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Journalism of Courage
Japanese cult doctor gets 18-year term
TOKYO: A doctor in Japan8217;s Aum Supreme Truth cult was sentenced to 18 years in jail on Thursday for mailing a bomb to the Tokyo governor, planting poison gas in a railway station and trying to kill a lawyer.
Asahara is accused of masterminding the March 1995 attack on Tokyo8217;s subway in which followers spread the Nazi-invented Sarin nerve gas, killing 12 people and injuring thousands. The doctor was one of the senior advisors in the cult known as the 8220;emperor8217;s secretariat8221;.
Together with other doomsday cult disciples, Tominaga tried to confuse police investigations intothe sect after the subway attack by sending a parcel bomb to the Tokyo governor in May 1995. The bomb exploded in the hands of the governor8217;s secretary, who lost his left hand fingers.
Lincoln8217;s secretary may have penned famous letter
BOSTON: A history professor says a letter from Abraham Lincoln to a Boston woman whose five sons were believed killed during the American Civil War was actually written by Lincoln8217;s personal secretary, John Hay.
The letter, dated November 21, 1864, has been one of the President8217;s best known pieces of writing, along with the Gettysburg and Second Inaugural addresses. It was even cited in the movie Saving Private Ryan.
The brief note tells Lydia Bixby: 8220;I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save8221;.
Michael Burlingame, a history professor atConnecticut College and author of The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln, says certain words and phrases in the letter also show up frequently in letters, poems and other pieces written by Hay, but were rarely or never used by Lincoln.
For example, Hay used the word 8220;beguile8221; more than 30 times in his writings, but Lincoln never used it, Burlingame told The Boston Globe. Also, phrases such as 8220;I cannot refrain from tendering you8221; were occasionally seen in Hay8217;s work, but were never seen in Lincoln8217;s, he said.
Additionally, Hay pasted a copy of the letter into a scrapbook containing newspaper accounts of his personal writings.
Columbia space launch delayed by thunderstorm
CAPE CANAVERAL: The space shuttle Columbia8217;s launch was delayed for the second time this week early Thursday because of thunderstorms around Kennedy Space Center, NASA said.
The Columbia8217;s space mission 8212; the first-ever under a woman8217;s command will be delayed by a day, NASA said.
The countdown for the 12.28 pm launch wasstopped five minutes from ignition as the space center awaited the storm to abate during a 52-minute launch-window of opportunity before it all had to be rescheduled. The five-day space mission was originally programmed to blast off early Tuesday, but a false alarm stopped the countdown six seconds from lift off. First Lady Hillary Clinton had returned here for the second launch effort to watch Air Force Colonel Eileen Collins take off as the shuttle8217;s first woman commander.
Paedophiles infiltrating children8217;s aid agencies
LONDON: Paedophiles are targeting aid agencies to gain access to children in developing countries, British newspaper The Guardian reported on Thursday.It said Britain8217;s National Criminal Intelligence Service NCIS, which monitors paedophile activity, had warned that the problem could be on a par with that of so-called sex tourism.
The Guardian investigation discovered that British and Canadian paedophiles infiltrated Switzerland8217;s biggest children8217;s agency, Terre des HommesLausanne TDH, and went to work in Ethiopia. The paper said one man was sacked from the charity after admitting 8220;an improper sexual relationship8221; with one of the 300-odd children in his care. It went on to cite a psychologist who also worked in the village as saying she knew of at least six people operating a 8220;tight, closed system8221; of abuse. An NCIS spokesperson said the service 8220;knows of paedophiles who have pretended to work for charities or who have invented charities in foreign countries8221;.
