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Haiti gang wants $17 million to return US abductees, Teachers told to offer “opposing” views to Holocaust, Prince William blasts billionaires over space race, Teen with Airsoft rifle killed by police, and Greta Thunberg sings.
The 400 Mawozo gang who abducted 12 adults and five children, 16 Americans and one Canadian, from a bus in the suburbs of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday is now demanding $17 million in ransom.
Haitian police negotiators and the FBI are advising the missionary group on how to proceed, CNN reported. Negotiations are ongoing, and reportedly, the FBI is assisting, but not leading negotiations or speaking directly with the kidnappers.
In response to a parent’s complaint, a top administrator with the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake advised teachers last week that if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also offer students access to a book from an “opposing” perspective, NBC reported, according to an audio recording they obtained.
The school district’s executive director of curriculum and instruction, Gina Peddy, said a new Texas law requires teachers to present multiple perspectives when discussing “widely debated and currently controversial” issues. Peddy advised: “Make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.”
Britain’s Prince William, 39, took a jab at the billionaire space race, such as the recent launchings by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla’s Elon Musk, who are pouring fortunes into space exploration, NBC reported.
“We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live,” William said.
William added that there is a “rising climate anxiety” among young people around the world because their “futures are basically threatened” by the climate crisis.
A 17-year-old male, identified as Alexander King, an 11th-grader at Tarpon Springs High School, was shot and killed by police on Saturday night after pointing an Airsoft rifle at cars and officers, according to authorities, Fox reported.
Police received multiple 911 calls about an individual pointing a military-style rifle at passing vehicles. When officers arrived, King pointed the weapon at them. The officers took cover and fired, striking the teen multiple times.
Authorities say King had 22 prior interactions with police, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in 2018.
Greta Thunberg is launching a series of 19 global concerts called “Climate Live 2021, aimed at raising awareness and putting pressure on world leaders ahead of the COP26, a Global Climate Conference taking place in Glasgow in November, the BBC reported. At the opening event on Saturday in Stockholm, Thunberg joined Fridays for Future’s Andreas Magnusson to perform the hit song made famous by Rick Astley: “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
