SIEGE AT BAMAKO ENDS; ABOUT 27 DEAD.

27 people including a French diplomat and six Chinese nationals
have been confirmed dead from the terror attack that occurred at
the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the Malian capital this morning.
For several hours, militants armed with grenades and AK-47held
170 people hostage inside the 5 star hotel after arriving in a car
with a diplomatic plate number.
They started releasing hostages once they could recite a verse in
the Holy Koran. Three of the extremists were killed. The al-Qaeda
affiliated group Al-Mourabitoun, based in the Sahara of northern
Mali, have claimed responsibility for the attack. The death toll in
the attack currently stands at 27, with 12 bodies found in the
basement and another 15 on the second floo

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The Sphere

Photograph by Elena Saavedra Buckley. Once when I was about twelve I was walking down the dead-end road in Albuquerque where I grew up, around twilight with a friend. Far beyond the end of the road was a mountain range, and at that time of evening it flattened into a matte indigo wash, like a mural. While kicking down the asphalt we saw a small bright light appear at the top of the peaks, near where we knew radio towers to occasionally emit flashes of red. But this glare, blinding and colorless, grew at an alarming rate. It looked like a single floodlight and then a tight swarm beginning to leak over the edge of the summit. My friend and I became frightened, and as the light poured from the crest, our murmurs turned into screams. We stood there, clutching our heads, screaming. I knew this was the thing that was going to come and get me. It was finally going to show me the horrifying wiring that lay just behind the visible universe and that was inside of me too. And then, a couple se...

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