutor was also injured and the Canadian was shot and wounded during a melee, police told local radio DZBB. His condition was not clear Tuesday.

    BBC News reported that the 65-year-old had been accused of mischief by his neighbors.

    AFP said there was a public debate in the Philippines over stricter gun-control laws after a number of gun-related deaths in January.

  • Pakistan police: Three arrested over teen peace activist shooting

    Rashid Mahmood / AFP - Getty Images

    Students recite verses from the Quran as they pray for Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head in a Taliban assassination attempt, at her school in Mingora, the main town of Swat Valley on Friday

    By Mushtaq Yusufzai, NBC News, and wire reports

    PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Three suspects in the shooting of 14-year old Pakistani peace campaigner Malala Yousufzai have been arrested, police in Swat Valley claimed Friday.

    Police said the suspects, aged between 17 and 22, had claimed the person who organized the attack Tuesday -- in which two other young girls were shot and injured -- was a man called Attaullah.

     


    "During raids in Swat on Thursday night, we captured three culprits involved in attack on Malala,” Swat police chief Gul Afzal Afridi told NBC News by phone.

    “During initial interrogation, they revealed that Attaullah was mastermind of the attack and he is still at large,” he added.

    Afridi said that the attackers were from the Sangota area of Swat. Police were conducting other raids in an attempt to find Attaullah.

    NBC's Amna Nawaz reports on the current condition of Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl who survived an attack by the Taliban. Police officials have arrested three young men thought to be connected to the shooting.

    The Malala Yousufzai I know

    The Swat-based Pakistani Taiban refused to confirm if any of their members have been arrested, but claimed they had "dozens" of trained gunmen in the area.

    'Satisfactory' condition
    Malala, who was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011 for articles she wrote under a pseudonym for U.K. broadcaster the BBC and won the National Peace Prize in Pakistan,  was in a "satisfactory" condition at a military hospital, a spokesman said Friday. She started writing for the BBC when she was just 11.

    Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said she was being kept unconscious and on a ventilator, and doctors would decide when to take her off.

    "Her blood pressure is normal. Heartbeat is normal, and thanks to God, her condition is satisfactory," Bajwa said.

    14-year old Malala Yousafzai remains in critical condition after Taliban gunmen shot her in the head and neck. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.

    Bajwa said the bullet entered her head and went into her neck toward her spine, but it was too soon to say whether she had any significant head injury.

    Reuters reported Friday that the attack was ordered by one of the Taliban's most feared commanders, Maulana Fazlullah.

     "We had no intentions to kill her but were forced when she would not stop (speaking against us)," said Sirajuddin Ahmad, a spokesman of Swat Taliban now based in Afghanistan's Kunar province.

    Veronique De Viguerie / Getty Images, file

    Three suspects in the shooting of 14-year old Pakistani peace campaigner Malala Yousafzai have been arrested.

    'I am Malala' declare protesters as vigils continue for girl shot by the Taliban

    He said the Taliban held a meeting a few months ago at which they unanimously agreed to kill her. The task was then given to military commanders to carry out.

    The shooting sparked widespread condemnation and there has been an outpouring of praise for her bravery from Pakistani and international leaders.

    The school she attended in Mingora, owned and operated by her father, reopened Friday. The atmosphere was grim as children and teachers tried to come to terms with what happened to their star pupil.

    "We have decided to open the school after two days to overcome the fear among our students that gripped them due to the attack. The number of students is low today. We have not resumed regular teaching activity, but held an assembly to pray for Malala and the other two injured girls," said one of the teachers, Zafar Ali Khan.

    NBC's Amna Nawaz reports on the latest in the efforts to save Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot Tuesday by the Taliban.

    Police had been deployed around the school, but even so, many students stayed away.

    "Although we have gathered here for to pray for Malala, this shows we will keep her mission going," Ayesha Khan, a ninth-grade student. "Many of the students haven't come due to fear, but I believe this fear will subside ultimately." 

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Peace-prize winning girl shot by Taliban to be sent abroad for treatment, Pakistani president says

    After being targeted by the Taliban for speaking out about women's rights, Malala Yousafzai remains in the hospital, recovering from surgery to remove a bullet from her neck. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.

    By Amna Nawaz and Mushtaq Yusufzai, NBC News

    Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari ordered Tuesday that the young Pakistani activist who was seriously injured in a shooting by the Pakistani Taliban be sent abroad for medical treatment, the website for Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported.


    Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani activist who won international acclaim for her work promoting peace, and two other young girls were shot and seriously injured Tuesday, police and hospital officials said.

    Local police and hospital officials told NBC News that Malala was shot after leaving her school in the Swat region.

    Official sources told Dawn that the single bullet, which hit Malala's head, had pierced down to her backbone.

    “We have thoroughly examined her, she is in critical condition. The bullet traveled from her head and then lodged in the back shoulder, near the neck,” a doctor told the AFP agency, according to Dawn, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media.

    Gunmen hunted down young Malala Yousafzai at her school, shooting her in the head after she dared to criticize the extremists who are ravaging her country. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.

    “Next three to four days are important for her life. She is in the intensive care unit and semi-conscious, although not on the ventilator,” he added, according to Dawn.

    “In such a condition, she immediately needs a sophisticated surgical procedure, which is not possible in the country,” sources told Dawn.

    Malala was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011 for a blog she wrote under a pseudonym for the BBC. She also won the National Peace Prize in Pakistan, was honored with a school named after her, and quickly became an outspoken critic of the Taliban in Pakistan and a public advocate for peace.

    In the blog, she chronicled life in the Swat Valley under the brutal and oppressive rule of the local faction of the Pakistani Taliban, who carried out public floggings, hung dead bodies in the streets, and banned education for girls.

    AFP

    Soldiers take Malala Yousafzai, 14, to an army hospital after a gunman attacked her and two other girls in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Tuesday.

    Obama her 'ideal' leader
    In early 2011, the militants had added Malala to their hit list. 

    "We wanted to kill her as she was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban and more important she was calling President Obama as her ideal. She was young but was promoting a Western culture in the Pakhtun populated areas," Ihsanullah Ihsan, the spokesman of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP said Tuesday.

    Veronique De Viguerie / Getty Images, file

    Malala Yousafzai, pictured here at the age of 12 in March 2009, was undergoing surgery after she was shot twice Tuesday.

    The Taliban had made a plan for killing her a year ago but were waiting for an opportunity, he told NBC News.

    Malala was initially treated at the Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital, in Mingora, the main city of Swat, but was airlifted to a hospital in the larger city of Peshawar.

    'New radicals': Pakistan's Generation Y battles to shape country's future

    A police official, quoting other students who witnessed the shooting, said some people came in a car and stopped in front of the school and then asked them to identify Malala.

    "Since the students already knew about threats to Malala Yousufzai's life, therefore they said they didn't know her," the police officer said.

    Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

    Arshad Arbab / EPA

    Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

    Launch slideshow

    But he said Malala was shot when she came out of the school and got in a school van.

    Americans ignore 'great risks,' travel to Pakistan to protest US drone strikes

    The young girl's stark depictions of daily life in Swat -- as Pakistan’s army carried out a massive military operation against the Taliban in the area -- led her to become the first Pakistani girl nominated for the children's peace prize.

    She began writing the diary for the BBC when she was just 11.

    In one posting on her BBC blog, she wrote: "My younger brother does not like going to school. He cries while going to school and is jubilant coming back home ... He said that whenever he saw someone he got scared that he might be kidnapped. My brother often prays 'O God bring peace to Swat and if not then bring either the U.S. or China here.'"

    A short documentary profiling an 11-year-old Pakistani girl on the last day before the Taliban closed down her school. (By Adam B. Ellick)

     

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  • Obama apologizes to Afghanistan over Quran burnings; 2 US troops shot dead

    Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

    Afghans shout anti-American slogans during a protest in Kabul on Thursday.

    By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

    Updated at 9:50 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Barack Obama has written a letter to his Afghan counterpart apologizing for the burning of copies of the Quran at a NATO military base in the country. Two U.S. soldiers were also shot dead Thursday at a protest about the desecration of the holy books.

    A man wearing an Afghan government soldier's uniform killed the American troops and wounded four others at the demonstration in Nangarhar province, officials told NBC News.

    There have been violent protests daily since it emerged on Tuesday that Qurans used by detainees held at the Bagram military base had been burned. The incident has become a public relations disaster for foreign forces in Afghanistan.

    A statement from President Hamid Karzai's office said the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan had delivered the letter from Obama Thursday.

    Taliban to Afghans: Kill foreigners over Quran burnings

    In the letter, which is quoted in the statement, the U.S. president expressed his "deep regret for the reported incident" and offered his "sincere apologies."

    According to the statement, Obama wrote: "The error was inadvertent; I assure you that we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible."

    Slideshow: Protests erupt over Quran burning

    Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images

    Angry afghans attacked U.S. bases after reports of Quran desecration.

    Launch slideshow

    Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told NBC News that Obama had "expressed our regret and apologies over the incident in which religious materials were unintentionally mishandled at Bagram air base."

    The Quran burnings at the vast Bagram base could make it even more difficult for U.S.-led NATO forces to win the hearts and minds of Afghans and bring the Taliban to the negotiating table ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

    Muslims consider the Quran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.

    NBC's Afghanistan correspondent discusses the Quran controversy

    General John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), on Tuesday offered his "sincere apologies" for the burnings. "When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them," he added. "This was not intentional in any way." 

    The deadly protest in Nangarhar was one of several across the country on Thursday.

    Riots triggered by the inadvertent Quran burning at a U.S. military base prompted the U.S. to lock down its embassy. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.

    According to Haji Mohammad Hassan, the deputy police of Khogayani district in Nangarhar province, American soldiers had starting firing at protesters who were attacking their base.

    He said that an Afghan soldier then turned his weapon on the U.S. troops, shooting six, killing two and injuring four.

    PhotoBlog: 'Death to America!' Afghan anger over Quran burning intensifies

    Hassan said the Afghan soldier escaped by joining the crowd of protesters. However, a provincial official, who asked not to be named, said the shooter had been killed after the attack.

    The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, NBC News reported. 

    Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a text message that they infiltrated the army with one of their fighters who had shot and killed the Americans. Mujahid claimed that their insurgent killed 10 Americans.

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    The Associated Press, Reuters, NBC News' Atia Abawi, Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker contributed to this report.