Assailant opens fire on Israeli bus station
JERUSALEM – An Arab attacker armed with a gun and a knife opened fire in a southern Israel bus station on Sunday, police said, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding 10 people in one of the boldest attacks yet in a monthlong wave of violence.
The attack came as Israel further tightened security around the country, highlighted by the construction of a barrier separating Jewish and Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. In a bid to halt the fighting, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would meet the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming days.
Israel has deployed thousands of police, backed up by troops, to maintain order following a spate of attacks, mostly stabbings, by Palestinian assailants. Those measures have so far failed to stop the violence.
In Sunday night’s attack, police said the Arab assailant entered the central bus station in the southern city of Beersheba and began shooting and stabbing people. They said an Israeli soldier was killed, five police were lightly wounded and five civilians were wounded to varying degrees.
6 GOP hopefuls make appeals to megachurch in Texas
PLANO, Texas – Six Republican presidential contenders made personal appeals Sunday to thousands of Christian conservatives at a megachurch in suburban Dallas, underscoring the importance of the evangelical vote.
It also emphasized the outsized role Texas’ earlier-than-usual primary could play in the 2016 race.
Tea party and home-state favorite Sen. Ted Cruz, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum were speaking during a four-hour forum at the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano which has 7,000 parishioners.
Bombing survivor donates an artificial limb to woman
BOSTON – Ever since she lost a leg in the Boston Marathon bombing, Heather Abbott has devoted herself to giving others a leg up.
On Monday, she’ll accomplish that quite literally. The Heather Abbott Foundation will donate its first artificial limb to a 26-year-old woman from Walpole, Massachusetts, who said it will let her do something she’s never been able to do before: walk in heels.
Hillary Cohen, whose right leg was amputated nearly two years ago, will be fitted Monday with a custom-made leg provided through Abbott’s foundation.
“It will allow me to be able to be like any other girl. I’ll be able to put myself together more and feel more confident,” said Cohen, who works as a bone-density technician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Eddie Murphy receives nation’s top humor prize
WASHINGTON – Eddie Murphy received the Mark Twain Award on Sunday at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It is the nation’s top prize for humor.
A lineup including Dave Chappelle, George Lopez, Kathy Griffin, Arsenio Hall, Trevor Noah and Whitney Cummings saluted Murphy with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Associated Press
